Text by Shaswata Kundu Chaudhuri. Illustrations by Aishwaryashree.
Photograph By Somdeb Sengupta
The embers of my cigarette snuff out as they fall onto the concrete, wet due to the drizzle. Transfixed, I stare at the dying orange glow while the cold wind bites at my body. Shadowy snatches of music waft into my ears. It’s April 2018, and The Rohan Ganguli Quartet is thundering upstairs in the studio as the first storm of spring looms in the sky above.
When I return, the four musicians are standing against each wall of the rectangular live room of BlooperHouse Studios, facing one another. There is no barrier to eye contact, which is critical to the set-up for jamming-based music. I have a front-row seat on the other side of the glass panel, behind the console with the engineer.
Dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, shorts and shades, keyboardist Arunava Chatterjee looks like he is out for a stroll on the beach. But the haunting chords coming out of…