Of a river, sound & fury

Neha Kirpal

Its waters nurture life, its waters end misery. Civilisations evolve by its banks; that’s where life finds meaning… Papon’s ode to the might Brahmaputra is an ode to every river. Namami Brahmaputra urges the river to never get angry and flow calmly, touch lives with goodness. An anthem for the country’s biggest river, the musical tribute has an Assamese version besides a Hindi one. It features prominent singers from Bollywood and Assam and has superstar Amitabh Bachchan opening the Hindi song. The song was composed for the debut edition of India’s largest river festival by the same name, held in Guwahati from March 31 to April 4.

Tell us about Namami Brahmaputra and the idea behind it.

This is one of my most memorable projects ever. It is for the first time that so many Assamese and Hindi artistes have come together and sung for a river. In the Assamese version, I have worked with a generation of singers, starting with my mother Archana Mahanta to the current generation. The Hindi version has voices from several well-known artistes — Amitabh Bachchan, Shreya Ghoshal, Arijit Singh, Sonu Nigam, Vishal-Shekhar, Shaan, Shankar Mahadevan, Shubha Mudgal, Usha Uthup, Kailash Kher, Zubeen Garg and Harshdeep Kaur. The lyrics have been penned by Swanand Kirkire. The song was completed within a short span of 12 days — from composition, to shooting the video in Assam, as well as with various artistes in multiple cities.

The song showcases the art, heritage and culture of your home state. What does it personally mean to you?

Needless to say, it means a lot. I spent most of my childhood in Assam and have never seen a river as huge and mighty as the Brahmaputra. The river was widely used for transport and trade of coal and timber by the British. However, no one has ever paid a tribute to it. It was a great opportunity for me to do something on this big a scale as I always wanted to sing an everlasting song for the river that could reach out to the world. It’s a part of the country that not even many Indians know about.

The song is a collaboration between artistes from various backgrounds. Tell us about that.

It was a really overwhelming experience for me. It felt so good that each of these artistes took the time out for this project and were actively involved in it. Vishal and Shekhar say they never get to spend time with each other. I have no idea how they managed to take out time for me. Kailash Kher had never before been to their studio before this recording. It felt great to be the sutradhar, who got all these people together! Shaan and Shreya Ghoshal shared with me their personal memories of going to the river.

Of course, the cherry on the cake was Amitabh Bachchan. His sincerity, dedication, hardworking and active nature was so inspiring. He told me that he had about half an hour for the shoot and had the song on his phone before he came. Within the short time span, he even took the trouble of shooting multiple takes. He later told me that everyone at his home was my fan. Coming from a stalwart like him, it felt great.

Most of all, it was a humbling experience as none of these artistes took any money for this project. They were there for their love for the river. It was a huge learning opportunity for me to see how tuned in each of them was into what they were doing.

Today, you are one of the most sought-after voices not just in your region, but all over India. As a young person from the Northeast, how do you feel about your pan-India reach?

It certainly feels good and should be a positive sign for the youth of the Northeast. A lot has already been said about the discrimination and alienation people from the region face. The truth is, it often gets ignored and has very little exposure to the rest of the country. But despite everything, if someone really wants to do something and goes after it, it is possible to make it happen. In a sense, one can be anywhere and make a global impact. This is definitely something that should be an inspiration for the youth from my area.

What are some of your future projects that fans can look forward to?

Quite a few actually. My Assamese album, which may also have a Hindi version, should be out in May. The EP 2 for my recently released album The Story Now (2016) should also be out in July this year. Apart from that, I am also currently working on my ghazal album, which will have original compositions.