Musical tributes are one of a kind. And when it is for a person who laid down his life for his country, it is all the more glorious. Come July 31 and Bengaluru will witness a musical tributes to freedom fighter, Udham Singh, by India’s first ska band — The Ska Vengers.
The band will launch their latest song and video at blueFROG. Titled ‘Frank Brazil’, the song narrates the story of Udham Singh, who avenged the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by shooting down Michael O’Dwyer in London in 1940.
O’Dwyer was the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab at the time. Singh was executed on July 31, 1940 and the video marks the 75th anniversary of his execution.
What makes the song all the more interesting is its murder ballad format, with The Ska Vengers moving away from their signature mélange of reggae, dub, funk, jazz and punk backed by Cuban and Latin influences to a more classical and off-beat soundscape.
Organist and percussionist Stefan ‘Flexi’ Kaye says: “‘Frank Brazil’ is a departure from our usual style. It’s not really ska and it’s the first time we’ve used a string section.” The animated video is created by Kunal Sen and Tisha Deb Pillai, who also animated their previous videos which have strong political and social messages.
He adds that the band is excited about performing in Bengaluru. “The Bangalore gig scene is well developed. It is easy to say Bangalore has the best venues in India with an established music hub and culture. We enjoy playing in the city and the audience is very receptive and enthusiastic.”
Comprising Begum X and Delhi Sultanate on vocals, Stefan, Chaitanya Bhalla on guitar, Tony Bass on bass, The Late Nikhil Vasudevan on drums with support from Shirish Malhotra on tenor saxophone and Kishore Sodha on trumpet,, The Ska Vengers are bringing a sonic-heavy release to the gig.
Stefan elaborates on the video and song. “The song is only three and a half minutes long. The challenge was to tell a story of a person’s life in that time space. It is not linear. It jumps back and forth in time.”
“The idea was to not give too much away of the story, yet to be coherent. We wantedto draw a parallel – the way any freedom fighter and terrorist are perceived. A lot of it depends on which newspaper you read, which country you are in and even which moment in time you evaluate it in since perceptions change. It’s like a musical history lesson.”
He hopes that people enjoy the rather unusual song arrangement. “We wanted to reflect the very different and predominant cultures of that time - the British occupation of India and the folk tradition of Punjab - to do justice to the story and the subject matter. We developed new instrumentation to highlight the story and for the first time used a traditional Punjabi folk instrument called tumbi with the dhol and dholak.
Introducing the European style with a string quartet, the blend of the two soundscapes was immensely exhilarating.”
Why choose Udham Singh? Stefan admits that it’s precisely because he’s alesser known figure.
“He has achieved as much as others have and his story is an interesting one. It’s a classic murder ballad. A murder ballad is a traditional form of poetry where the lyrics form a narrative describing the events of a murder, often including the lead-up and the aftermath.
These are classical songs which tell stories about bandits, from Mexico and Europe, recording the whole life story of the character. It is, of course, very grim subject matter since the song is written in that style. The chorus itself we took from blues singer Bessie Smith’s song ‘Send me to the ‘lectric chair’ as homage to the genre of the murder ballad.”
Easily one of the most exciting Indian indie acts to watch, The Ska Vengers promise a good time at the gig, where they will be playing songs from their latest album, apart from the video. Known for introducing socially relevant themes in their songs such as the animated videos ‘A message to you, Modi’ in 2014 when the BJP came to power and ‘Badda’ which talks about censorship and manipulation of the Indian news media, the Ska Vengers hope to make a similar impact with ‘Frank Brazil’ “It’s good for people to understand that chapter in history and re-evaluate history a bit,” sums up Stefan.
