Arko Mukhaerjee Collective

This is an effort to bring musicians under a common organic platform of open free music sharing each other’s influences from around the world.

The project picks it’s influences Rural Bengal, Pan India, West Africa, Sukous, Nepali folk, Gypsy music, Middle East, Old time swing and American folk music, Quwalli, along with Reggae, Jazz, Afro Cuban music, Celtic standards and Retro Bollywood, blending into a unique melange, that enables people to participate into a dancy trancy vibe.

The project is also aiming at building new originals and focuses on simple impromptu jams. In other words, every moment of creativity is unique to every concert and every jam, both sonically and emotionally. We play Live music!

Arko Mukhaerjee Collective Members

  • Nitin Mani – Bass
  • Arko Mukhaerjee – Vocals/Ukulele
  • Koustav Dey – Guitar
  • Chiradeep Lahiri – Drums and Percussion
  • Sajib Sarkar – Indian Percussion
  • Sourav Bagchi – Additional Percussion & Production Design
  • Gaurab Gaboo Chatterjee – Drums and voice
  • Kanishka Sarkar – Live Electronica
  • Sourav Bagchi – Tech Engineer

Videos by Arko Mukhaerjee Collective

Tamarind tunes with Arko Mukherjee
Kalkatte Kaiyo | Munich Nights | Arko Koustav & Sajib | A Fun Jam on this Nepali Folk Song
A fun time at our Munich home trying out this incredible classic by Jayananda Lama and few of the most celebrated musicians from Nepal. in the most difficult times music brings hope.

original tune credits

Singer Jayananda Lama/Balram Karki/Sarita Lama/Baba Basnet
Lyrics Jayananda Lama
Music Jayananda Lama
Arko Sajib & Koustav

Ukali Orali | Arko & Sajib | Madal & African Harp | songs from Nepal, Bengal & West Africa | 2023
Sajib Sarkar, a young teenager from Gobindapur village, Shantipur, came to Kolkata from a village 120 kms away for 15 years on local train to play, learn and accompany artists on desi percussions.

Today Sajib is a celebrated exponent of folk percussions. I am privileged to be a friend and a band member with him.

Here is a part of a chat and jam on common 6/8 folk polyrhythms that are used universally through a jam of songs travelling between Nepal, Bengal and West Africa.

Driver Dai | Arko & Sajib | A beautiful old Nepali Song with an African Harp and a Tamang Madal
This is a really beautiful folk song from Nepal, performed by many artists over decades. Our love respect and gratitude to Tirtha Kumari, Suraj Thapa, Kharka Buda, Keshav Poudel, Sunder Shrestha for creating such an incredible song for music listeners. We have only tried in my own way to simply sing a few verses of the song with my ukulele here. My Nepali pronunciation is not great. But my love for the Nepali melodies and beautiful polyrhythms is something I can never give up. I love the music of the mountains and valleys.

My regards and love to all my listeners.

Beni Ko Bazar | Nepali Folk Song | Rooftop Live | Folk-Electronica | Arko & Friends | 2023
This is a tribute to Tikabahadur Shrestha, Manu Chhantyal Shrestha and all artists (Raju Pariyar, Bima Kumari Dura, Man Kumari Chhantyal ) who have sung and popularised this beautiful and unique song for decades in Nepal through all different media.

This is a live one take recording between Arko, Sajib and Koustav featuring Kanishka Sarkar on Live Music Production & Electronica and David Beck on the Moroccan Guimbri. It was a meeting of Berlin and Kolkata soundscapes in a unique collaboration that took place in Jan 2023. With Kanishka, I have been touring with our Berlin based folk electronic duo Ashram for a decade now and it all makes perfect sense to welcome our friends into this family of music.

My regards to Basab Mulick and Amit Biswas for shooting with equal passion and respect towards the song and the moment.

Edited by Arko Mukhaerjee

Manush Ekta Koler Gaari | Bangla Baul Song | Arko & Casey Rooftop Collab | Dotara and Fiddle | 2023
With the legendary Casey Driessen, one of the best violinists/fiddlers of present times, this was a dive into a song from my teenage, an ages old Baul Mahajani song, Manush Ekta Koler Gaari written by Shivananda.

The song was popularised by Late Nimaichand Goswami, and this is an attempt to revisit these epochal texts of the great Baul/Sufi mystics and the music that shaped me for years.

Kaaliya | Mohe Laagi Lagan | Arko & Sajib | Rooftop Jam 2023
Sajib Sarkar, a young teenager from Gobindapur village, Shantipur, came to Kolkata from a village 120 kms away for 15 years on local train to play, learn and accompany artists on desi percussions.

Today Sajib is a celebrated exponent of folk percussions. I am privileged to be a friend and a band member with him.

