Wake Up and Listen
With Jaago, singer/producer Lifafa (Suryakant Sawhney) released a modern ‘folktronica’ classic. Here is a track-by-track review of this 2019 album.
In a world of obsessive guitarists and rap enthusiasts, Jaago brings fresh rain to the arid-turned music ears.
Suryakant Sawhney, as Lifafa, developed this 31-minute long progressive stance of authentic electronic sound. Divided into 8 tracks, the album will have you singing along, a rich tapestry woven over retro Bollywood soundscapes and peppered with Hindi lyrics. Jaago has the ability to own you right from the beginning, and never leave.
Known for his work with Peter Cat Recording Co., Suryakant turned to Lifafa as his solo outfit. Based out of Delhi, Lifafa released this compilation independently in January 2019. His past compilations are not be found on streaming platforms anymore. This work is rare — and it’s rarity is a conversation-starter in itself.
Jaago promises an immersion into the ‘everyday’ of Delhi’s India. Sounds on this record range from late night minimalist meanderings to field recordings of an Indian Railways train. Differentiating itself from albums that fill in backgrounds of our everyday, Jaago not only manages to create its own perspective, but also shares it with an aesthetic finesse with the listener.
Before we move into the specifics of each track, be informed that there are no prizes for guessing the instruments used in this compilation. (Just google them, if you are curious!)
1) “Jaago जागो”
The title track on this album opens with an illustrious harmonium sustain accompanied by rather nostalgic vocals. ‘Doob raha hai mera desh’ therefore chimes well with our times enveloped (Lifafa?) in this flavour of an era gone by. If not nocturnal, the tone selection is very associative with a musical gathering in the evening. Suryakant’s writing and vocal delivery here undoubtedly feature him as addressing this gathering. The message, if any, is clear - ‘Jaago’ – Wake up! – which, aided by a religious use of sustained repetition, accelerates into the climax of this track at 2:29. This movement to the climax is short-lived, and surely not the most precise and refined layer-blending on this album. After 2:29, the entirety of sustained movements and Suryakant’s awe-inspiring dreamy renditions of vocals break into somewhat a celebration of beats.
This is where we see Jaago in conversation with A.R Rahman’s and Rajat Dholakia’s Genda Phool (2009). This conversation arises through the minimalist stance in beat selection and synth renditions. As a listener, one cannot help but start moving to this celebration. With its minimal design and fresh instrumentation, “Jaago” very aptly paves the way for the next tracks in this album.
2) “Chaku Chidiya चाकू चिड़िया”
What a peculiar name for a track! Well, the celebration that was initiated by Jaago continues into the opening of this track with folkish beats and a banjara (poetic licence) synth lead. The closest relative of this lead would be the one used in “Red Swan” by the prolific Japanese Composer Susumo Yokata in his album The Boy And The Tree (2002). As nomadic as this track sounds, it is by no means alienating. Suryakant’s manipulated hums and the banjara lead makes one loosen up and dance unabated. After a minute into the track “Chaku Chidiya” has already made home in our minds, unnoticed. We realise this when the hums develop into vocals at 1:17 with a brief moment of silence. This silence has been meticulously placed and speaks volumes of the compositional finesse in this album. Vocals compliment the banjara lead and folk beat well and this gives a contemplative character to the track. With brief moments of silence, Lifafa appears to be having a lot of fun in composing this track, instigating playfulness in the otherwise contemplative mind of the listener.
At 2:01, we hear something familiar. The synth from the first track, “Jaago”, returns here, as a filler between further development of beats into more indie flavours and thunderous envelops mixed along with the vocals on this track. Why this self-referentiality? There are other ambient sounds that shroud the vocals further, giving the track its climatic feature. The track hereon progresses as a repetition of its initial movements, which are attempted to be concealed under the varied ambient textures and variation on vocals.
3) “Mere Saath मेरे साथ”
A focused bass dabble accompanied by a shrill synth opens into a groovier and colourful chemistry of layers right in the beginning of “Mere Saath”. The compositional quality reminds one of Nujabes’ Modal Soul (2005). Once again Lifafa has possessed the listener right in the beginning. This stance of composition echoes the openness of “Jaago”, and Sawhney’s baritones on this track only make this clearer. “Mere Saath” is an open invite into the dreamy immersion promised in this album. The track is rather very minimal when placed on the common ground with the two preceding tracks. This does not however compromise on the quality of the album’s progression, as the listener is kept in the mood for groove with occasional bass build-ups and release textures. “Mere Saath”, therefore, makes for a mild breather that has the capacity to contour itself around almost all kinds of music tastes.
4) “Nikamma निकम्मा”
Sawhney strikes yet again with absolute freshness on this track. The highlight is his lyrical excellence, both in terms of writing and delivering. So far, this is the only track that seems to be composed around vocals, and Suryakant seems to be singing rather than using his voice as a filler between his compositions. Vocals are initially rendered with a ‘straight face’, and gradually develop into more bluesy and mellow flavours, before reaching their final evolutionary form of mild playfulness.
