Aniruddha Das

Focussing on the Bengal Famine of 1943, I will examine through both sound and text, the erasure of memory as a consequence of collective trauma, or through the deliberate omission and obfuscation of historical facts and texts by different actors with certain political motivations.

As a person born and brought up in London of parents emanating from the state of West Bengal, India, the geographic 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 short span of time and within ‘living memory,’ was barely 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.

I will record testimonies from my Mother, now in her mid nineties, who was about 12 years old when the famine occurred and perhaps some aunts. These will be in Bengali and perhaps some in English. These won’t be used solely for literal narrative, but will also be manipulated to become part of the textural fabric of the composition. The overwhelming bedrock of the piece will be heavy bass pulsations and drones, distorted, corrupted and degraded to represent ‘blighted’ and fading memory as a parallel sonic narrative. These frequencies will interact with and amplify the meaning of the text and further illustrate the theme. I will also record my voice, edit any pre-existing commentaries, and incorporate my own live spoken word in the actual performance. I will inject some traditional motifs in to the mix, such as “dhak”  (a type of Bengali “dhol” drum) and harmonium,” albeit processed and filtered to represent “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 in the disapora. Clearly, my interpretation of the subject matter will be that of a second generation child of Bengali migrants living in fact in 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 slang term for England or Britain, that derived from the Bengali word (itself acquired from Urdu) “bilayati,” which meant ‘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