Deep in the forest with Folk music

India surely has become a great market for music with several international artistes now making way for performances and collaborations to the country. And to add to the list will be santoor player Rahul Sharma's forthcoming album, Deep India, in collaboration with Grammy Award winning artist Eric Mouquet from the group Deep Forest.

The album is in the lines of other projects of Deep Forest such as Deep Brasil, Deep China and will tentatively be releasing in mid-December.

Santoor player Rahul Sharma will be collaborating with Deep Forest for his forthcoming album

"I have done several collaborations earlier and when I was approached to do another collaboration with Deep Forest I was very excited as I enjoy their distinct sound, and would want to be a part of it," says Sharma.

Eric Mouquet

The album will have eight tracks, each capturing folk melodies from different states across the country, with Sharma's compositions added to it. "When you listen to Tribal or Folk music, it's very raw. I have improvised compositions of what I have heard of these folk songs, created my own tunes on the santoor and Deep Forest has given their sound design to the entire music. This is the most interesting project for me as Electronica, Folk and santoor have never come together before," says Sharma.

The album features a track called Madikeri (in Coorg district), where Sharma and Mouquet have used actual recordings of the songs sung by the tribes who reside in the area. Incidentally, Sharma tells us about plans to have a concert in Madikeri, with Mouquet and his five-member band, who will perform in India for the first time, in mid-December, "It's an ideal setting for Deep Forest as the venue is in the middle of a jungle."