Ten years ago, alien music producer Bandish Projekt picked up a transmission from planet earth from a Brown Skin Beauty called the Last Mango in Paris. Years later, Bandish landed on earth, and created Alchemy. Mayur Narvekar is Bandish Projekt, based in Mumbai. Shane Solanki is the Last Mango In Paris, based in London. Upon meeting ten years ago, they began to bounce ideas over seas, bound by their Common Tongue - their Indian identity.

Their first EP comes on the back of ten years of overseas collaboration, including singles Brown Skin Beauty and Alchemy, whose videos picked up awards across the globe. On the Common Tongue EP, Shane’s sweet and sour spoken word is laced over Mayur’s electronic scores, which marry classical Indian music to beats which will tear up dance floors from Delhi to Detroit.

A lowdown of all the tracks is as follows:

1) Krishna: In the story of the Bhagavad Gita, Prince Arjuna is tormented as he drives into battle in his rickshaw, because he might have to kill his brothers. He consults his crossdressing rickshaw driver, who happens to be the superhero god Krishna in disguise. Krishna busts some lyrics to Arjuna. This track conjures images of early morning ragas by the side of the Ganges.

2) Kali Yatra: To boldly go where no woman has gone before… A bass heavy, beat which sounds a bit like Indian Sitar Trek. Kali Yatra features MC Mawali, a star in the making. A stalwart of India’s growing hip hop scene, his killer flow is matched by intelligent, political and conscious lyrics, delivered here in Hindi. Malawi raps in many languages.

3) Cows: American rappers rap about “hos”; Indian rappers rap about feminism, vegetarianism and non violence to every living soul. Cows is a cheeky satirical remix of Ludacris’s misogynist banger, Area Codes. It features the sick skills of Mc Tod Fod, rapping in Gujarati - Gandhi’s mother tongue.

4) Language Of Love: Sparse, moody and melancholic, this track is reminiscent of Shane’s first release, Accepting Tranquility, produced by Mercury Prize winner Talvin Singh and released on Island Records in 1997. The vocal rhythms featured on the track are called bol. Bol are tabla rhythms. The tabla is an Indian classical drum, brought to attention worldwide by pioneers like Talvin Singh, and Ustad Zakir Hussain. Before a tabla player begins to play, she learns to vocalise the rhythms first.

5) Party People: ‘Party people, open hearted. Can you feel what you have started?’           

Bandish Projekt is Mayur Narvekar, a composer, producer, musician and DJ based in Mumbai. 'Bandish’ in its Indian classical connotation means “composition”. Mayur fuses classical Indian music with ruff neck beats and bass to make the room shake. In 2009, Mayur released his first solo album, Correkt. His music has taken him to world wide including Australia, the States and Europe.

Shane Solanki is a polymath whose work spans comedy, poetry, music and performance, Shane also acts as a facilitator, helping communities around the world shape and share their own stories. He has collaborated with the likes of Mercury Prize winner Talvin Singh and independent record label Ninja Tune, and supported artists including Kate Tempest and Ursula Rucker.

Mayur and Shane’s collaboration has been supported by the Arts Council, British Council, South Bank Centre, An Indian Summer and Leicester Curve.  

Check out the EP on:

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/common-tongue-ep/id1060516869

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/bandishprojekt/sets/common-tongue

BandCamp: https://bhejafryrecords.bandcamp.com/album/common-tongue