Indie band Daira creates magic with its album ‘Jaadoo Bastar’ with the tribals of Chhattisgarh

Music sees no ambits and this Indie band proves it yet again as they truly transcend the boundaries with their latest album ‘Jaadoo Bastar’ featuring folk artists and tribal people of Chattisgarh. This album involves local ballads and folk songs with a modern approach from Daira. The project took two years to make but the five-song record was shot in five days in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh where these tribal people reside. The band members share the story of this rather long-short experience they had in bringing to the forefront the true music and musicians of India. 

An invitation that invited an album 

“The journey of ‘Jaadoo ‘Bastar’ started back in 2022 when we were called to Bastar, a small village in Chattisgarh to conduct a workshop for the local musicians", says Piyush Kapoor, the band's vocalist. The band conducted the workshop to teach the musicians how modern music works but in return got back with their folklore and traditional music. “After the workshop, we jammed with the artists and learned about a few local instruments. We were intrigued by the tunes,” adds Piyush. The aura kept on brimming in their minds and they thought of collaborating with them to bring the tones of Bastar to everyone in India and pitched the idea to the administration of the village. 

The band was lucky enough to get the green light from the authorities and they headed back to the village after a month. “We had only five days to record and shoot the entire album which consists of five songs so we decided to collaborate with an exceptional lyricist, Alok Ranjan Srivastava who helped us with the Hindi lyrics of the songs,” mentions the vocalist. The process began with jamming with the local artists and understanding each and every folk song for the team. As folk music has a lot of stories and involves intricacies, the members were afraid to spoil the roots they hold, but the final result yielded songs that are true to their essence and have a modern flavour to them. 

The making of Jaadoo Bastar

“We took a big risk in choosing the songs we wanted to recreate. We didn’t have a playlist ready, instead, we went there, listened to the songs and depending upon what would suit us best we chose the tracks,” says Alok while walking us through the process of making the songs. Each and every folk song has a meaning behind it and is sung during a particular occasion or time of the day. These folk songs are in three distinct languages - Gondi, Bhadari, and Dhurvi, each melody carrying stories of generations past. 

While one song catches a serious conversation between a human and a god, the other is a ballad that is recited after a long tiring day by the people of Bastar. ‘Kahan Kahan’ is a soulful bhajan in Halbi - an Eastern Indo-Aryan language sung by the folk singer Lakheshwar Khudaram, embodying a heartfelt dialogue between a human and a divine presence (Devta). In the tender verses, the human repeatedly asks the Devta, "Where are you?" Responding to poignant Hindi verses by Alok, the Devta gently reveals, "I reside where the essence of my being is not tainted by the shed blood, where humanity does not inflict pain in my name."

The conversation transitions to a song on friendship called ‘Iya Kaye Hajaari’ that celebrates a special tradition in Bastar called ‘Meet Bandhana’ where kinship transcends blood ties. “We wanted to blend this culture with the modern-day concept of one world, one race, stating that relationships go beyond religion or boundaries and it’s all about the sacred connection that binds us together, says the lyricist. 

Moving on to a song called ‘Gaye Chari Gala’ that may sound like a nursery rhyme to a person who is listening to it for the first time due to its lyrics that go like “A cow eats grass, a buffalo gives milk” but in fact it is meant to be a light song sung by the people in the Bhatri language after a heavy day at work. It becomes a tribute to nature’s cycle, a reminder of our place within it. 

The motto behind the song also reminds Piyush and Alok of the struggles they had while making this album as it was raining cats and dogs during the shoot. “The weather was really bad and we had only 5 days to make and shoot the songs,” recall the artists. They had to move in and out every time rains started pouring and one piece even took 12 to 13 takes due to this reason. Despite this, all the tracks are recorded live without any studio recording. “Although the weather didn’t marry with us, the artists were very collaborative in every sense. We didn't have any language barrier as they were well-versed in Hindi and their local language,” elaborates the vocalist. Folk artists like Lakheshwar Khudaram on the mic and Rahul Raikwar who played the flute, coincidentally met them and became part of the entire album. The Hindi segment was put together by Alok Ranjan Srivastava and Daira Band.

Every element from Dastar is beautifully shown in the album which enhances the cultural beauty of the place. Be it the use of local instruments like Todi (a wind instrument), Nisan (a Nagada-type instrument), Turburi (a dholak-drum instrument) and Mori (a flute-kind of instrument) or the local life of the people surreally matching the theme of the song.  

"Dekha Daise Bhari Ujar Macho Bastar Kitlo Sundar, Machri Charai Aani Baani, Siyan Sajan Bade Nani "- There is brightness, how beautiful my Bastar is, fish and birds are beautiful, even children and old people are beautiful in my Bastar, such are the lines of the culminating song ‘Bailadila’ which is a place in Bastar. This song sums up the life of Bastar and the nuances of this album that sees no boundaries in spreading love and art from all to all.