My Compelling Story

Kalikaprasad Bhattacharjee is a professional singer based out of the capital city of West Bengal, Kolkata. His research into the folk songs of industrial workers from eastern India is substantially taken up with theoretical issues about the songs’ artistic relevance, the social and economic context in which they are sung, and their place in a history of subaltern culture. While he is in no doubt that such songs deserve documentation, Kalikaprasad is also interested in exploring the possible validity of industrial folk songs as an independent genre, and the connections between the folk art of an agrarian rural economy and that of a current industrial one. The very notion of industry in the Indian context is also something that he is anxious to discuss. Bhattacharya takes into account the dearth of studies relating to this aspect of folk culture. His own project is anchored to two broad, fundamental considerations: songs emanating from industrial sites like collieries, plantations, and factories are ‘folk’ in an accepted sense, and yet, they are sufficiently influenced by the requirements of life in a factory, to differ significantly from folk songs as they are commonly understood. He points out that folk songs spawned by industrialisation share the constantly evolving and yet continuous nature of folk music, as also the manner of their transmission. On the other hand, he feels that the altered process of production, the nature of contrExpected labour as against the bonded labour of the feudal system, and the mingling of individuals from different parts of the country, possibly give folk songs of the industries a distinctive character. It is this that he is especially interested in exploring.