The all-stars folk

Kan,a UK-based group,looks to popularise folk music in India with a series of gigs and workshops.

Ace flautist Brian Finnegan grew up listening to traditional music folk from the UK and Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia. It was quite unusual for me to listen to a flute tradition outside of my own,but India is the spiritual home of the flute, says Finnegan,an established flautist for over 20 years and a member of UK-based folk group Kan.

After his earlier collaborations with flautists Sunil Kant Gupta and Rajendra Prasad in 1999,Finnegan is visiting the spiritual home of his instrument once again this time for a project by British Council,called Folk Nations. The tour will take Kan a dream team that includes fiddle player,composer and producer Aidan ORourke; drummer James Goodwin and guitarist Ian Stephenson to Mumbai,Bangalore and Kolkata for workshops and performances. The Indian audience is very sharp. They notice the change between keys and rhythms. You can feel that energy on stage and work with it, says Finnegan. Mumbai,which marks the beginning of the week-long tour for Kan,will see them perform today at Bandra Fort Amphitheatre.

The instrumental band is part of a growing trend of folk musicians experimenting with the traditional form. The name Kan is a Mayan word which can be translated as yellow seed,something that signifies growth and new beginnings. Our music is a mixture of both new and traditional tunes. But even the traditional ones are reinvented, explains the veteran flautist,who wanted to put a project together which was very different from FLOOK,a band he was with until 2008. Ian and James had helped out in FLOOK,so I knew their style and Ive been a big fan of Adrians music. This was my dream band, he adds. Like him,two of his three colleagues have earlier collaborated with Indian musicians ORourke with Trilok Gurtu and Shankar Mahadevan and Goodwin with Nitin Sawhney and A R Rahman.

Even though Kan is like the Travelling Wilburys of folk music,there is very little information available online. Much like Indian folk music,UKs traditional music also lies ignored. BBC has one show on folk music,which lasts an hour,and is aired once a week. A large part of the media does not know what to make of folk music. Sometimes a celebrity champions it for a little while,but the buzz just simmers down as suddenly as it starts, he says. However,within the community,there is massive following. Concerts played by Kan are sold out on most days,but outside of the local scene,they struggle.

One of the aims of the tour is to popularise the UKs folk music in India. And youth is always the best target audience. The band will introduce underprivileged children in Mumbai to folk music from the UK. The workshops are going to be organic. Well play a piece and explain the root of the tune how we arrange it,explain it by each instrument. The children will then be invited to join in. We will have to adapt and improvise to grab the childrens attention, says Finnegan who has taught music at schools in the UK.

India could be a fertile ground for folk music,feels Finnegan. When he collaborated with flautists Gupta and Prasanna,he says the musicians picked up his melodies within minutes while he just could not wrap his head around a raga. He says,Indian music plays clean notes. I love how it is about the space between notes. The way they can bend a note is amazing.

kevin.lobo@expressindia.com

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