Tore Matware Naina

Maati Baani

Maati Baani is a familiar name to anyone who follows independent Indian music on YouTube. The two-person band comprises the husband-wife duo of Nirali Kartik and Kartik Shah, who captivated an audience in 2012 with their very first song, Mitwa, a fusion of Hindustani classical and Rajasthani folk music.

Today, Maati Baani has carved a niche for itself as a world music band that blends Indian classical and folk traditions with a range of global genres and collaborates with artistes and street musicians from all over the world.

The group’s repertoire encapsulates a variety of moods but the tone that defines them is joy and optimism, best exemplified in one of their early collaborations, Tore Matware Naina. The song opens with Haitian-French singer Joyshanti celebrating love with upbeat French lyrics, interspersed with Nirali Kartik’s classical ode to the lover’s enchanting eyes in Braj. The foot-tapping number, shot in Kerala and Mumbai, is an apt note on which to begin 2018.