Aniruddha Das

This sound piece is a reaction to the ongoing debate, if not controversy, surrounding the Bengal Famine of 1943. As a person born and brought up in London of parents emanating from the state of West Bengal, India, the geographic, historic and cultural counterpart of Bangladesh, it always perplexed me – once I’d heard of it – how a massive event involving the unnatural deaths of 3 million people in a such short span of time and within ‘living memory,’ was seldom mentioned in conversations within our community, nor the subject of any commemoration or ceremonies at social events. It is barely acknowledged in the psyche of the British host community and I query its presence in any educational curricula in the UK.

Is this erasure a consequence of collective trauma or the result of the deliberate omission and obfuscation of historical facts and texts by different actors with certain political motivations? “Blighted Memory” serves as an entry point in to this investigation.

My Mother, now in her mid nineties, was about 12 years old when the famine occurred. I have recorded some of her observations and memories, to use both as literal narrative and also part of the textural fabric of the composition. Heavy bass pulsations provide the overwhelming bedrock of the piece, distorted, corrupted and degraded to represent ‘blighted’ and fading memory. These frequencies interact with the text to amplify its meaning and further illustrate the theme. Traditional motifs appear throughout the score, such as “dhak” (a type of Bengali “dhol” drum) and “dheki,” a device to grind rice husks, fading in and out of the mix like ‘cultural ghosts.’

Experimental sound, noise music and sound art in both West Bengal and Bangladesh is currently dynamic, thriving and significant in the wider Indian sub-continent. When I embarked on my journey in to exploratory sound seven or eight years ago, I was oblivious to the presence of these practitioners and have thus engaged in some kind of lateral development. Clearly, my interpretation of the subject matter will be that of a second generation child of Bengali migrants living in the diaspora and in fact the heart of the former empire.

The choice of the title “Blighted Memory” is based upon wordplay. “Blight” of course refers to something that has been ‘afflicted,’ and here pertains to damaged memory. However, it’s also appropriate as a word associated with famine or plague. But “Blighty” is also the word adopted by the British colonists in India, as an affectionate or slang term for England or Britain, that derived from the Bengali word (itself acquired from Urdu) “bilayati,” which means ‘foreign’ or ‘abroad.’

Aniruddha Das is an electronic musician active at the intersection of bass culture, experimental noise and sound art. He embarked upon his current practices approximately 8 years ago having been previously a producer, bassist and live performer in the world of electronic dance, dub and pop.   

With his project DSPSSSSD (“dispossessed”), he focusses on cyclical noise motifs and distressed low frequency pulsations and drones. The cassette “Offcuts From Reality” on Courier Tapes is a sonic commentary on the psychological and political state of the UK post-covid, with tracks like “Exit Wounds” referring to the debacle of Brexit and “Protection Racket” citing the PPE Scandal. It was an attempt to present the notion, anathema to some, that sound art can and should be used to convey political sentiment.   

DSPSSSSD emerged out of his “mutant dancehall” project Dhangsha (Bengali for ‘destruction’), where, in his live performances, he needed to create non-metric passages to transition between beat-orientated tracks. Dhangsha sees him re-purposing the components of dance music to create turbulent soundscapes that resonate beyond the confines of a club.    

Known for his improvisational and visceral live sets, Aniruddha has performed throughout the UK and Europe, including several times at Cafe Oto and Iklectik and at Cave12, Geneva and Industrial Coast, Middlesbrough. Festivals he has appeared at include “Electric Spring”, “Supernormal” and “Bone-Iklectik,” Barcelona.    

He teaches in the Department of Electronic & Produced Music at Guildhall School of Music & Drama and has run workshops in the Sound Art Department at the London College of Communication.

https://dhangsha.bandcamp.com/music
https://dspssssd.bandcamp.com