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Ethnic Chords is a repository of the numerous folk music traditions existing in the Darjeeling hills and the Eastern Himalayan region. The website functions as an archive of research materials on the music traditions of North Bengal and Sikkim. Ethnic Chords is envisioned to evolve into a platform that will co-create and collaborate with folk musicians and folk artists to make their voices heard in the digital landscape.

 

 

While the project was initially designed as an academic exercise, the narrow parameters within which one had to function due to the Covid 19 pandemic expanded its scope and forced it to grow into something larger. The study-from-home situation helped me get in touch with local music traditions and gain first-hand experience on the same through interactions with craftsmen and musicians. Furthermore, the exigencies of the pandemic made me rely heavily on primary data collection by zooming in on the folk music scene at a grassroots level. My experiences during the fieldwork also de-romanticised the notion of the folk artist as primarily a cultural entity. Getting a closer look at the harsh material realities atop which society is wont to pedestalize the image of the folk artist was a humbling and an eye-opening experience.  

 

 

Because the realm of music lies beyond the strokes of letters, and because auditory pleasures can hardly be sampled through ocular perusals, this project has made liberal use of musical performances by folk artists from Darjeeling. In a bid to provide a glimpse of the material realities of the craftsmen and musicians concerned, a significant part of the project comprises listening to what they have to say and hearing their voices, both literally and figuratively speaking. The sights and sounds of their lived experiences have been captured in the form of performances and conversations, as can be found on the “Media” page of this website.  Translating from Nepali to English, collecting primary data through fieldwork, video making, editing and subtitling were some skills that one had to learn and practice while working on this project, which made it a fusion of online and offline experiences.

 

 

While data has gone digital, lived realities remain analogue. It is these experiences of folk musicians and craftsmen that the project strives to capture and present. 

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