Manipuri folk musician Mangka has come out with her latest single, in collaboration with Portugal’s iconic pop band Clã.
The track is part of an album called T(H)REE – A Musical Journey From Portugal To Asia. T(H)REE is a project that has been joining Portuguese and Asian musicians over the last decade in unique collaborations, with the aim of creating new soundscapes, exploring the local cultures, and promoting the best music made in the different styles.
“As I am rooted to a traditional music and most of my work and collaboration has been mostly with traditional and folk music from different countries, when we first started collaborating with a pop and rock band Clã, we were aware of how the two different music genres will blend together. But it was really a good experience working with them. Music has no barrier they make the music more beautiful with their western aroma, Clã had really put their great potential to make the music unique and I had a belief that this music will mark a history,” said Mangka.
The styles go from folk to rock, pop to electronica and spoken word to experimental. Among the Portuguese participants are iconic names such as Clã, Peixe, Amélia Muge and Old Jerusalem, and from Asia names like Mangka (India), Indus Creed (India), Dinesh Subasinghe (Sri Lanka), Mohichehra (Uzbekistan), Magic of Nomads (Kazakhstan), Mohammed Haddad (Bahrain) and Sherine Tohamy (UAE).
All of the sales of this release will be donated to ‘Make a Wish’ Foundation. The song ‘nura pakhang’ (eu e tu) has been written and composed by Mangangsana, the artistic director of Laihui, a folk music ensemble based in Imphal.
According to Mangangsana, any sort of collaboration should bring cultural understanding between two different communities.
“The beauty of the collaboration is that the Portuguese band and the Indian artiste never met. They composed and recorded tracks in their own places/studios and the producer finally mixed everything and a song is made,” said Mangangsana.
When the collaboration was finalized, Mangangsana presented three tracks to the Portuguese producer David Valentim who chose the song ‘nura pakhang’.
