Root Cause

For Dr Shailesh Shrivastava, folk is the flavour everywhere

She8217;s fascinated by the sheer timelessness to it, by its strength to survive the whiplashes of ages and still sound perfect, 8220;just like home,8221; singer Dr Shailesh Shrivastava elevates folk music to a heavenly pedestal. In town at the invitation of ICCR and Punjab Kala Bhawan, this singer and research scholar has her roots deeply set in folk music. Which also explains her research in PhD on folk music and media. 8220;It8217;s a dying form of art8230;we hardly get to hear those traditional lullabys and folk songs anymore, but if you take a good look around, you will find a touch of folk in everything, in the food you eat, clothes you fashion, music you hear, most of the Punjabi songs in Bollywood have a folk base,8221; says Shailesh who has been singing folk and classical light music for almost two decades now along with Bollywood numbers. 8220;I did a playback for Himesh Reshammiya8217;s Benaras, then I8217;m looking forward to songs in Shamir Tandon8217;s 1918 8211; A Love Story and Hawaii Dada,8221; Shailesh also came out with an album, Chutney Chataka this year to keep the 8216;folk spirit and festivity alive8217;. 8220;Media too doesn8217;t promote much of art and culture8230;how can we just cut off from our roots,8221; she question. For Shailesh, who is trying to revive this art form, folk music has a sea of emotions in it. Whatever is hit is based on folk, she observes, crediting this form to its use of local parlance and peppy tunes. 8220;Like my favourite, a Rajasthani maand, kesariya balam8230;it8217;s so magical and haunting, how can you not fall in love with it8230;.8221; Shailesh tunes into the songs of the soil and hums words that are homebound.