The musical journey of Folkইরা, writes Anupriya Deb

“Where words leave off, Music begins.”

October 3: Folkইরা, as the name suggests, is just like ‘old wine in new bottle’. A group of young chaps of this valley clubbed together and created magic. Folkira Band made its first appearance in the ‘Gaan Mela’ that was jointly organised by Somokal and Swaralipi on 31 December 2017.

The formation of the band has an interesting story attached to it. All the present members of the band actually met at a rehearsal of an annual event of a renowned band of Silchar in the same year, that is, in 2017.

Speaking of its members, while the talented Pritam Dutta, Sayon Ray Kuton and Debraj Bhattacherjee rule hearts with their vocals, Shubrangshu Paul, Swarnadip Dey and Sudarshan Nath spread smiles with their music. Speaking to us, Folkira mentioned that though all of them belong from different walks of life but there is an invisible love for music which attach the strings between them.

From ‘Rabindra Sangeet’ to ‘Nazrul Geeti’, from ‘Unisher Gaan’ to songs of different singers and writers of this valley, they sing all kind of songs. Songs of the famous legends like Hason, Lalon, Radharomon, Shah Abdul Karim are also added to the list of their favorites. Though they sing all kind of songs but ‘folk’ is what ‘Folkira’ is known for. Apart from performing in various programs, Folkira also plays a great role in promoting music to the youth of this valley by organizing various workshops.

Folkira released their first music video, ‘Bolo Durga Mai ki,’ in the year 2018, which was a feast for the ears of many music lovers of this valley.

And since then their is no looking back. They released two more videos. The second video ‘Maa amar pagolini, Baba ganjakhor’ also made a blast entry for the music maniacs.

Their most recent release is ‘Dilona Dilona’. The lyrics and music of this is given by Shah Alom Sarkar. This is an adoption from the list of their favorite songs. Recently, this music video has earned lots of appreciation and fame. Youths are drooling over the production.

Folkইরা is a revolution for the folk tradition. Their contribution, dedication and effort is praise worthy. We wish them great success in upholding the folk tradition of this valley.