Ahead of the release of the third song from Bhoomi 2020 today, Salim Merchant on his unwavering focus to represent folk music in India.
Merchant Brothers
The slate of projects that demand the Merchant Brothers' attention doesn't seem like work for two. After wrapping up the 2019 musical, Umrao Jaan, they began to give finishing touches to their passion project, Bhoomi 2020. In the interim, they pulled off production work on a documentary on Karsh Kale with such deft that it earned multiple titles at the Golden Gate International Film Festival. And despite their chock-a-block schedule, the duo still found time to cater to the demands of the music industry's Big Daddy — Bollywood.
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Salim Merchant is run off his feet, and can only afford a call when en route to fulfil another work commitment. But, when discussing his latest endeavour, Bhoomi 2020, he is unhurried and accommodating. Set to release today, the album's third song pairs the Merchant Brothers with the music powerhouse, Arijit Singh. As though reserving the best for Singh to helm, Salim says Zinda dili mirrors the duo's individual personalities. "Suleiman and I think about the present, and that is the spirit that we have tried to capture in this song. We enjoy the thrills that are offered by activities like skydiving. The best term to describe this song is, nonstop. It encapsulates all that [one should] feel if it were their last day. Given that it has elements of Indian classical music, and contemporary pop rock, we wanted someone as versatile as Arijit to back it."
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A set of distinct names feature in the album's credits. While Jonita Gandhi and Nikhita Gandhi represent new-age singers, veterans like Sukhwinder Singh and Shreya Ghoshal lend credibility to the offering. However, it is the involvement of folk artistes like Swaroop Khan and Osman Mir that makes for a major part of our discussion. "The album was crafted to represent Indian classical music, thumri, and folk music. We didn't want this to be just another contemporary album. Two songs are traditional thumris by Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan saab. A piece of lyrics belongs to Sant Kabir. Given that I am a Krishna devotee, there is an original flute section, and then an original sufi qawwali as well. Since Suleiman and I belong to Kutch, we wanted a song from that region too, and aptly created Haji peer, which is our dedication to a dargah. It is believed that couples who fail to conceive are able to have children after visiting this dargah."
Singers like Kaushiki Chakraborthy were "always on my radar", but his collaboration with Sukhwinder Singh was a chance occurrence. "I have liked [the song] Sanwal mor moharan since childhood. One day, I heard Sukhi croon it while we were having tea, and got so excited that I knew we had to have it on the album. Each song can be traced to a similar emotion. In the next edition, we will create a meeting ground for folk and contemporary music."
While the Merchant Brothers continue to unravel the independent music scene, Bollywood still hasn't had its fill of what the duo has to offer. In the pipeline is the upcoming film, Coolie No 1, which sees them as score composers. "We have done several films with David Dhawan, so there is a sense of comfort in this association. Varun [Dhawan] has done a great job in portraying a tapori with an I-don't-care attitude. As Mumbaikars, we've grown up with this emotion. This film was made with a lot of love."
Also Read: 'It's a fusion of Indian, English and Swahili'
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