A Bangladeshi cellist trained in western classical music, 28 year old Razef Khan comes off as shy at first but becomes increasingly animated while talking about his immense thirst for music, which took him from Dhaka to Malaysia and other locations on his quest to play the cello.
Razef met New Zealand born pianist and music teacher Hugh Stevenson in Dhaka, who came here to teach at the International Standard School. The two instantly clicked and have been teaming up to perform for the last two years. The musicians are currently preparing for their upcoming performances at the Bay`s Edge Water and Red Shift in Gulshan. This weekend, we sit down with the talented duo to know about their stories.
Did you come from a musical family?
HS: Not professionally. My father was very interested in music and my mother was very encouraging. We used to go regularly to concerts. I started learning piano formally when I was about nine years old. But we had the piano in the household sometime before that, as my dad could play. And now he’s 86 years old and still plays the piano every day.
Did you have a teacher when you started learning?
HS: I did. I learned quite a formal classical style - learning to read music, learning scales, and doing piano exams for Trinity College and so on, while I was at school with lessons and piano exams up to the diploma level. When I left school I studied piano full time for five years at Wellington. My focus was on western classical music essentially, but my training was quite liberal musically. I earned enough money to actually do my formal study by playing in Wellington restaurants for 3/4 years.
Does your training affect how you hear “regular” music?
HS: When you learn to play piano through a western classical style you learn to read a score. And that means you can read any kind of music, which is great, since contemporary styles aren’t as adaptable.
How did you start collaborating with Razef?
HS: He badgered me into it. I was enjoying my relaxed life here. I did some solo playing, nothing too serious, just for my own enjoyment. And then Razef was looking for somebody who could read a score (Razef starts laughing). In truth, I found the idea of collaborative work very enjoyable, more enjoyable than solo work. And Razef is quite goal oriented, in that he’ll have an idea of a performance or an opportunity and then we would need an hour worth of material for a programme.
How do you think the Internet and Youtube has changed how people listen to music?
HS: I find it very interesting teaching teenagers and discussing what they are listening to. I think the ones I teach here have very sophisticated taste in music. They are quite knowledgeable about traditional Bangladeshi music or their contemporary versions. There’s a big interest here in indie labels and that certainly came about more recently through online access. And there’s some really lovely music coming out. And via YouTube western classical music has really reached a wide audience. If I want to give a listening sample to my students, I always look it up on YouTube.
What was your reaction when you first heard Bangladeshi music?
I enjoyed the emotion and storytelling of it. And I particularly liked the collaboration of the groups that are involved. It’s very interesting how they bring big groups of dedicated people together. My handicap of course is the language. I don’t understand Bangla very well. And those traditional songs have layers of meanings so I miss the subtleties and the interpretations of those songs.
What has influenced your taste in music?
HS: My dad loved to listen to rag time. He listened to LP put out by New Zealand musicians, mostly solo piano. As a teenager I started collecting and then I went to high school with a very strong music department so learnt a lot about western classical music. Like a lot of New Zealanders I learnt a lot through radio. Other than commercial radio there’s New Zealand concert programme and national programme where they play western classical music. And they have experts coming in and actually discussing music. I think we were very lucky.
What pieces do you play?
RK: Because we are both trained in classical music we play from the baroque period to 20th century classical compositions. Classical music actually encompasses a lot of countries and a lot of styles over a big time frame – there is a parallel universe of classical music that’s happening.
How long does it take to play the cello well?
RK: When I started off all I wanted to do was to make a nice sound. And then when I get a better one I think that I don’t sound good enough. I want to sound better. So to answer your question, to my ears I still don’t sound good. That’s why I still practice. I would say that the first four years is tough. And I think it also depends on how focused you are. I started late. I had to be very serious from the beginning. By the end of my second year I was playing small school recitals.
When did you first start learning?
RK: I started learning the cello when I was 18. I’d been playing a few instruments before that but all by ear. I always had music in the household because my mom used to sing on the radio and my grandma used to play the piano. I played the flute first and then the violin but without proper instructions. After that I played a little bit of piano here and there. And then I saw the cello. There was a concert arranged by the British Council. I still remember it all - a British cellist called Mathew Barley and they were playing Brahms A minor trio. When I heard that I was like “ok, this is it. I found what I was looking for”. And then I saved up money and bought a cello, I found an instructor. And after that I went to Malaysia to further my studies.
Where did you study?
When I went there I was not good enough to get into any university as a music major. So, I found a private teacher and I sort of trained and entered UCSI University, where I did my foundation year. Then I had a little bit of a money problem and dropped out, and by then I was doing small performances around Kuala Lumpur and earning money that way. After two years of that I got into a diploma program at the Malaysian Institute of Art. But I would say that my real education came from my composition teacher who was a Colombian gentleman called Juan Pablo De Zuberia, and my cello teacher who is a Korean American - Robert Choi. I studied in a structured diploma programme but they really opened my mind to what art is.
Did you start performing as soon as you returned?
RK: In the beginning I was a bit like fish out of the water. But slowly I started going to places like Kozmo and Jam Session and meeting musicians. Within the first six months I was already playing in this little ensemble at Shilpokala. It was mainly an ensemble of amateur string players. And then I worked with a pianist for a short time – Saad Chowdhury - I played two concerts with him. My friend from Sweden visited at the time, Lena Olausson, and she plays the flute so we did a concert together at the school I used to teach in. The other one was at the Bengal Lounge. And then I realised that I needed more of a serious pianist with a more serious musical background.
How have people reacted to your music in Bangladesh?
RK: Surprisingly well. If I had a dollar for every time someone came up to me and said ‘I loved the sound of the cello, I wish I could play the cello’ I would be a rich man by now. I so often hear people say ‘I wanted to study music but my parents won’t let me’. Bangladeshi people are generally very musically inclined. We like music. It’s just that we are not willing to take it seriously.
HS: Also there are lot of expats here who seek out the opportunities to hear things like what we do. I was very pleasantly surprised when we did the first concert. It was my first experience of doing anything like that here in Dhaka. And it was packed. That was quite heartening. I suppose the majority coming to the concerts were expats. But now the Bangladeshis come in large groups too.
