“El Quetzal (Ochin Pakhi)” introduces Koyel Basu, a Bengal born singer and songwriter working between India and Mexico, in a piece that connects Baul tradition with the Son Jarocho practices she has been studying in Veracruz. The single forms part of the lead-up to her January 2026 debut album Donde La Tierra Canta, which she frames as a dialogue between Bengal and Mexico.

Basu sings Baul lyrics written by Lalon Shah and adds new Spanish lines of her own. She accompanies herself on dotara, a Bengali lute with a long neck and a bright attack used in Baul music. That sits beside leona, the large Son Jarocho bass instrument providing the low register, and jarana, a smaller strummed guitar that sets the rhythmic pattern in Veracruz ensembles. The recording also includes cajón and tabla, played by Sant Ser, and zapateado, a wooden-board footwork that acts as a percussive element in Son Jarocho groups, performed here by Auroras Flores. Este Carnal contributes leona and Raymundo PL adds jarana, with the full session produced at Azul Estudios.

The project around the single, Donde La Tierra Canta, is presented by Basu as a meeting point between Veracruz and Bengal, shaped by both performance and field research. Her work on the Arteflō platform, where she documents Son Jarocho communities and instrument makers in Veracruz, feeds directly into the album’s direction. Within that frame, “El Quetzal” acts as a clear marker of the Mexico–India dialogue she is building, bringing Baul material together with Son Jarocho instruments to outline the record’s path in one piece.

Listen and stream the track through THIS LINK