Musical mystic

CELEBRATING TWO DECADES, FUSION ARTISTE PAPON BELIEVES MUSIC IS HIS IDENTITY, NOT BUSINESS. FARHANA FAROOK IN CONVERSATION WITH THE POPULAR SINGER AND COMPOSER

Jajabor, the theme song for MTV Hero Roadies X, created by acclaimed musician and singer Papon, is in tandem with his own persona. 'Jajabor', an Assamese word for 'traveller', implies someone who creates new roads where none exist. Born in Assam and exposed to folk and classical music, Papon too has explored genres across the musical panorama creating new tunes, new sounds.

From Mehdi Hassan and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to Pink Floyd, from Frank Zappa and Irish rock band U2 to ghazal queen Farida Khanum or American trumpeter Louis Armstrong… Papon’s influences have been as eclectic as his art. The founder of the folk-fusion band Papon and The East India Company, he's been the only artiste to have been a part of all three seasons of Coke Studio MTV. Creating folk music, ghazals, rock, blues… with the khol, tabla, guitar and harmonium, Papon asserts that music has no barriers, no boundaries. In recent times, nothing can surpass the sensuality of his number Moh moh ke dhaage for Dum Laga Ke Haisha. Enjoying cross audience popularity, the song is the romantic's getaway.

“Attitude, of course in a positive manner, is important. You should add your own vibe to the song,” says Papon as he completes two decades in the music business. “I have many sides to myself. I cry, I laugh. At times, I believe I’m the best. At times, I fear I’m the last in the line, while everyone is ahead of me. I am shy. I am a rockstar… I am many in one,” says the singer-songwriter, producer and composer whose repertoire boasts of the ‘sounds of life’ – from the stillness of the valleys to the din of the streets, from the hum of sunrise to the hush of sunset…

FAMILY FIRST