In Lagan Lagi Re, Maati Baani opens with the hum of a carpenter’s saw—unexpected, almost mundane—before slipping into the haunting notes of the Kutch twin flutes, the jodia pawa. Set against a New York subway backdrop and anchored by an Indian classical vocal, the track captures the band’s signature: turning unlikely sounds into seamless, cross-cultural music. Led by vocalist Nirali Kartik and composer Kartik Shah, the Mumbai-based duo—originally from Ahmedabad—approaches music as a “playground” of contrasting sensibilities. With Nirali’s grounding in Indian classical and Kartik’s more experimental instincts, their collaboration naturally evolved into a fusion that moves between Indian folk, classical, and global pop.
At the heart of their work is a deep pull toward Indian folk traditions. Nirali sees folk music as “the language of the earth”—stories of the past expressed in the present. This ethos takes the duo into villages across India, where collaborations are as immersive as they are organic: mornings spent meeting local communities, afternoons rehearsing, and by evening, a music video often takes shape. Their recent Sindhi folk reinterpretation Umar Marvi, created with Kutch musicians Mustafa Jat and Osman Jat, is one such example of being transported into a cultural moment that feels both distant and immediate.
Yet Maati Baani’s world is not confined to India. Their process often extends to spontaneous or digital collaborations with international artists. The result is music that retains Indian lyrical and emotional core while absorbing global textures and rhythms. One of their most loved songs, Tore Matware Naina, exemplifies this philosophy. A Hindustani alaap intertwines with French jazz and funk influences by singer Joyashantii, while a street-discovered flautist adds a raw, serendipitous melody. Innovation, for Maati Baani, is a continuous process. “We first make the song, then ask how to make it more innovative,” Nirali says.
That curiosity leads them to unconventional instruments and textures—a clarinet carved out of carrots, or the medieval European hurdy-gurdy grounding Hindi lyrics. At Delhi’s Sufi Heritage Festival, for instance, their set blended original compositions with reinterpretations of iconic Sufi songs.
Looking ahead, Maati Baani hopes to explore Tamil and Malayalam folk traditions—continuing their journey across India and beyond. The farther their music goes, the more firmly it seems rooted in the soil it draws its name from—maati, the earth.