From the Paris leg of the PaGLi Tour, July 9th 2014. Shot by Marc Eliel in Point FMR.
tritha.com
Fish Market came about when bassit Tony and drummer Paul started jamming together on a very high and aggressive tempo and Tritha started rapping out her frustrations of missing fish, a staple food she missed from her life in Kolkata. All the names of fish and different delicacies of fish were in the lyrics of the song.
Those days when she was penning the lyrics, there was a big hue and cry about a certain anti-corruption bill being demanded by a Gandhian follower Anna Hazare and the whole country were glued to televisions, mostly following his food fast till the bill was passed. Days of arguments in the parliament, sometime leading to pjysical fights between politicians also provoked Tritha compare the country and the parliament into a fish market.
References of Tagore's sweet poetry of a paradise turning into a decadent world made the song rather punk and also is one of the signature song justifying the band Tritha Electric as an ethno-punk band, probably the first in india!!
lyrics
Rui katla maach aami bodi bhalo khayi khayi
(I love eating those bengali fish - rui and katla )
Bhetki paturi chingri malaikari chai chai
(I want the mustard bekti fish wrapped in banana leaf and prawn coconut curry)
Alu begun potol diye banai aami pabdar jhol
(Potato, eggplant and courgette i mix with a pabda fish curry)
Jhuri alu bhajar shaathe macher matha doi ombol
(Fries along with fishhead in a yoghurt curry)
Bhabcho tumi aamay dekhe ki bolche pagli meye ta
(You are probably wondering looking at me who is this crazy girl)
Janona to hoye geche maacher baajar ei desh ta
(But you have no idea meanwhile what a fish marking, this country is becoming...)
Macher Bajaar (Fish Market)
Macher Bajaar hoye geche desh ta (The country has become a fish market)
Macher Bajaar hoye geche parliament ta (The parliament has become a fish market)
Maacher bajaar hoye geche desh ta
Macher Bajaar , Its a fish market
Ekta forashi bhodrolok bole chilo aamay
(One frenchman once had told me )
Maach bodo khay khay bangalira kolkatay
(Bengalis love eating fish a bit too much)
Maach kheye kheye shobar mundu hoye jaye maacher matha
(Eating that much fish is turning their heads into fish heads)
Keu hoy talapiyar maatha
(Some begin to look like the fish head of Talapiya)
Keu hoy shorshe ilish
(And some look like the mustard hilsa)
Ilish ilish ilish Ilish (Hilsa, Hilsa, Hilsa Hilsa)
Ilish Ilish bodo bhalo laage khete e jinish (I love eating the fish Hilsa)
Jinish jinsh jinish jinish (Things, Things, Things, Things)
jinish jinish shobar onek jinish chai (Everybody only wants to consume things)
Shobar onek jinish chai chai chai (Everyone loves to consume, consume)
Macher bajaar.... (Its beoming a fish market everywhere..)
Says Tagore...
Phule Phule dole dole bohe kiba mridu baye
(The flowers! The flowers! They slumber, they sway in the flow of the slow, gentle breeze.)
Ki kori ba kunje kunje
(The river, she raises gentle ripples, flowing towards the sea.)
Kuhu kuhu kuhu gaye...
(In every garden, the Cuckoo cries Cuckoo! Cuckoo! Cuckoo!
And yet I do not know why my very soul weeps,)
Shob netara bodo buro hoye geche macher matha
(All the heads of the politicians old and big, are turning into bad fish heads)
Maar peeth aar chachani te bhore jaye rajyo lok sabha
(Fights and yellings fill up the walls of the the rajya and lok sabha)
Macher bajaar... (its a fish market!)
