MUMBAI: Angaraag Mahanta a.k.a Papon has made an incredible mark in the music industry. He has been propelling Indian folk music to glorious pinnacles for many years now.
The singer-composer is gearing up for his next album after many years. Papon’s first Hindi album ‘The Story So Far’ was released in 2012 and first Assamese album ‘Jonaaki Raati’ in 2004. Papon was recently featured in a musical documentary ‘Hometown Heroes’ by Red Bull Media House Production.
Confirming the reports, he said, “I am working on my album finally after six years. We are still working on the programming and arranging the sounds. If everything goes well, it will be out in few months.”
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“I am planning to release the album as EP. First EP will consist of four songs and next volume will consist of another four songs. There will be two-three music videos too,” added the ‘Banao Banao’ singer.
While talking about the implication of folk and fusion music in today’s age, he shared, “Fusion started when people wanted to try different forms. Those were the times when you are alien to some music forms you have no clue about, and you are trying to blend different forms of music. Nowadays I don’t even know when I am switching between genres and styles. We are fused from inside. I can very shift from a Latin groove to jhumur effortlessly.”
According to him, we are from a generation where fusion thing is from the past now and he doesn’t think about fusion anymore. “Now it is world music and the whole world is together. As per the regions, the forms are different,” said the national award winning singer.
We also asked him about his experience as he performs at international music festivals and several venues globally. Speaking about it he said, “I feel international crowd is more open minded, aware, and they know how to take pleasure in the innovation. More of the Indian crowd is stuck in their mind. In any concert if they don’t get what they want, they go through disappointments. When I am performing in front of international audience, there is an absolute new vibe, where people are there to absorb new things. Indian audience is kind of prefixed about what they want, what they don’t like and what they have come for. That is the indispensable dissimilarity.”
