Berklee Indian Ensemble at 10: An album and big tours

Few groups have reimagined Indian songs as this global collective born out of Berklee College of Music has, writes Ram Rakshith V

Berklee Indian Ensemble, a global collective of Indian music, released its highly anticipated debut album ‘Shuruaat’ on July 15 and we hear it is in the race for nominations at the Grammy awards next year.

The album marks the 10th year of their momentous journey.

The ensemble is led by 11 full-time musicians representing India, Jordan, Israel, Nigeria, the USA, and other countries. It hosts ‘Annual Artist Residencies’, where students are mentored by seasoned musicians like A R Rahman, Shankar Mahadevan, Shreya Ghoshal, Vijay Prakash, Clinton Cerejo, and Raghu Dixit.

Back to their album. It features 10 tracks by 98 musicians from 39 countries, including some of India’s iconic artistes such as tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, Shreya Ghoshal and Shankar Mahadevan from Bollywood, Grammy-winning Kannada vocalist Vijay Prakash and contemporary classical duo, Shadow and Light.

The songs are composed in multiple languages and also various genres (Hindustani and Carnatic classical, folk, and sufi to progressive rock, jazz and pop). Four compositions are original and some tracks pay tribute to musical bands Shakti’ and ‘Remember Shakti’.

Annette Philip, founder-director of the Berklee Indian Ensemble, says, "The songs are uplifting, playful, energetic, and are based on thought-provoking themes from the Indian mythology. One song is composed of Urdu poetry by Mirza Ghalib and Fatima Wasia Jaisi. The original compositions remind us to stay in the moment and to face each day with joy and courage.’’

The album was long pending. Their 2014 reinterpretation of A R Rahman’s ‘Jiya Jale’ was the starting point as it garnered 50 million views. The 2019 rearrangement of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s ‘Unnai Kaanadhu Naan’ served as the catalyst, clocking five million views. Their take on the rock fusion band Indian Ocean’s ‘Jhini’ and Shreya Ghoshal’s Tamil song ‘Sundari Pennae’ were big hits too.

“We were discouraged from trying to release an album that included Indian music covers initially. Procuring rights would be tedious and next to impossible, that was a general notion. It took us two years (2020-2022) to identify a music label that would be willing to distribute this album. We signed contracts with 98 musicians and launched a publishing wing for our originals,’’ Annette talks of the album’s making.

The ensemble has an exciting calendar ahead. They plan to tour India at the end of 2022 and do a world music tour in 2023-24. Collaborations with artistes like Sting, Ariana Grande, Jacob Collier, Snarky Puppy, Tinariwen, Anoushka Shankar and Tigran Hamasya are on the cards. Bagging sync licensing opportunities to showcase their music on Netflix and Amazon is on their wishlist.

The album can be streamed on all major streaming platforms.