Travelling across northern India in a mobile studio bus, rapper and activist Krantinaari is amplifying the voices of rural artists and forging a new musical landscape where ancestral folk traditions merge with contemporary expression.
Sound of Women is an initiative by Mumbai-based rapper Krantinaari and percussionist-singer Charu, empowering women artists across India by preserving folk traditions while inspiring new expressions through contemporary music collaborations.
With Studio Monkey Shoulder, Krantinaari travelled across the northern regions of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in a mobile studio bus, visiting communities where women’s voices are rarely heard and where a career in music has felt out of reach.
Living within these communities, Krantinaari worked to support women in becoming independent artists – recording their vocals and instrumental folk performances and setting up their royalties to build a sample pack for FOLKSOUL, a collaborative compilation inviting producers worldwide to reimagine traditional folk sounds through contemporary music genres like hip hop, dubstep and drum & bass.
“We’re building a powerful community of women artists across India – preserving folk traditions, creating new expressions through hip-hop, and reclaiming space in music for those who’ve been historically silenced and excluded.” Krantinaari
Alongside the album production, Krantinaari created performance opportunities for these artists, hosting community showcases across the region, transforming abandoned historic sites and local venues into cultural stages. This sparked the Agra Arts Festival – a two-day celebration of the city’s creativity and the women reclaiming public spaces through music, storytelling and collective expression.
She also invited rural folk artist and activist Hemanti Devi to Mumbai to perform at Bonobo night club in Bandra for a Sound of Women showcase in collaboration with Gay Gaze Bombay, sharing the stage with her hip-hop collective Wild Wild Women and DJ Smokey, who also contributed a track to the FolkSoul album.
FOLKSOUL is rooted in the belief that music can restore agency, equality, and connection. The album pairs 11 producers with six folk artist groups—Ganga Devi, Hemanti Devi, Pushpa Devi, Bharatiya Sangetalay (13 vocalists), Pinki Didi & Band (5 members), and Neeta Gupta. Each collaboration becomes an exchange of culture, emotion, and shared humanity, turning every voice into a language of resistance and renewal.
Set for release in January 2026, it features 12 original works by artists from India (Kissnuka, Raka, Smokey, Dhir Mody), Germany (Nikolaus Graf), Colombia (Laiz ft. Krantinaari), Brazil (Marta Supernova), Mexico (Reifier), Nigeria (Ayntunde / Moses), the UK (Balraj, Noni Mouse), and the USA (Julie Hill).
"This is a powerful project that creates an opportunity for women to express themselves and preserve their cultural heritage through music. I love how Krantinaari is uplifting voices often silenced and brings professional tools directly to their environment to empower creativity and community resilience." Gilles Peterson
Watch this video here to follow Krantinaari’s journey and see how Sound of Women is creating meaningful impact at both local and global scales.
This project is part of Studio Monkey Shoulder – a music initiative by Worldwide FM and Monkey Shoulder Whisky dedicated to empowering and celebrating innovate grassroots music communities around the world.