Songs About Childhood

Erland and the Carnival

Yeah, it was a war ship that has studios and offices in it but it was moored on the Thames and through a friend of a friend we found out about this studio in the hull of the ship under water level. When I say 'studio', it was a room that was very damp and we took it over and filled it with our recording equipment. We were looking for somewhere interesting to complete the record and it was free and it was in a really interesting place; bang in the centre of London - it was perfect to create our own little subversive studio in the middle of commuter land. So we commuted every day and we’d get the tube with all the commuters and they’d all go to their jobs in banks or whatever and we’d just slope off into this boat and make strange music.

Did you get an interesting sound considering you were semi-underwater?

Yeah because we were below the waterline we got these strange echos and things. There’s so much traffic on the Thames too that there’s all these noises from barges and tourist boats. When something passes you hear these strange reverberations and echoes which is funny because we’ll be listening to a track we made and we can hear something and we’re like ‘did we make that sound?’ In the end we tried to add these sounds to give the music a strange, ghostly feel.

What were you trying to explore musically on the album?

On our first album a lot of the songs were traditional folk songs that we’d modernized so we wanted to keep to a similar theme with this one, but really early on in the recording process I found this picture that I’d remembered as a child in the seventies. There was a famous house in England where poltergeists supposedly lived, and so it was all over the media in the seventies and there were photographs of her being thrown through the ear or jumping through the ear – depends if you believe in ghosts. It’s what we used for the album cover and it’s her suspended in mid-air. We discovered that quite early on when we recorded and it seemed like such a powerful image. It’s not a concept album but we had this idea of ghosts through the album and we wanted to create this supernatural presence. Rather than any direct concept it’s this idea of the supernatural and it’s quite a powerful thing when you’re a child and you’re growing up; it feels a lot more real and scary. We still wanted to try and weave that childhood imagination into the songs and the feel of the whole record.

All About Hindi» Blog Archive » Hindi Folk Songs

By: Jennie Gandhi

Indian traditions and ceremonies are loaded with fun as rituals and songs are chief representations. There is a song and dance session to express happiness, welcoming someone in the family or a simple family get together. Marriages are full of celebration and events begin with the mehendi or application of henna on the hands. Elaborate designs include traditional Indian mehendi and also Arabic designs. The fragrance of henna and the beats of a dholak (drum) is emphasized when popular folk songs are sung. The lyrics are different in each state though there is a similarity in the theme. The folk songs can be enacted in a dance method or simply sung with a loud chorus and clapping of hands.

Folks songs for marriages weave around the idea of a girl coming of marriageable age and enumerating her mischief nature at plucking unripe mangoes and savoring the delight of tamarind in her childhood. The transition of this girl into a woman is also mentioned with catchy rhymes during the ladies sangeet. The conclusion is done in chiding her about her fiance and that he would whisk her away in front of the entire household. Folk songs also express the bold forms of bringing false negative qualities and jibes of the girls in-laws and then having a huge laugh about it. One needs to qualify with a good sense of humour for such participation as these songs are harmless renditions. The final bidaii or the farewell to the bride song is soul stirring and tears natural well up in the eyes.

Folk songs for Holi are sure fun where colours are splashed on each other. People use brickbats and false fights to irritate one another. But good humour prevails. A women during her seventh month of pregnancy is adored and revered in India with lot of gifts, adornment and a great delicacy is spread as per her choice. These godh baraai songs are different in each language and state but go on to honouring the women and seeking the blessing of God.

The welcoming of a child in the house is done with the traditional Aarti and again folk songs are sung to bring out the virtues of Lord Krishna and mother Yashoda. The naamkaran or the naming ceremony is another time when people bless the child with popular folk songs of mythological value. Navraatri is another time when garba or the dandia raas necessitates the need to dress in traditional attires and perform the dances. The songs are typical in each year and innovations are seen in the rhythm of dance and the collection of songs. Maintaining the basic folk song and infusing the same with musical treatments is much seen in fusion music. Punjabi and songs from Uttar Pradesh are rich in the lyrics. There is melody in the folk songs from the south. The Kashmiri folk songs also are typical with the regard to the tune and musical instruments.

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