Interview with Alokananda Dasgupta

Alokananda Dasgupta was born in Kolkata, India, daughter of the poet and filmmaker, Buddhadeb Dasgupta. She holds a Bachelors of Arts degree with Honors in English Literature from St. Xavier's College. She was working on her Masters in English Literature at Calcutta University when she decided to pursue her life-long passion for music in Toronto, where she received a Bachelors of Music with Honors in Theory and Composition at York University. As a classically trained pianist and piano teacher, Alokananda gravitated naturally towards music composition for films. She has scored music and assisted in the writing on a few of her father's films, most recently composing the soundtrack for the forthcoming release of “Woh”, a feature film based on Rabindranath Tagore's novel, “Shey”. She has also composed music for several short films and documentaries, and was music assistant for Amit Trivedi on the film soundtrack for “Udaan”.

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Image by Craig Boehman

Craig Boehman: So you're about to catch a train back to Mumbai. How did the scoring of your first soundtrack go?

Alokananda Dasgupta: Well I haven't finished scoring it yet, just completed the songs and some dance music that they needed to shoot with, so you can say I am standing on the threshold on post production in terms of music after the editing is done, I start the scoring, and I have to come back later for it, yeah.

CB: And the name of the movie is Woh. It's based off the Tagore novel, Shey. Can you tell us a bit about that?

AD: India is celebrating Tagore's 150th birth anniversary and Bengal is especially involved in the celebration as it is the city of Tagore. Tagore runs in all Bengali's bloods. There many theaters being put up, music being made, television series, music videos, documentaries, etc. And the Children's Film Society of the national channel in India commissioned my dad, director Buddhadeb Dasgupta, to make a children's film for Tagore's 150^th. So my father chose Shey from Tagore's plethora of novels as he felt it had elements of childlike fantasy as well an underlying poetic essence -- a balance with which he thought he could work well. The story is about the relationship between a very puritan and rigid old man and his little granddaughter, and how he breaks the barriers of their relationship by telling her stories about this imaginary character called Shey, or Woh in Hindi, which means "that man". And as we weaves such imaginary tales That Man comes to life and becomes a catalyst to their slowly blossoming bond. The grandfather was a writer but only wrote grim tales. For her he compromised on his rigidity. Obviously, my father added his own touch in this story, including elements of nature imagery, tales of mysterious masked dancers, a traveling circus group, a magic tree, etc., thereby making it more mystical. You can say that it is an adaptation.

CB: Now, the protagonist, the grandfather, has a task of making up these stories on the spot. Some of them are very colorful. The one that made me laugh was the Jackal Society. If these tales were enacted, how was scoring for such scenes of fantasy?

Image by Craig Boehman

AD: He has included elements of that. Well, I haven't scored for that yet!

CB: Now, I have to get the book and see the exact English translation of the story as just the title cracked me up. The Society for the Improvement of Jackal Behavior. Very humorous, almost Monty Python flavored.

AD: I was really nervous to compose songs for him at first as I wasn't essentially a song composer. But now that the songs have been done I feel that scoring for such fantasy scene might be equally or more daunting, ironically, as I would have to maintain a general feel of innocence and magic while scoring for those scenes. And I have no idea how to do that yet. But I will find out soon.

CB: The title track, Woh Chand, is very pop-sounding to my Western ear. Have you heard yet what its role will be in the film?

AD: Yes. I recently just watched the very rough edited rush. The song was originally supposed to be the theme song for Shey but while shooting my father realized that it work best in the end during the perfect cadence of the film. When all gets resolved, the little girl, Poupe, goes back to her house, leaving the grandfather, and starts missing him. And Shey coaxes the grandfather to come out of his loner-writer "I don't need anyone" shell and urges him to go see her. He starts missing her too, and goes to see her. And Shey looks on -- that's when the song starts -- going into the end credits. And I feel that it just gelled beautifully with this scene, sort of justifying the end.

CB: You've worked on some Bollywood music projects recently. How different are the two worlds of Mumbai and Kolkata in regards to the music in films?

