Folk Tales

In case you’re not tuned in,Marling and Mumford and Sons are two of the hottest folk-indie acts to emerge out of Britain in the last year and they usually tour together. If you like Joan Baez,Joni Mitchell,Vashti Bunyan and even a little Regina Spektor,Marling sings to your tune. “I’ve been in India for three days and have already found myself on a camel hump. I’m also learning Bollywood dance moves and am feeling pretty cool,” Marling smiled in a rare,light-hearted aside.

The camel ride wasn’t the only Rajasthan element in Marling’s trip. She has been in a recording studio with Rajasthani musicians from the Dharohar Project and has managed to successfully mesh her acoustic tunes with the robust,earthy sounds of Rajasthan. “They’re incredible musicians and we’ve been sitting down with our music. They’ve been sharing theirs and we’ve found a way to meet midway. We were also surprised that we have a lot more in common with Rajasthani musicians than we’d expected. We’ve recorded four songs already,” said Ben Lovett,who plays the keyboards and sings backing vocals for Marcus Mumford,who could not perform on Thursday evening as he was taken ill. In his absence,the evening was saved by Peter Roe,a talented pianist who took up the guitar and performed with the rest of the Mumford boys,singing American country and Bob Dylan.

At the concert,the piece de resistance were the collaborated tunes between the British groups and Rajasthani musicians. “I’d written a song called Devil Spoke for my next album. I play a section of the song and the Rajasthani musicians have adapted it to suit their instruments and vocals,” said Marling. Another song that the bands have worked on includes satirical verses by Dharohar’s very own protest poet,Jumma,who with his bhajpang,set the song to a very upbeat tempo that heightened the sarcasm of the lyrics.

The collaboration was brought together by SoundPad,a series by the British Council,and record label Only Much Louder,designed to encourage the exchange of ideas,culture and musical influences between artists in the UK and India. The concert was organised by the Youth Parliament Foundation,a Delhi-based non-profit organisation. Marling and Mumford are now headed to Mumbai,before travelling to Bangalore,Hyderabad and Kolkata.