‘Let the Light In’ by Chirkutt & Marte Wulff In darkness, an attempt to look for love and light
Sharmin Sultana Sumi talks about Chirkutt’s collaboration with Norwegian musician Marte Wulff for their latest song 'Let the Light In,' addressing themes of war, climate change, and hope for a better future
When you speak about Bangladeshi bands, you cannot not speak about Chirkutt. The band's last album,'Udhao' in 2017, passes out a very important message about the diminishing resources and the effects of climate change on humans.
This time round, Chirkutt has joined hands with Norwegian singer, songwriter and climate activist, Marte Wulff, for ' Let the Light In,' a song that sends a message of hope for a better and peaceful future.
Ahead of its release today, the lead vocalist of Chirkutt, the ever so recognisable Sharmin Sultana Sumi, speaks more to The Business Standard about her experience with the collaboration.
Earlier on 1 November, Sumi, along with many other music enthusiasts, researchers, and academics from different parts of the world, attended the Kristiansand Roundtable Conference (KRC), held at the University of Agder in Kristiansand, a small city in Norway. In the last 14 years this event has been attended every year by many academics, scholars and industry specialists who study and work with music.
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"After learning that we would both be attending the conference, we decided to collaborate on a song, to make it memorable, and also for a very dear cause," Sumi said.
Before departing for the conference, a series of consecutive lyric exchanges occurred between Sumi and Marte. Upon reaching Kristiansand, these lyrics were transformed into voice and video recordings by both artists and later recorded in Oslo.
Just before returning to Bangladesh, all these materials were shared with the other members of the Chirkutt band, who then composed the song. The finalised composition was then shared with Sumi and Marte.
"Marte and I loved the final result, we even showed it to the rest of the conference members. They loved it a lot too," said Sumi.
A quick video shoot with the rest of the band in Bangladesh, and some editing later, the music video of the soft rock song, mostly in English and a few parts in Bangla, was ready for release.
"It's truly a very special one for all of us," Sumi added.
The music video will be available on the official pages of Marte Wulff and Chirkutt from later today, along with other streaming platforms.
Delving deeper into the song's theme, Sumi elaborated on its primary focus revolving around issues like war, the loss of innocent lives, and the impact of climate change, while emphasising hope and positivity the song aims to bring to the world.
Talking about the motivation behind the song, Sumi stated, "There is a lot of darkness in this world and we made this in the hope of letting in some light. Since we cannot do anything to fix it, we used our music as a medium to spread the light."
As a human being, Sumi finds harming innocent lives or damaging crucial ecosystems like trees and rivers essential for our species' survival unacceptable. Reflecting on the complexities of life, Sumi questioned why humanity complicates a lifetime that is in itself insufficient to fulfil with love.
Speaking during the late afternoon, amidst awards and framed pictures in a room adorned with memories, Sumi said, "I like connecting with the whole world through my music. This project is exactly that—a connection. With music, with nature."
This year, Sumi, who was one of the two keynote speakers at the event, joined three sessions throughout her 10 days at the conference.
'Scientific Conference - Strategy and Sustainability in Music Business', 'Role of Women in Music Industry', 'Music for Climate' were the three major sessions that Sumi was a part of.
The vocalist feels grateful to Professor Daniel Nordgard who was the organiser of the event. "We are dedicating this song to the KRC meet, and I'm thankful to Professor Daniel, who runs this conference and is a very dedicated soul for Music, and my 'soul sister' in Norway, Solveig Korum,"she added.
Currently, Chirkutt is working on their upcoming album titled 'Pendulum.' Besides, the band was recently heard in the song 'Jochonar Ful' in the movie 'Almost Like an Autobiography' by Mostafa Sarwar Farooki, along with the song 'Robot' in the movie 'Antarjal'.
"We are working on a new song as well; but as of now we are focusing more on live shows as a band," the songwriter and composer concluded.
