In 1993, a young Indian boy was playing the tabla at a house concert in Belgium. Pandit Ravi Shankar walked into this concert. After the performance, Shankar went up to the boy and said, “I’m performing tomorrow. Want to play with me?” The boy went on to accompany Pandit Ravi Shankar for 40 concerts and for the next 11 years.
Bickram Ghosh’s musical career is full of such experiences. Apart from collaborating with the legendary sitarist, Beatle George Harrison and a range of Carnatic and Hindustani musicians, he launched Rhythmscape, a fusion band, 14 years ago.
Excerpts from an interview with Bickram Ghosh:
When and how did the idea for Rhythmscape originate? How did you conceptualise the music that the band would play?
I was beginning to feel that I needed to explore new sounds. I stepped away from the classical scene and brought together a group of musicians to create ‘Rhythm Speaks’. We took our music to a recording company and they asked us how we would like to define it. We had our first live concert at the Nehru Centre in Mumbai. The album, arguably, has been the biggest in fusion music’s history. We are entirely an Indian group producing Indian sounds.
How challenging is it to work with multiple genres?
I was trained in Hindustani music by my father. For about 30 years, I learnt Carnatic music with S. Sekhar who is a mridangam maestro. So I feel I’ve got the best of both worlds and this comes through in Rhythmscape, where ghatam and tabla are in perfect harmony.
What are the compositions that the band has planned for the Chennai fest?
We are playing at Music Academy after 10 years. We want to repeat some of the tracks that we played back then.
Due to the improvisational nature of our band, most of our earlier tracks will be performed differently now. There will be ‘Little Krishna’ in Raga Kalavati, ‘Gangotri’, which is an old and popular track, and a new track called ‘Dark Love’, which is a bandish by Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. It is a well-known piece from Mughal-e-Azam, but we play it differently — with the mridangam. There will also be a tani avartanam, which I call a ‘drum jam’.
Apart from Pandit Ravi Shankar, you have also worked with George Harrison. What was the experience like?
I met George Harrison through Panditji. In 1999, when I was in the U.K., I got a phone call. ‘Hello Bickram, this is George.’ To which, I replied, ‘George who?’ He said, ‘George Harrison. I want you to play the tabla for the title track of my new album.’ He sent a limousine and I spent a day with him recording, talking about classical music and John Lennon. He used to call me the ‘Prince of Tabla’.
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