Xperience Sessions With Shanka Tribe

RJ Ayesha caught up with Shanka
Tribe, a seven-piece music band that is delighted to be a disruptor in the
Indian indie music scene, thanks to their distinct and alternative style. Shanka
Tribe performs nature trance, a genre that is hard to come by, and even harder
to execute properly, due to how difficult it is to capture the flow and fury of
nature in a song. Their experimental music is distinguished by its trademark
opening, which begins with the sound of a shankh (conch).

Traditional tribal
instruments such as the didjeridoo, djembe, conga, handpan, darbuka, bongo, and
oud, as well as the flute, guitar, and keyboard, are used by the band members
Joel Jackson P, Munna PM, Nithin M Menon, Sreeraj K, Bonny Abraham, Aswin Lal,
and Libin Noby to create distinctive compositions. In addition, they include
chants in their music.

The usage of tribal instruments from China, Africa, and Arabia, as well as sounds from the past, makes their music unique.

Shanka Tribe got its start in Kerala's
college cultural events. However, after being prodded by band member Atul P M
alias 'Munna,' it evolved into a genre known as 'tribal trance.' This was
highly accepted not only in India, but also throughout the world. Critics cite the German group Enigma as a parallel.

The
band name has nostalgic value as it stems from a college music festival. Munna
says, “When we were considering different names one of my friends, Shishira,
suggested ‘Shanka’ as in s hankh (conch) which a few band members had a
personal connection with during their childhood. Also, the cleansing, purifying
and spiritual effect of the shankh is unparalleled. So, we felt that shankh is
an apt name for an instrumental band like this.”

Munna claims that he was
first motivated to form a band by a few songs he was listening to. He was drawn
to tribal music and believes he was fortunate to find like-minded people to
join him. All of the members of the band are full-time musicians, with a
handful of them having previously worked in a Malayalam film.

Last year, Shanka Tribe released their first track ‘When Nature Calls’ on Spotify. The music video, combines a love of nature, simple life, and a spirit of adventure. Their music included powerful traditional chants, mantras, and sentiments.

The
band’s didjeridoo player, Munna PM explains why this is the 10-year-old band’s
first track. “In the initial days, the priority of the band was to simply
create music. We had to give people some time to understand and get used to
this new genre. Live performances were the best way to test our music. With
each performance, our confidence grew as many people started appreciating our
music.”

The band has performed in
India and the Middle East, among other places. Based in Cochin in Kerala,
they are currently promoting live, acoustic music. Speaking of the pulse of
young music lovers, Munna says, “When it comes to sound there have been a lot
of changes in contemporary film music. There is a huge opportunity in experimenting
with organic sounds. New sounds are what everyone prefers but they should come
with context when shown in movies.”

RJ Ayesha had a musical chat
with Shanka Tribe about their experimental music and forthcoming tracks. Check
it out below.

---Silviya.Y