Lokkhi Terra - Introducing Baby Akhtar

In 2015, London fusionistas Lokkhi Terra put on a show at Womad and Songlines Encounters Festival, where they collaborated with folk legends from Bangladesh, the Shikor Bangladesh AllStars. The music was based on countless rooftop jams held back in Dhaka, where Lokkhi Terra had been touring regularly from 2009. “From London’s global melting pot LoKkhi TeRra joined the Banglaeshi musicians of Shikor for an unlikely but successful fusion that matched Asian influences with Cuban Jazz” The Guardian.

Funkiwala Records presents the second in the series of these collaborations. This new EP takes us back to the beginning, capturing the first musical meetings between both bands. The period when long term Lokkhi Terra collaborator and Dhol maestro Nazrul Islam (based in Dhaka), introduced his musical inner circle to the visiting Lokkhi Terra musicians.

Friendships were forged, and musical conversations were explored – a special time was had by all. One singer stood out in particular - with tremendous swing – raw emotion – soul – the real boss - Nazrul’s wife – Dewan Baby Akhtar, featuring songs by the great Bangladeshi mystics Baul Lalon Shah and Baul Abdul Karim. The recordings are the pre-cursor to the 12” Bangla Rasta EP and traditional CD album “Soul of Bengal” (Funkiwala 2016).