AD: They are almost poles apart. Mumbai has less soul and more professionalism; it's cutthroat, merciless, works only on the survival of the fittest theory. Calcutta is more laid back, easy, unprofessional, and much less competitive. These features bring out the very essence of the two cities both musically and otherwise. And I think it's good to have a bit of both.

CB: Let's talk a little about the process of scoring for you. Do you rely mostly on your studies of composition, or is there some mix between that and what you're able to pull off technically on an instrument or computer?

AD: To be quite honest with you, there is very little influence of my actual education in the way I compose now. There's not a set formula, either. I owe it much to the actual hands on experience that I received in programming and in music direction while I was assisting the Bollywood composer, Amit Trivedi. The rest I owe to my general exposure to music and films in general. I do not like to use my own piano playing or technology, i.e. programming, unless it's imperative. Ultimately, it's live instrumentation that I score in my mind.

Image by Craig Boehman

CB: Is there going to be a soundtrack released of Woh?

AD: I really hope so!

CB: Talk about some of the musicians you worked with on the songs and scenes.

AD: I have come across two very good singers from Bombay while recording the song, Woh Chand. One is quite a popular folk singer called Raghu Dixit, and the other is an Assamese singer called Angaraag Mahanto. I decided to go with the latter as his voice was perfect for the song. They turned out to be genuine musicians as they helped me a lot with recording. Apart from them I also met a Grammy-winning banjo player named Subhasish, an A-class guitarist named Bapi, and a very talented Bengali all-girls folk band called Teetas, to name a few. All of them participated in the recording of Woh Chand as well as the other two songs of the film.

Telegrams from Mark Twain

Kickstarter.com is a fundraiser site dedicated to art projects. I am utilizing their services in hopes of raising $13,000 in order to record a spoken word CD entitled "Telegrams from Mark Twain". The money would go towards paying the composer, musicians, studio & mixing costs as well as for promotion of the album. I would be supplying most of the poetry and voice for the recordings although I'm leaving open the option for patrons donating a thousand bucks or more to offer their own input into a single track.

My project has been approved by the site operators at Kickstarter.com.

Telegrams from Mark Twain

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/craigboehman/telegrams-from-mark-twain

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There is nothing more exciting for a spoken word artist than to perform live -- or to set his or her words to music! Poetry can set a room aflame while music can move the listener 'beyond words.' Together, they form a thoughtful fusion of the arts that showcase both mediums in their definitive strengths.

In early January of 2011, it was announced that a publisher, NewSouth Books, and its editor and author, Dr. Allen Gribben, were planning to release an expurgated, i.e. “censored” version of Huck Finn. In February of 2011, this became a reality. Despite the outraged responses from literally thousands of Mark Twain fans and enthusiasts in the United States and abroad -- not to mention a general outcry from the media -- the book is winning over authors, teachers, academics, and Pulitzer Prize-winners alike. I was stunned at the flippant and lazy excuses given for their support of something that is so blatantly wrong: The abuse of a death author's work in order to fulfill personal agendas.

In support of the wonderful works of Twain, I would like to record an album of spoken word poetry in defense of his work entitled, Telegrams from Mark Twain. It would be a work of protest poetry expressing the unbridled rage against those that would willingly take the steps to suppress the work of others. Having debated many of these pundits of censorship online and offline, I am familiar with their arguments. My work would state the arguments they put forth in a poetic manner, expressing the sentiments of those who seek comfort over truth, or profits over 'genuine' literature. I would poetically speculate on scenarios in which a society accepted “Leave It to Beaver” editions of literature in order to instruct students they feel are not capable of handling racial slurs or vulgarity as expressed by characters in a work of fiction.

Attacks on the arts to “clean them up” is nothing new. It is important to stand up on behalf of every artist, alive or dead. It matters not what the subject matter is. This project would include several pieces that would highlight a poetic Mark Twain perspective from beyond the grave, hence the title featuring an anachronism that is similar to a modern day text message, the telegram. Telegrams from Mark Twain wouldn't necessarily downplay the sincerity of those who feel that censored works are okay in some situations, but I would illustrate through the use of satire and parody the multitude of reasons why leaving a writer's (or artist's) work alone is paramount to a free society. One piece in particular would welcome the absurd irony of a poet's pursuit of a boycott for the publisher responsible for censoring a work of Twain's. No stone shall not be left unturned!

