Sufi,So Good
Ahead of his performance in the city,Roop Kumar Rathod speaks of old songs,new projects and life in a musical family.
When the 2007 film,Anwar released,moviegoers were captivated by the Sufi track,Maula Mere Maula,rendered in Roop Kumar Rathod’s soul-stirring vocals. That,says Rathod,is how the whole trend of Sufi tracks in films started. “The song was so popular,it associated my name with Sufiana,” he says. Rathod’s Sufi album Teri Justajoo released the year after that,and was also immensely popular,cementing his style.
This week,Rathod will bring his mellifluous voice and soothing compositions to the city with a performance during the Chintamani Jayanti Samaroh,an annual three-day Hindustani and Carnatic music festival.
The fact that this will be the first non-classical performance at the festival has not escaped his notice. “It is a great honour and I’m very excited about this performance,because the city has always been thought of as a Mecca of sorts for artistes,” he says. While Rathod has planned to perform some favourites amongst his Sufi tracks for the concert,he also plans to keep aside time for audience requests.
While Rathod has certainly made his mark in the Sufi tradition,his rise in popular music began a decade before Maula Mere Maula,with the song Sandese Aate Hain,from Border (1997). “That song became a kind of anthem for people,even more so for those who were living abroad,away from family,” he says. Over the years Rathod has not only added more Bollywood tracks to his belt,but he has also recorded in Marathi,Gujarati,Tamil,Kannada,Bhojpuri and other languages. “Of all the languages I have sung in,Tamil has been the hardest. I recently recorded the song Pukal Pukal for the film Madras Pattinam,and before I could even begin,I had to sit with the music director to understand the mood of the song and the meaning of every word and then practice my diction,” he says.
He is currently working on two fusion projects. “One album will comprise ragas performed alongside a philharmonic orchestra. Each bandish is more than a century old,and their beauty will be kept intact in the recording. The 140-piece orchestra will serve to ornament them without taking away from their original personality,” says Rathod,who is also working on a third album of ghazals with his wife,Sunali,who often performs with him.
Hailing from a musical lineage,Rathod has Dhrupad exponent Pandit Chaturbhuj Rathod for a father,and a composer and a vocalist for brothers. His daughter,Reewa is the latest generation in the gifted family. “On most days at home,you can hear the three of us during our riyaaz in three separate rooms simultaneously. It feels like a blessing to us,but I’m not sure how happy it must feel for the people who have to listen to the confusion of three different voices and songs at the same time,” he says.
Roop Kumar Rathod will perform on November 10,starting 10.30 am,at Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruha
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