On January 3, 2020, my family and I kicked off the new year by catching a 12:30am flight to Kolkata for our first trip to India. Our original plan was to stay for 5-6 weeks, but this vibrant country with all its intensity captivated us. We ended up staying for 8 weeks—4 around Kolkata, 2 in Bengaluru, 1 in Goa, and 1 in Mysuru. Now on the other side of these travels, I'd say that we are positively changed with new perspectives on people, culture, and lifestyles. I'm sure I'll be processing this chapter of my life for quite a while.
(Please feel free to forward this blog to any family/friends you think would enjoy. Thanks!)
COLLABORATIONS
In addition to a few thousand photos and hours of video footage, I ended up with 8 unique musical collaborations—6 of which have become Otherlands videos. With so much beauty and new visual stimulation everywhere that I wanted to share, I modified the format for videos I was creating. Rather than using my "b-roll" just in the intros/outros, for 4 of the 6 Otherlands videos, I included my exploratory footage throughout the songs, hoping to give you a chance to experience more of the country through my eyes.
#13 • Wooden Doll Village Festival • with Debalina, Arpan & Pritam [Read the blog]
#14 • Streets of Kolkata • "Manyota Dao Jibonke" • with Arko Mukhaerjee [Read the blog]
#15 • "Baaro Saadhanakerige" • with Raghu Dixit [Read the blog]
#16 • Howrah Bridge Flower Market • with Dipannita, Navonil & Tanmoy [Read the blog]
#17 • Schooled in Rhythm • "Garfield's Blackberry" • with Bangalore Amrit [Read the blog]
#18 • Baul Jam Session, Home of Rina & Dibakar Das Baul [Read the blog]
TRAVELOGUE
So much happened while in India. I'll do my best to give a brief rundown of our travels. Please check out the photo albums since they can say so much more than I am able, with a wide perspective of this culturally rich country. And, each collaboration above has its own blog to take you deeper.
KOLKATA, NATUNGRAM, PINGLA, & SHANTINIKETAN
Back in October, I attended the Womex conference in Tampere, Finland, where I met folks from an organization called Banglanatak dot com. They promote and support folk traditions in West Bengal and were a huge help in us getting settled and meeting folks.
As soon as we landed in Kolkata, we hit the ground running. Our first weekend was spent 5 hours north of the city in the village of Natungram where they're known for their wooden doll carving tradition. A village festival was taking place, and I joined Debalina Bhowmick (voice), Arpan Thakur Chakraborty (dotara, banjo), and Pritam Guha (dubki, cajon) for a set of folk music from West Bengal. This weekend I learned the proper techniques of eating with my hands, using the Indian toilet and shower, and saw my first monkey not in a zoo.
Natungram
First weekend in India. Village of Natungram and surrounding areas.
Upon returning to the liveliness and intensity of Kolkata, the next four weeks would be packed with activity—arranged tours around the city, our own wanderings, musical collaborations, and a few other side trips. To be honest, it took about two weeks just for us to adjust to the flow of life. Learning the transportation systems, finding working ATMs, searching for places to eat (and what to order), and just walking on the sidewalk or crossing the street took lots of energy. But once we got acclimated, we were able to settle in and enjoy the daily adventures.
Kolkata (pt.1)
Sights from tours around the city on different occasions.
In addition to arranging our Kolkata city tours, Banglanatak dot com helped facilitate two other musical collaborations in the area. With vocalist Dipannita Acharya, I made my India TV debut and spent a day at her home playing music as a quartet with Tanmoy Pan (dubki), and Navonil Sakar (dotara). With vocalist Deepmoy Das, I camped out in a studio with his band Wong Tuli where we worked on a song for one of their upcoming releases, which turned into jamming on folk songs until the morning hours.
I also received a couple great musical hookup from an American bluegrass buddy of mine, dobro player Billy Cardine, who has traveled often to India. He put me in touch with guitarist Koustav Dey, who in turn introduced me to guitarist/composer Neil Mukherjee and vocalist/songwriter Arko Mukhaerjee. With Neil, we had a short evening of improv that I hope turns into future music together. With Arko, we played a gig with his band (including Koustav) and had two recording sessions.
Pingla
Trip to the village of Pingla to learn about their scroll painting & singing tradition.
On one Kolkata weekend, my family and I headed out to the village of Pingla where they have a scroll painting tradition. It's a tradition primarily carried out by women where they paint stories—both mythical and historical—on scrolls using naturally made pigments, and then sing the stories.
My final trip outside Kolkata was to the peaceful village of Paruldanga, just outside of the Rabindranath Tagore mecca of Shantiniketan. There I spent the day and night at the home of revered Baul musicians Rina & Dibakar Das Baul, making music with them and members of their local community.
Before I move on from the Kolkata area, I want to mention what was perhaps my most memorable day. For 10hrs, I walked 12miles of the city by myself, starting at 7a at the Howrah Bridge flower market and ending at my hotel near Tollygunge. With my camera and one bottle of water (I forgot my wallet), I traversed the city, taking as many side roads as possible, exploring neighborhoods, temples, markets, and daily life. What really blew me away on this day though was the people that I met. Folks stopped me to ask where I was from and wanted to have conversation. They wanted me to take their picture, or their friend's, and also asked to take pictures with me. It was this day that made me feel more comfortable taking portraits of the people I was meeting. I really felt welcome no matter where I wandered...so much so that I ended up getting invited to a Bengali wedding.
