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The former Shanka Tribe member talks about the first song he wrote after leaving the fusion band and why he’s drawn to instruments like the saz, oud and guembri
Multi-instrumentalist Bonny Abraham live at IIMF in Kerala. Photo: Arjun Ashok
Until last year, Kerala multi-instrumentalist Bonny Abraham was part of fusion act Shanka Tribe even as his solo act – Bonny Abraham Ensemble – was gigging in tandem. Bonny – who plays instruments like the oud, saz, guembri (from Morocco), pipa from China and more – had also contributed to the score for Malayalam films like Malik.
Ultimately, Bonny left Shanka Tribe after about nine years with them and began releasing music in 2022 starting with the song “Hicran,” featuring Turkish ney artist Sinem Hondoroğlu. Now, the Bonny Abraham Ensemble have released their third single “Nomad,” with a VFX-imbued music video that mirrors the sonic themes of freedom to explore, confronting the unknown and finding courage in the midst of it all. It was the first track he wrote after leaving the band. He says, “The feeling of being alienated and seeking liberation was something I experienced myself at that point, hence the name ‘Nomad.’”
He does clear the air that it wasn’t his choice to exit Shanka Tribe, citing issues like “exclusivity concerns” and tensions stemming from festivals where the ensemble would get booked, but Shanka Tribe would not. “Despite having composed a major piece [‘Travelling Gypsies’] for Shanka Tribe, which now boasts over a million YouTube streams, I decided to prioritize and release my solo project,” Bonny says.
The Bonny Abraham Ensemble also includes percussionist Nithin Menon, another outgoing member from Shanka Tribe and a total of 10 artists. Menon handles congo and handpan, while there are percussionists like Ram and Aju, kamancheh artist Meissam Alinaghiyan, clarinetist Rash Ahava, vocalist Yadu, guitarist Gowtham, synth and keyboardist Anantha Narayanan and bassist Brian Philip.
Bonny Abraham Ensemble. Photo: Ajmal Noushad
The ensemble explores music beyond borders and that’s plenty evident on the lilting, introspective “Nomad,” driven by Bonny playing guembri, a Moroccan instrument. In his travels and performances in Goa over the years, Bonny says his mind opened up, first becoming captivated by the oud after witnessing a performance. “If you believe in manifestation, it truly happened to me. My father, who was working abroad, called to say there was an instrument in the hotel storeroom that had been lying there for a long time. He offered to send a photo, and to my delight, it was indeed an oud. Despite arriving broken, I had it repaired, and it became my first oud,” he says.
By 2018, he had another oud acquired from Syria and it set Bonny on a journey to buy and learn several stringed instruments like saz, pipa and guembri, plus the panduri from Georgia and cura from Turkey. “I never took any classes for these instruments, but I feel a deep connection to communicate my emotions through melody with the help of these wonderful instruments. I want to bring a culture of instrumental music to the music world,” the artist adds.
A song like “Nomad” was catalyzed when he found an Instagram video of the guembri. “It’s organic and deep sound instantly caught my attention,” he says. The original two-minute song was expanded after he found a seller in Hassan Laarousi and his store Yellow Workshop in Morocco. For the video, the band faced the challenge of gathering funds for producing it, but found their own hacks, including shooting on Varkala Beach. A key motif in the video, directed and written by Vysakh V. Unni, came from the Amazigh symbol known as yaz. It was one that the guembri seller Laarousi sent Bonny, which became an inlay on the instrument. The idea that Bonny conveyed to Unni for the “Nomad” video, then, was about “a man appearing washed out, as if coming from another planet” baring the same symbol on his back. “Later, he becomes activated upon seeing us play the music with the sign behind the instrument. This concept aimed to convey the idea of being liberated through music,” Bonny adds.
Up next, Bonny Abraham Ensemble have songs like “Rahila,” “Oud Nation” and “Yesovara” in the works for release in 2024. He adds, “I would love to record an EP and do two more videos this year. It’s just a matter of financing it.”
Watch the video for “Nomad” below.
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