Sam Mills and Susheela Raman perform in a folk festival in Rajasthan. (Arka Das)

British-Tamil neo-soul songstress Susheela Raman, who has collaborated with Afrobeat pioneer drummer Tony Allen, Bauls and Rajasthani folk musicians defying genre boundaries, is set to record her version of a Moheener Ghoraguli number.

The song — Elo ki e samay, penned by Moheener Ghoraguli founder, the late Gautam Chattopadhyay — featured in the band’s comeback album in 1995, Aabar Bochhor Kuri Porey. It was originally sung by Antara Chowdhury.

“I’m sure it would be a great version. I find Sam (Mills, Susheela’s guitarist/ producer husband) and Susheela’s music very exciting. Sam was a very good friend of my father,” said Gaurab Chatterjee, son of the Moheen founder and a drummer/percussionist with city bands Lakkhichhara and Rhythmscape.

“It is a difficult song to sing, but both Sam and Susheela are great musicians. They had spoken to me about this a year back; we would be happy if they decide to create their own version of Elo ki e samay,” said Chattopadhyay’s widow Minoti.

Susheela is known for her eclectic albums, from her Mercury Prize-nominated 2001 debut record Salt Rain to 2009’s album of covers 33 1/3 that featured classics from Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix and The Velvet Underground.

In between, Susheela’s version of the 60s Hindi film song Yeh mera diwanapan hai and her original tune The Same Song was used by Mira Nair in The Namesake.

Gautam Chattopadhyay

No stranger to Bengali music, Sam has been working with Bauls for a long time — his album with Paban Das Baul, Real Sugar, is considered a benchmark in collaborative records.

But why Elo ki e samay, which perhaps only hardcore Moheen fans hold close to their hearts? It is “because of the soul”, said Susheela. “More than 15 years since it wound up on tape, it is still a relevant tune. We never really sat down and played it proper, but we definitely plan to do it sometime soon.”

In the meantime, Susheela would be busy belting out what she calls “Outer-Indian music”. “We started this club night in London at Rich Mix, which has turned out to be a great platform for music from different places, from classical to folk. We hold live performances there once a month, usually collaborative music, with some great food thrown in. We call it Outerindia, and thus, the music is Outer Indian.”

A new album is also on the cards. “The new record will be called Vail, which is the symbol of Lord Murugan,” said Susheela.