A student from the US has teamed up with a local band to play at mandals as part of his PhD thesis on festive sounds



New Jersey-based Julian Lynch rehearses popular tracks along with members of the orchestra band Tanay Beats

For the past two weeks, Julian Lynch, a PhD student from the US, has been listening to songs from the Marathi blockbuster, Sairat, on loop. Lynch's fascination for the movie's songs is evident when we meet him at a rehearsal hall in Prabhadevi.

"I've always been a fan of Bollywood music, but now I'm in love with Marathi songs as well," he says, before offering to strum Yad Lagla for us on his guitar. The moment Lynch starts strumming, the chatter in the room dies down. Almost on cue, the 32-year-old goes on to deliver a flawless unplugged version of the song, from start to finish. The performance is met with a thunderous applause, and some proud back slaps from the Maharashtrian boys assembled in the room. After all, the blue-eyed New Jersey lad appears to be ready for his first Navratri festival, where he will be playing along with Prabhadevi-based orchestra band, Tanay Beats.



Lynch enjoys a good laugh with Neeraj Ghatge (extreme right) and musician Rohit Talekar during a rehearsal session at Ravindra Natya Mandir. Pics/Sneha Kharab

"I'll be performing at a mandal in Walkeshwar and Kalachowkie," informs Lynch, who arrived in Mumbai on September 7. The anthropology student is here as part of his PhD thesis to study the importance of different sounds in society. "I chose India as a field site, and Mumbai specifically, because here, sound is a very big part of public life," he says, adding that the focus will be on the many sounds in Indian festivals. Lynch also plans to interact with environmentalists and activists to understand the impact of sound on social life.

Lynch got interested in the subject four years ago, when he visited Mumbai during a vacation which coincided with Ganesh Chaturthi. "When I was here, I happened to read news reports about activists protesting against noise pollution and the violation of decibel levels during festivals. This seemed interesting because I have always equated sound with music, which is not necessarily the case here," he says.

At the time, Lynch even attended the Marbat festival in Nagpur, which involves the construction, parading and burning of statues meant to represent the forces of evil. When he returned to the US and decided to do his PhD from the University of Wisconsin, finding a subject of study wasn't difficult. "The impact of sound during festivals piqued my interest to the extent that I wanted to visit Mumbai again. My research methodology is based on observation, which involves living here and examining it first -hand," says Lynch, who plans to be in Mumbai till February.

However, a big challenge for Lynch was to touch base with the right people who could provide insight into the subject. "I began looking for contacts of Ganesh mandals in Mumbai. Luckily, I found the email address of Neeraj Ghatge, the secretary of Ankur Mitra Mandal in Dadar. He wrote back saying that he knew Rohit Talekar, who helms a band named Tanay Beats, and could help me out."

Since then, Talekar and Lynch have been jamming together at a rehearsal hall in Ravindra Natya Mandir with 60 other boys. "While he plays the guitar, we play the banjo and drums," says Talekar, who also works as a steward on a cruiseliner in Venice and is currently on a three-month vacation.

Talekar feels it's Lynch's openness to experimenting that has helped him bond effortlessly with the rest. "We celebrated his birthday here and even gifted him a guitar," says 25-year-old Talekar. The camaraderie between the boys is visible when an amused Lynch tells us that he has been taught some rude words in Marathi, along with the customary, "Tu kasa aahes (how are you), ikde ye (come here) and tikde zaa (go there)". "I've been part of music bands back home, but the nature of our relationship is very professional there. Here, it's more like a family. I love the fact that these boys always have each other's backs," smiles Lynch.