Kolkata (12mi in 10hr)
One full day of exploration.
BENGALURU
After four weeks, we said goodbye to Kolkata and headed south to Bengaluru in the state of Karnataka. Our total time here was two weeks, but we broke it up in the middle with a trip to Goa (more on that below).
We originally chose Bengaluru as a place to visit since we wanted to see somewhere in southern India, and I had a couple former students from there. But the person who really ended up being the hinge of this part of our trip was a friend of my old bandmate Abigail Washburn, a singer/songwriter named Raghu Dixit, generously welcoming us to his home and music studio.
Bengaluru
Two weeks in the capitol of Karnataka.
At this point in the trip, we were a bit exhausted and overwhelmed with all the stimuli. We took a week to just relax, explore a bit of Bengaluru, and I worked on all the music and video that I collected around Kolkata. This city was more urban and spread out than Kolkata, and the climate, vegetation, and geography reminded me of our previous home in Valencia, Spain.
I played two collaborations here. One was with a Carnatic (South Indian Classical) khanjira percussionist who goes by Bangalore Amrit. He blew my mind open and schooled me with some new rhythmic concepts. The other music I did was with Raghu who is an incredible vocalists. He and I recorded two songs of poetry which he had set music to—one of which we played on a TV talent show which he is a judge on.
Bangaluru is where we finally departed India from, but not before I took three other side trips.
GOA
After a week in Bengaluru, we headed to Panaji, in the western beach state of Goa. I'm not really a beachy sort, but that's not why I headed there, although that was a selling point for my family. Banglanatak dot com (my friends from Kolkata) runs a traveling festival called Sur Jahan and one of their stops is Goa. I wasn't officially part of the festival, but we went to hang with the performers from Sweden, South Korea, Denmark, Reunion, Hungary, and India (West Bengal and Rajasthan). During the day I holed up to practice and edit audio/video. Everyone stayed at the same hotel which facilitated some great evening jamming (a particularly memorable one with the folks from Rajasthan) and many new friendships. I did end up at the beach, but just for sunsets.
Goa
Visit to the western coast beach state for a music festival.
CHENNAI
I took a one day logistically-motivated trip from Bengaluru to Chennai. It's the first time I've ever done a round trip flight all in the same day. Upon arriving to India in January, the immigration officer was kind enough to point out that I had only one empty page left in my passport, and still let me in. This was going to be a problem for the rest of my trip though, so I needed a new passport. I dropped it off at the consulate in Kolkata and based on our travel itinerary, would need to pick up my new one in Chennai.
Chennai
One day trip to pick up a new passport and explore the streets.
After procuring my precious travel document, I spent the next 6 hours roaming the city with my camera, to the botanical garden, Dravidian style temples, and the beach—capturing new sights and portraits in the heat of the day.
MYSURU
For the final week in India, we boarded a train and headed 3hrs west to Mysuru. Locals kept telling us great things about this small city, mainly that it had a beautiful palace, was quiet and easily walkable to everwhere, and that it was super clean. While we found all of this to be true, I was really headed here to visit an amazing Carnatic violinist, Mysore Manjunath. He and I met many years ago at a Mark O'Connor fiddle camp in San Diego. It was my first time seeing Carnatic violin live—I immediately took a lesson, and he changed how I play to this day.
Mysuru
Final week in India.
I was fortunate to attend a Mysore Brothers concert Manjunath played in Bangaluru the week before and was now eager to pick his brain. We met at his teaching room at the Fine Arts College of the University of Mysore for a great conversation and then again a few days later at his home, where we improvised together on Carnatic scales and tradtional American melodies, shared lunch, and and gave our daughters the opportunity to meet.
Mysore Manjunath
Other hightlights of Mysuru were visiting Shuka Vana aviary and bonsai garden (a Guinnes Book World Record holder for most kinds of birds in a garden) and finally having our own kitchen to cook meals.
And if all this activity wasn't enough for a trip to India, I couldn't resist squeezing in one last musical meeting on the way to the airport. I had been trying to connect with another Carnatic master, violin legend L. Subramaniam, and our only overlapping time was a few hours before I left the country. While my daughter played with his grand daughter, we got to know each other a bit, sharing history and tradition. And, I introduced him to chopping which he was curious to record and show his students. Hopefully we'll have more time together on my next trip to collaborate.
Dr. L. Subramaniam
LISTEN [SPOTIFY PLAYLIST]
Here’s a small selection of music from India — past and present — that was compiled by way of recommendation or personal searching while preparing for my OTHERLANDS: India trip. It’s not intended to be anything close to a comprehensive representation of a country that is so rich and diverse with tradition, but it’s my start. I hope you hear something interesting and it sends you down new paths. Happy listening!
While our time in India coming to a close, the coronavirus pandemic was in full force in China and picking up steam in South Korea, Singapore, and Japan—our next destination. We debated if we should chance the trip deeper into Asia. Since we already had our plane tickets to Osaka, a place to stay in Kyoto, and strict travel restrictions hadn't yet been adopted, we decided to continue on our journey.
As I write this reflection, India has now been on an intense coronavirus lockdown for a week. I consider our family extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to spend so much time getting to know this amazing country and people. We're thinking about all our new friends and look forward to the day that we can return for our second visit. And if you've never been, I highly recommend it.
Stay tuned for travels from Japan next.
Health to you and yours,
Casey
