At the final session of the Bengal Classical Music Festival, legendary sarod player, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, mesmerised audiences yesterday in the pre-dawn hours.
It was his first year performing at the annual event, and during this interview taken on Monday evening, he expressed disappointment at having been left out of the two prior festivals.
But on stage, he played with joy and an understanding of his audience, inserting instrumental renditions of beloved Tagore tunes into the ragas.
Classical Indian music is typically thought to cater to a “tasteful” listener. What do you think about that?
I personally feel my music must reach everyone. And it should appeal to anybody and everybody irrespective of their “taste.”
What is your impression of the Bengal Music Festival?
What the Bengal Foundation is doing is good to create awareness.
But allotting only an hour to each musician is not enough. They should allocate one evening or at least three hours to each artist. If what were to happen, me and my sons Amaan and Ayaan would love to attend with bliss.
On the other hand, I understand that their target is to provide glimpses of the masters to the audience.
Any comment on the institute that Bengal Foundation plans to establish?
Music is not a product and it cannot be promoted like Coca-Cola or toothpaste. Previously, individuals – ustads and pandits – were the institutes, and disciples learnt no less. Before institutionalisation, they need to secure work opportunities for the students as well.
But planning an institute is a very good attempt, a service to music and to the people who love music.
At the Tagore Festival earlier this year, you said in an interview that you have discovered almost 40 ragas. Any personal favourites?
The Subhalakhsmi raga. I composed it as gift for my wife Subhalakshmi on her birthday. She bestowed many things on me and gave me my sons. So this was a token of love and respect for her, which was later compiled in the Guldasta-e-Raga.
The musical tradition we have is basically oral in nature. Even you started as a vocal artist.
There is a slight difference between convention and tradition. In convention, you follow existing norms blindly, while tradition brings in innovation.
My father Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan asked me to be traditional, not conventional. He advised me to pick what felt right to me. There is a slight difference between playing the instrument, singing with the instrument and singing through the instrument.
I sing through my instrument, and happily my tradition has allowed me to bring this innovation in.
Is it true the sarod was invented by one of your ancestors?
Yes, it is. My forefathers came from Afghanistan with an instrument called the rubab, which is made entirely of wood. It evolved into the sarod with a skin belly, metal touch-board and “piano” strings in the hands of Mohammad Hashmi Khan Bangash. He was a court musician in Madhya Pradesh.
But every instrument has its own destiny. I want someday for my ancestral invention to become as popular as the guitar or violin.
How do you feel about fusion with western music?
My father used to say that I had to become a complete musician, and that means one who finds good aspects in every kind of music.
I truly feel that the time has come for collaboration.
I was always fond of the orchestra. The way a hundred or more people collectively produce music is almost an impossible thing in the subcontinent, as our tradition strongly upholds the notions of individuality and live improvisation. Still, I tried to tie the two different cultures, European and Indian, in a programme called Samagam at the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
But it is really far more challenging for the next generation to carry the tradition and to preserve the purity of classical music.
Do you consider popular culture as a threat to the purity of classical music?
I am not worried about music, sarod or the future of classical music. But I am worried about the great failure of education at present, and the lack of peace in the world. With due respect to education, it is continually failing to create compassion and kindness.
When I see educated people behaving like ferocious animals, despising each other, I feel worried. With all of our successes, why are we are still so primitive in nurturing evil instincts?
We differentiate each other in the name of different religions, but fail to remember that none of the holy scriptures accommodate hatred and violence. It seems different people have put up different shops to sell different ideologies… but all they offer is confusion.
You have a very unique philosophy of life. How would you define it?
I believe in one God and consider music a way of life. To me freedom lies in the seven notes of the sargam. To me, classical music is a dark tunnel. You enter into it to meet the sunlight someday.
