Sarathy Korwar has released ‘Remember Begum Rokheya’, the second track taken from his new album KALAK – an Indo-futurist manifesto. The album celebrates a rich South Asian culture of music and literature, while leaning on the aural tradition of passing rhythms, melodies, stories and recipes from generation to generation, and attempts to use those parts to describe a better route forward. Meticulous production comes courtesy of New York electronic musician, DJ and producer Photay, translating these communal rhythms and practices into a timeless and groundbreaking electronic record.
Built on an infectious group vocal, the single celebrates the life of Bengali feminist writer Begum Rokheya, and enforces the idea that marginalised voices from the past and the present can be highlighted in order to suggest a different perspective on the future.
“When speaking about futurism, one of the fundamental questions is – who gets to speculate?” Korwar explains. “Who gets to tell their story or vision of the future? Begum Rokheya is an example of someone with a radically different worldview and someone who we would generally not hear from. In her 1905 book Sultana’s Dream, she tells the story of reversed purdah, where peace-loving women overpower aggressive men to live in harmony with nature.”
“The song is based on a simple, call and response melody, paying homage to its folk music origins,” Korwar continues. “The group vocals are performed by friends and family, to reflect the song’s emphasis on community.”
KALAK will be released on November 11th in three vinyl editions (on black, dark green, and for a special Dinked Edition, crystal clear vinyl) and a CD, each featuring a different cover image. Unfortunately, as is often the case these days, the physical release date will be pushed back outside of the UK and Europe due to shipping delays. We will update this with a firm date when we have it.Pre-order/pre-save now.
Korwar has announced a handful of UK and Irish dates including Oslo in London on November 30th. Full details on our live page, with tickets going on-sale on September 30th at 10am.
