Sampriti is a singer-songwriter from Guwahati (via many other cities) who does a bunch of stuff musically. She DJs, she has a band (it’s called PINK MOSS) and she makes music solo too. Her single ‘Kenigol’ is sung in Assamese and English, and it’s notable for a variety of reasons. One, it’s a strong pop song with not many frills and a focus on what’s important. Two, it features Kolkata’s National Animal who produced the tune (that falls squarely in the ‘pros’ column). Added to that, it marries relatively indie, folky vocals with Afro-pop influences, and before all the genre-label arguments spring from their cobwebbed, dark, mysterious caves, let’s nip them in the bud.

Afro-pop is an enormously diluted term, yes. It refers to such a huge variety of influences, styles and rhythmic motifs that even using the term comes with a book full of asterisks. In the case of this song, the influences come from a certain ‘bounce’ that comes only from the region. The verses have a pattern you can’t quite place but remember all the same. This is because so much modern music comes from Africa and the creative output of its people. That’s why so much about this sounds familiar. The chorus, for example; one could wonder about what it sounds ‘like’ for days (let’s not even get into the reggaeton rabbit hole, for example), but then one wouldn’t be dancing to it. And boy, is it danceable. Sampriti’s hooks are chart-crafted, the production makes sure there isn’t a single thing out of place, and the results are suitably earworm-worthy. It’s singable, it’s very addictive, and it does that strange thing pop music does which is linger in your subconscious after you hear it just once. This is why you will find yourself humming ‘Kenigol’ long after your music app’s algorithm whisks you away to the Billboard.