Tuned to Japan

City-based sarod player Anupam Joshi was around 12,when he heard Sufi poetry written in Persian sung by the Late Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Literally,the poetry — Basad talaash na ab kuch vus’at-e-nazar se milaa — meant,‘Don’t search for anything now,match the eternal search’. But philosophically,it suggested that everyone needs a medium to which he can surrender completely. From 1995 to 1999,Anupam learned to play the tabla,sitar and sarangi,in an attempt to find a medium to which he could completely surrender. However,when he first got introduced to the sarod,he knew that it was the medium he was looking for,and he did surrender to it. After training under Pune’s Sudhir Phadke,he shifted to Ahemadabad to take lessons under Pandit Sonal Nilkanth for five years. This was followed by training from Pandit Rajiv Taranath in Bangalore,and from Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumdar in Kolkata,both from Maihar gharana. Since 2005,Anupam has been giving performances across the country. He,along with Anup Joshi,a city-based tabla player,will be representing the country at the prestigious World Music and Dance Festival (WMDF) 2013,to be held in Japan from August 5 to August 11. WMDF is one of Japan’s largest music festivals. Over the past five years,the festival has attracted almost 1000 artists from over 30 countries,and an audience of over 100,000. While the Joshis – under their group called Son De Sarode – are the only participants from India,other countries that are participating in the musical event include Germany,France,USA,Korea,China,Australia and so on.

“It is an honour to represent the country and showcase our traditional music on an international platform at WMDF. Apart from Indian classical music,I personally listen to jazz,rock,fusion and several other genres,but the satisfaction I get from playing and listening to Hindustani classical music is incomparable,” says 32-year-old tabla player Anup,who learned the instrument from Pandit Ramdas Palsule,and Ustad Allarakha. Through the past decade however,his guru has been tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussein.

The Joshi duo,who have been performing together for about four years,haven’t decided on the ragas they will present at WMDF. “It will be spontaneous. We do intend to include Indian folk music,compositions that showcase the roots of our country,for instance music that represent Assam,Bengal and Rajasthan. Basically,our performance will have music of the 16th century,” says 29-year-old Anupam.

Post the concert,the musicians will head to Tokyo for three back-to-back performances,one of which is at the Indian Embassy,and will mark the Indian Independence Day. “Japan hasn’t been explored much by Indian musicians. So,it feels great to take our traditional music there,” says Anupam.