Telegrams from Mark Twain would be set against the background music from an accomplished composer. The pieces would vary based upon the sole merit of the poem itself rather than seeking to weave together a common thematic tie based around the same set of instruments. In this regard, the backing music would be more comparable to contributions of several artists to one soundtrack. As a result, each song or poem would stand on its own in relation to the whole. A few tracks may well feature backing singers from India to supply textural voicings against the mouthpiece of the narrative. To my knowledge, there has not been a project quite like this one. The richness and variety of the music would greatly enhance the message of the project, and the marriage of music and poetry would be celebrated on every single track.

Funding for Telegrams from Mark Twain is important to the movement against those that feel it's in everybody's best interest to allow censored materials to flourish. It's not to say that we should subject publishers and authors to the black lists of the McCarthy Days. On the contrary, there is no reason that a protest couldn't be an act of art.

In Pursuit of the Cinnamon Roll

I'll make one thing clear from the get-go: I'm no baker. But I have been trying to duplicate a recipe of my grandmother's in an attempt to recapture a simpler time in my life as a child -- back when I was looking forward to more complicated times as an adult. Little did I know that this little irony would open a wormhole into an alternate universe where the Other Me would attempt to bake something that actually took more than 30 minutes. The Other Me suggested that I let him document the event with my camera (for some reason in his universe he doesn't own one, although he is married to Scarlett Johansson, which he says makes up for the fact since she owns a couple nice ones (cameras)).

Let's get on with it. First, you need a recipe for bread. Here's the one I used below.

Here's some of the stuff you'll need. Brown sugar is for later.

Dissolve the yeast in two cups of hot water for ten minutes. 

Stir it until it looks like an overpriced cappuccino from Paris.

Then select the bowl for mixing the dough. Make it a big one, says Other Me.

It's wise to use Crisco and coat the bowl so the dough won't stick after you mix.

Crisco? Yes. It's not just for the bedroom anymore.

Bring it out of the closet to see the light of day...

So go like this...

Until it looks like this.

This is not the way to open your bag of flour.

 Then dump in your water followed by your flour.

 Next add your oil.

Don't look to Iraq... I used olive oil.

Ain't it purdy?

Now, pour it in there like so...

Doesn't it look like the urine you bought off that guy on the street that one time

so you could pass your drug test?

And don't forget to add your sugar and salt!

And mix.

Then when it gets real rough to work using a spoon, switch over to hands.

Make it look like this, okay?

Behold...

This is your dough.

Then it's time to cover and let the dough rise for two hours.

After one hour of Mr. Mojo Risin, it looked like this. Half way there!

And after two long hours, you get this.

It will be all puffy. Time to knead the dough. Bash it around a bit.

Work it real good and get out all those air pockets.

Then it's time to prepare the board for rolling the dough...

A little flour keeps the dough from being all sticky and stuff.

If you hadn't washed your hands at all prior to this, now would be a humane time to do so.

Now, let's roll that dough. 

Other Me says it's a good idea to put a little flour on the roller to keep it from sticking.

You should come out with something similar to this after you smear on some Crisco.

Next, add your cinnamon and brown sugar. I mixed together about

3/4 cup of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon.

Now, let's schmear it on your dough.

Time to roll in the dough...

And cut it into sections with a sharp knife.

Make the rolls look like this.

Then stick them all in a Crisco-greased glass or metal baking tray.

Stick them in a preheated oven at 350 F. 

You'll want to bake them for 25-30 minutes.

Take them out... and VOILA!

You'll want to remove them form the dish and let them cool.

I don't like mine sweet, so I take them like this.

But I suppose one could smear a bunch of that sicky-sweet goop on for frosting.

And don't forget to clean up...

That includes fixing your flour bags so you don't think rats got into it

the next time you bake!