For those of you who are saying ‘I’m sure that name is ringing a bell’, I’ll deal with that right now. Satnam is in Leeds’ band Kinaara who play Punjabi and Celtic folk influenced music. This solo EP – her debut – is different. Rather than her band’s drums, guitar and vocal sound, the sound is based on drones – played on shruti box and electronic tanpura – and her voice. The songs explore, in a broad sense, women’s lives; past, now and future.
‘We Are Like Birds’ (‘Sadda Chiriya Da Chamba’) is our introduction to the EP’s sound and the arc of the songs on it. The combination of Satnam’s voice and the drone sound is completely mesmirising and hypnotic. The tone of her voice reflects the conversational form of the song.
To explain, the song is a ‘suhaag’; a Punjabi folk wedding song sung on the bride’s side of a wedding. A woman says ‘We are like birds, we will fly away. We have a long way to fly and we do not know where we will end up’. The verses are a conversation between daughter and father, she asks, ‘who will play with toys in your household now? He replies, ‘my granddaughters (son’s daughters) will play in my household, daughter go to your own home’. She asks ‘who will spin cotton in your house now?’ Again she receives the same answer. She says ‘the alleyway is too narrow for my palanquin (a covered litter for one passenger, consisting of a box carried on two poles by bearers) to go through’, he says ‘we will widen the alleyway, daughter go to your own home’.
The thing that struck me about this song is that both the words and the tone of her voice reflect the ‘sending away’ of a woman in a traditional wedding. There is an obvious plea for this not to happen. Having said this – and yes, I’m aware this is something of contradiction – there is a sad beauty to the song that has got under my skin.
In ‘Whispered Messages’ uses the melody of another suhaag over which Satnam ‘responds to themes of patriarchy and female submissiveness. Finding inspiration from her own lived experiences and from observing how the modern woman’s hopes and aspirations have changed since traditional songs were composed, The song invites new understandings of expectation and destiny through the lens of a modern feminist’.
Her voice quietly speaks messages to women and the world of change. These are strong messages that somehow gain power through her almost gentle delivery. It compels you to listen properly.
‘To Walk In Her Shoes’ is a Punjabi folk song, again one which is sung at a bride’s weddings.
In the song a woman tells the story of having to walk to her in-laws house after getting married whilst wearing shoes that don’t fit her properly, she says that she is walking on an unknown road, not knowing where is heading, she can’t say anything to her new groom as she is scared to. The words allude to fear of an uncertain future with the man who she has been married to, and a feeling of uncomfortableness and apprehension.
While I might not understand the words that tell the story, Satnam’s voice conveys the apprehension and fear of the woman whose story is told. So her vocal is ‘acting’ out the story not just singing the words. It is this that makes the song mesmerising.
In ‘A Butterfly Emerges’, she responds to the words of another suhaag, ‘For today, keep my palanquin here, I’ll even stay here as my father’s slave’. Satnam’s response is a song about leaving home to follow your own path and feeling hopeful about the future.
The drone based sound here mixes both the Punjabi folk sound and a Celtic folk feel. In places it reminds me of The Incredible String Band (one of my favourite bands) who frequently mixed these genres. The music and her voice somehow reflect the mix of joy and apprehension that setting out your own path can bring you.
‘Lagan Love’ is an Irish Air, where Satnam weaves Eastern and Western vocal styles into something uniquely beautiful.
Closing the EP, ‘If We Are Like The Birds’, is a response to track one. Satnam uses the bird metaphor as a symbol of freedom and choice. It sounds, simply, wonderful.
The songs on this EP, taken as a whole, address the need for traditional values to change, or go, to reflect the changing and developing values of now. The choice of traditional songs and Satnam’s own songs convey that message in both words and music. The choice of traditional songs tells of the experience of women. While the music, crossing as it does from Punjabi folk to Satnam’s mixing of that sound with Celtic folk, tells a story of traditions evolving and changing.
The thing we need to address here – because this is a musical work – is whether the stories and the messages overwhelm the music or indeed the music overwhelms the story and the messages. The answer is an overwhelming no. The EP works because the music and words complement each other; and do this wonderfully.
‘Fragmented Truth’ is a beautiful thing. It makes you think AND sounds wonderful. I can’t recommend this highly enough.