One will able to notice the transition with a stand-alone synth at 1:26. The lyrics on this track don’t necessarily follow a linear trajectory in terms of a story, for which Lifafa appears to be standing outside the Hindi language while writing the lyrics for “Nikamma”. This has displeased some critics and shaped their convictions around the suitability of lyrical writing in Hindi for this track. On the other hand, the lyrics do blend in immaculately with the instrumentation. Synth melodies and beat patterns, as said earlier, have been constructed around the words; these lyrics and instruments on Nikamma complement each other and are hence complete.
5) “Candy कैंडी (featuring Hashback Hashish)”
Jaago promises an immersion into the ‘everyday’ of Delhi’s India. Sounds on this record range from late night minimalist meanderings to field recordings of an Indian Railways train. Differentiating itself from albums that fill in backgrounds of our everyday, Jaago not only manages to create its own perspective, but also shares it with an aesthetic finesse with the listener.
Lifafa is back with its harmonium sustain on “Candy”. It is probably safe to say now that the harmonium sustain is Lifafa’s signature on this album. Candy is a collaboration between Lifafa’s Harmonium and Hashish’s minimal techno. Those who have departed from the realm of language altogether in the current music movement-of-affairs will surely be delighted with this collaborative endeavour. There are some mind-altering sustains and releases on this track, that appear and disappear throughout its length. One cannot help but admire the precision of mixing on this track. The kind of precision would have been an absolute pleasure in the opener “Jaago” as well.
“Candy” progresses further, supremely minimal, and evolves into a much expected euphoric promised land towards the end..
6) “Din Raat दिन रात”
Lifafa published this track before the album was released, perhaps to feature the mysteriously spacey notations in its opening steps. Well, the mysterious synth is maintained, but pushed to the background, when the focused disco beats announce their arrival. Vocals don’t hold back either, and are mostly melodious. A hypnotic layer keeps weaving itself around the set movement of this track. This has reinstated the dreamy character (or Lifafa’s dreamy character) to the soundscape here. Even though this is a dream, the vocals transpire a strong sense of yearning. There are other sounds on this track as well, which will be only noticeable after a couple of listens.
Very abruptly, at 2:27, the disco beats give way to the ambiance of a synth, which had already been introduced before the beats were jailed. There is an attempt to conceal the stand-alone synth with superiorly ambient vocals, which finally begin to smoothen out everything at 2:45. After this brief moment of alienation, probably for the first time on the album, Lifafa and the listener gradually finding their rhythm again. This is most apparent when Lifafa has arrived at its genius with ‘ghar aaja’ at 3:10.
This is also the continuation of the conversation with A.R Rahman, but this time Jaago is in conversation with rapper M.I.A in “O... Saya” (2008). This movement of genius evolves further into a rather ecstatic release, and then a celebration after Lifafa’s self-crafted drop at 3:13. The track then concludes with contemplative howls and nimble electric shocks.
7) “Ek Nagma एक नगमा”
Ek Nagma was also one of the tracks to feature on Youtube before the album’s official launch. The claps noticed at the very beginning of the song keep it together and give Sawhney enough room to explore the elaborative side of a vocal delivery. Although the claps are not very audible during a chorus-like release movement, they make it back into the track after this interval at 1:30. The signature groovy synth-line progresses for the entirety.
Lifafa’s genius of ‘brief moment of silence’ features again at 2:35 after which a EDM-like release movement celebrates the track. Vocals have a big role to play, they are modulated by the highs and lows of the composition, and compliment this movement well. The rest of the song is mostly the regime of the groovy-synth line, which, aided by submissive beats, slowly fades away into an outro for the last track on the compilation.
8) “MJRH”
Featuring the album’s most unique opening, “MJRH” is the last track on the compilation. There are a lot of cracks to the abbreviation of ‘MJRH’ on social media, but the two most popular ones are ‘main jee raha hun’ (‘I’m living’) and ‘main jal raha hun’ (‘I’m burning’). Since the former is featured on the track, it is generally believed to be the correct interpretation.
“MJRH” opens with the recording of a train field and is neatly blended into the ambient synth. Vocals are relaxed and in no hurry to finish. A strong sense of ‘passing-by’ is invoked with the train field, and is continued with the ambiance, as if preparing for a change. The vocals though, want to make this passing-by well, just in case of this being a farewell. We also hear an evolved, minimal form of Lifafa’s harmonium on this track. “MJRH” does not have much instrumentation, but it feels as if the three-and-a-half-minute track has settled in less than a minute. It formally ends with what it had initially begun: a whistle like penetration in a silent world.
It would be difficult to choose a favourite in this album, but “Candy” and “MJRH” stand out as contenders because of the uniqueness of their composition.
Jaago can be considered as the ‘finally-found-their-voice’ album, and there is definitely a lot of space in this realm of music, which I would best define as ‘Folktronica’. A lot more is expected of Lifafa, especially in his vocals, as this album continues finding new listeners every day.
Perhaps we will hear another album from Lifafa in the coming years. Jaago’s freshness must be preserved, if it is to see itself through the long-long way to sharing a Hall of Fame with Charnjit Singh’s Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat (1982). And maintaining this freshness is perhaps a collective responsibility of the artist — and the listeners, too.
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The Blue Magpie is an art critic, flying through tunes unknown, promising silence for those who hear.
