Imagine standing in the middle of a crowd during the evening rush hour where thousands of unknown, faceless people mill about in the great human tide of the city, oblivious to the next person. One is surrounded by humanity yet feels utterly alone. Such chilly desolation is delivered on a brooding bossa nova soundscape in ‘Dekhi Barey Barey’, one of the four songs released by NeilMukho, the new band of virtuoso guitarist Neil Mukherjee.
This yet unnamed album signals Mukherjee’s return to Bengali music after 24 years. “I have been writing Bengali songs through all these years. It’s just that they are coming out now,” he says over the phone from Mumbai.
NeilMukho came into existence two years back after a show at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, where Mukherjee sought the assistance of guitarist Koustav Dey, bassist Shamik Chatterjee and drummer Ritoban Das. Subsequently, they became his colleagues. “Neil da was very impressed with the show and called us to record the album a few months later. Then the band was officially formed and we are gradually releasing singles,” reveals Dey.
This album took this long as Mukherjee had his hands full as a session guitarist. Working with biggies like A.R. Rahman and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy or winning international accolades for scoring the film Meherjaan is not his claim to fame though. Way back in the ’90s, he took Kolkata by storm as part of rock band Krosswindz which released the seminal album Poth Gechhe Benke (The Path Has Turned) in 1996.
Krosswindz’s legendary line-up. Photo: Facebook
Most songs were geared towards the search for meaning and seeking out one’s own path as evidenced in the title track. Musically, the album hovered between soft rock and blues with flamenco flourishes in guitar playing. The mellowest track, ‘Abak‘, pondered on the infinite wonders of the big world. Even love songs had philosophical undercurrents, revealing Mukherjee’s reverence for the pioneering Bengali singer-songwriter Arunendu Das as well as The Beatles.
Incidentally, Krosswindz formed the vanguard of a cultural movement that occurred with the revival of Mohiner Ghoraguli, India’s first vernacular band originally formed in the late ’70s. Though it disbanded within a few years, several other young musicians came together under its nurturing umbrella two decades later to chart an alternative musical course which has grown into the gargantuan Bengali rock music industry today.
This stint, however, generated a huge musical identity crisis for Mukherjee. “There was no Indian element in Krosswindz’ music. I would hate it if my music sounds like something from somewhere else. Also, our culture is too strong to be overlooked,” he explains to The Wire.
So he began to assimilate Indian classical elements through lessons from veena player Anantha Raman. The search for a robust cultural identity led him to Chennai in 1998, where he immersed himself in learning Carnatic music under N. Ravikiran, the chitraveena exponent.
Four years later, when Mukherjee released a Hindi album Parchaiyaan, with his former bandmate Bonnie Chakraborty as the group Kashti, the sound had shifted to a distinctly Indian territory.
With two songs about cities, his obsession with urbanity surfaced here first. The search for a path transformed into the experiences of a journeyman as indicated by the unknown desire to wander in Aage Mein Chaloon. Folk rhythms also found room on the jaunty vibes of the songs Bekaari and Tana Dere Na. Sadly, this path-breaking album did not garner much commercial success.
“The years in Chennai is the most under-rated and critical part of his career. He was among the early pioneers who brought Carnatic style to guitar playing,” says cultural journalist Shamik Bag, who knew Mukherjee during his Krosswindz days. “Earlier, he was known as an amazing rock guitarist who incorporated flamenco and folk elements.”
Local brand of music with a global feel
Today, Mukherjee has transcended all of that to have a distinctly local brand of music with a global feel. NeilMukho has shades of Latin, bossa nova, rock n’ roll and jazz besides subcontinental influences in melodies, rhythms and guitar playing. “We have achieved some sort of Bengali and Indian-ness in this album. Among the unreleased five tracks, there’s an instrumental which borrows from African music too,” says Mukherjee.
Designing an eight-string guitar, customised in an Indian classical form, only shows the hunger that the 49-year-old has for a singular expression and sound as well as pushing musical boundaries.
He introspects about life using simple words. As glimpsed in ‘Dekhi Barey Barey’, urban societal scenarios are illustrated on the lines of alienation, loneliness and crowds. The inevitability of common man’s burdens surfaces in ‘Bajaar’ which describes the dualities that people navigate in the walk of life.
On the other hand, the gloomy track ‘Chupi Chupi‘ talks about an unseen voice which dictates our actions, pointing to the over-arching thematic presence of night, dreams and the subconscious. His compositions throb with a shadowy life-force which hint at exploring the vast and forbidding unknown.
“Dream means a certain vision as well as activity of the subconscious. Night resembles the unknown and darkness that exists in our lives,” explains Mukherjee. “The song ‘Raat Beraater’ talks about a deep desire in our system which we set aside for various reasons, but it comes back and we need to address it. It’s pretty much the unknown hand of destiny!”
Beyond these, Mukherjee has also explored geographical themes. Deserts, mountains and rain formed textural ruminations on his instrumental album Local Guitar (2017). Featuring only the percussionist Yadhunandan Nagaraj, the songs were recorded live as single takes. Paco de Lucia’s towering influence on him peaks most beautifully on the twinkling and dreamy track ‘Mumbai Tango‘, as does his love affair with the city. He’s also re-releasing some of these songs as solo guitar pieces.
Mukherjee seems to have found the pure musical spirit, as all the styles he studied converge to form a meditative and immersive sound that is uniquely his own. “Music is my existence. I like to always explore its possibilities and be true to the creative process without carrying the burden of expectations,” he confesses.
Besides invoking nostalgia in old fans, NeilMukho has seasoned musicians hooked to its charms. “The new material confirms that Neil da is an innovator as the guitar becomes one with him,” says Bodhisattwa Ghosh, guitarist of The Bodhisattwa Trio and Lakkhichhara.
Shaswata Kundu Chaudhuri is a freelance journalist based in Kolkata and interested in music.