Description
For millions in rural India, low literacy makes traditional texting exclusionary. In arranged marriages where migrant husbands work far from home, patchy networks and mismatched schedules make calling difficult, leaving couples as strangers. "Baatan Hi Baatan Mein" tells the story of such a couple. The music is not just a feel-good element in this story. It is a character. It aids and abets the growing closeness between the separated newlyweds in much the same way as WhatsApp’s Voice and Video Notes do. The lyrical track plays out as a conversation between two distant lovers, borrowing its form and structure from the almost forgotten folk songs of rural India where music is a storytelling tool. The composition and instrumentation borrow their codes from the rituals of unions and shubhaarambh (Hindi word meaning an auspicious beginning). It spotlights the shehnai - an instrument inseparable from weddings.