Here are two beautiful desi bhakti / biraha tunes one from the Baul tradition of Bengal and the other a Meera Bhajan.

Kasturi Hey | Casey Driessen & Arko Mukhaerjee | A Late Narayan Gopal classic| Nepali Song | 2023
This is a super exciting collaboration between Arko and Casey Driessen, an American bluegrass fiddler and singer. Casey is a grammy nominee and has performed with Béla Fleck, Abigail Washburn, Steve Earle, Tim O’Brien, Darrell Scott, Jim Lauderdale, Lee Ann Womack, Mark Schatz, John Doyle, Paul Simon and Chris Thile. He has recorded with Darol Anger, John Mayer, Jerry Douglas, Jamey Haddad, and Blue Merle. He has also recorded on the soundtrack for the Johnny Cash film Walk the Line.

This is to remember the love and dedication of Sir Narayan Gopal and singers of that era who define the soundscape of Nepal and it’s diverse music traditions. This video is also a tribute to the life of underprivileged people across the world and their everyday struggle to live.

The song aims at spreading love, togetherness and communal harmony across all communities beyond the politics of divide and hatred.

Sindhuli Gadhi | Arko & Koustav | Ending a Rooftop Jam | Guitar & Domra from Kazakhstan
Music is not proving a point to anyone. The spontaneous jams and the associated moments of fun exceed the charm of all formats named by society. All music is in the moment of listening and playing. The whole point is to get lost and found in the process. A process far more honest than judgements.
Dada Paye Pori | Lahure ko | Gacher Pata | Our Tribal Melas | Arko & Koustav | Winter on a Rooftop
Our music and culture of the land from Bengal to Nepal to the far west, all originates from agriculture and farming and related festivals and Melas celebrating harvest or planting of the seeds. This is dedicated to all who are the true masters of the land, those who have been feeding us for generations.
Arko and Friends | Africa to Tribal Bengal | Moussolou – Mali | Raat Pohaile – Manbhum | Rooftop Jam
A fun impromptu jam at sunset on my rooftop with two of the most beautiful human beings I know. Sajib on Dubki and Koustav on guitar. They are truly spontaneous, loving and caring musicians. They are friends. Not hands or just accompaniment. It is all of us together that makes music possible.

In this jam we travel from Moussolou, a traditional song from the wassoulou tribe from Mali, Africa, immortalised by Oumou Sangare, to a Manbhumi tribal song from the red soil Santhali belt of Bengal around Asansol and Raniganj where tribal men were taken as labourers in coal mines. The Bengali song was written as a poem by Arun Chatterjee, a local poet from the area and put to tune by Ajit Pandey, based on age old traditional tunes of the Santhali community.

This is essentially a fun jam that tries to capture the beautiful 6/8 dance groove that resides in every corner of the world. So play the song, enjoy, dance, share and spread love beyond all boundaries.

Arko Mukhaerjee and Nishad Pandey | Aam Paka | Bengali Tribal Folk Song | Rooftop Live
Arko and Nishad together forms a contemporary folk – jazz duo that works on traditional folk tunes from pan Asia. The music is entirely live and mostly unplanned, aiming at finding an impromptu experimental soundscape creating moments that are completely original and new every time.

Aam Paka is a tribal folk song from Purulia, located in the western part of Bengal. This rendition is a fun experimental take on the song through a blend of modern harmonies and elements of west African music and rhythms. the process of making is more improvisational, interactive and sensual rather than being too intellectual in terms of the music making.

Nishad Pandey is a phenomenal experimental jazz guitarist with unique ideas of his own that helps this duo of two friends to build an esoteric , eccentric sounscape. The project is presently based in Berlin where the two friends meet in summer and play at little art galleries and studios.

recorded and mixed by Sounak Roy

A BeardBoy films production.

Rajamati Community Jam London | At the Newari community drumming practice in Woolwich, London
In this very divided and power driven world, I am in search of simple moments of solidarity that people in little communities show.

I am proud of these young friends playing Newari community music in London. They practise together with full on energy, far away from their homes. teenagers to the elderly, this is an amazing feeling of togetherness I found in a rehearsal room in Woolwich.

all the best to you lovely humans.

Resham Firiri | London – Woolwich | Nepali Community Fundraiser For Orphan Children In Nepal – 2023
an amazing Nepali speaking audience in London! The entire hall singing together with every song ang groove together to this iconic folk anthem of the himalayas, it felt like playing in a home in Kathmandu or Pokhara with family members enjoying every bit. Special thanks to Kanishka Sarkar and Ashram(Berlin) for the incredible live sound designing and jamming.

Our love to HELP NEPAL Network, UK for organising this beautiful informal charity event and community gathering.