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Journalism of Courage
The philosophy of Indian classical music is not to entertain. Its thousands of years old,and it was played in praise of the Lord it was temple music,a spiritual connect. Then came royal ages,where it found a place and patronage in Kings courts,but over the years,its trickled down to the general masses,and now we play for them,entertain them for patronage, sarod vadak Atish Mukhopadhyay traces the beginnings,and fast forwards to the present,where gimmicks are ruling the world of music. Fast,tempo,beats thats all people want,and thats what musicians are doing. They are compromising with the pace,the laya,the basics,and being insincere to their music, feels Atish. While he too has made his works compact,he asserts that he never messes with the original. Even jugalbandi is a mistaken concept. Its not fusion,nor a competition on stage in which anyone can partake. Jugalbandi demands that the artists hail from the same gharana,have a history of playing and practicing together,of knowing each other,their temperaments for years,and the only jugalbandi pair I can truly call masters are Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Pandit Ravi Shankar, says Atish. In town for a casual visit,Atishs just come back from Russia where he performed and gave demonstrations and lectures. In fact,I am the first Indian from my gharana to perform on sarod in St Petersburg, he gushes,as he takes out his complete and majestic instrument from its box. I was initiated into the world of north Indian classical music in 1985 by my father,and learnt under the guidance of Late Guru Ustad Dhyanesh Khan, Atish also learnt from Guru Ustad Aashish Khan,Aamina Pereira,and the legendary maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.
From the famous Maihar Seni Gharana which gave the world a diverse set of masters including Pandit Ravi Shankar,Ustad Ali Akbar Khan,Annapurna Devi,Nikhil Bannerjee et al,Atish feels that the Indian classical music is losing its significance with the younger generation. Indian audiences mostly have a 50 plus age group,whereas in the West,they are crazy youngsters want to know everything about our music, Atish recounts his experiences on how international audiences are keen listeners and learners and never fail to praise. Its on the contrary in India,they never miss a chance to criticize,and negative criticism is pretty harmful for a musician.
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