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Classical music is not soap, shampoo, fizzy drink or toothpaste to be promoted: Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan

Excerpts from DNA's exclusive conversation with the maestro...

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Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan is performing at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) after 20 years. On the eve of the performance Yogesh Pawar met the maestro.

Excerpts from the conversation:


Your thoughts on performing at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) after such a long stint...

The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), formerly the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, is a spectacular monument to be performing at. I remember it was not an airconditioned place then and everyone sat on the floor. It feels great to return to play in the precincts of a place which has a long history of several eminent artistes performing at some really great music events. And though the city itself has changed so much in the past 20 years, this coming together of museums and music makes me nostalgic for occasions I've played in some leading museums across the world.

Any particular one comes to mind?

I once played at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of the world's largest and finest art museums in New York with my sons Amaan and Ayaan. Being in a structure like that with its collection of more than two million works of art spanning 5,000 years of world culture felt truly special.

Do Indian museums fit the bill?

Unfortunately no. Look at how poorly maintained even the National Museum in Delhi is. This is not only about authorities but also Indians and their attitude to museums, relics, monuments, etc. Given a choice Indians would like to spend time in malls or cinemas, not museums because we've just not cultivated that sensibility and aesthete. The Indian approach to a museum is more like a godown where old things are kept. Also in our country, the basic problem for the common man so many years after Independence in the 21st century still happens to be roti, kapda aur makaan. And it seems unlikely people will be rid of these existential worries very soon.

Why do you think so?

You see irrespective of who is in government, BJP or Congress, prices keep skyrocketing making life difficult even for the middle class. I shudder to think what it must be like for the abject poor. Looks like the rich are getting richer while the poor are being divested of even the bare minimum. When I talk to my khansamah or driver I hear of how tur dal shot up to Rs 200/kg and it pains me. It seems netas are the only ones doing well.

Their worth and memorials keep growing...

Yes, and when netas die their homes are made into memorials. Why couldn't Teen Murti House remain the PM's residence for good unlike say 10, Downing Street or the White House? But I guess Indians are emotional and we let our netas and their families get away with making memorials of their homes. Except for the exceptional instances like saint-composer Thyagaraja in the South or Rabindranath Tagore in Bengal we don't see this happening with other legendary musicians or other greats.

You've yourself started a museum...

Years ago my wife and me bought tickets and queued up at the Beethoven House (Beethoven-Haus in German) in Bonn, Germany. This birthplace of Ludwig van Beethoven which celebrates the life, work and times of the composer houses a museum with a library, a publishing house and a chamber music hall attached. It is unbelievable to see the time and effort invested in maintaining the building and every object connected to the composer. As we were shown his piano, his bed, his slippers and so on, I was struck how India has nothing on par which celebrates our music or musicians and thought of converting my ancestral house in Gwalior, where I was born and brought up, into a music museum.

Was it easy raising funds for this?

When I approached then HRD minister Arjun Singh, he immeditely agreed to sanction funds for the museum. I've contributed with my own earnings from concerts and many others contributed with donations to start Sarod Ghar – The Museum of Musical Heritage. It not only houses many old instruments from six generations of musicians from my Bangash lineage including the instruments which I practised on as a child but also has musical instruments belonging to legendary who's who from music. For example we have Bade Ghulam Ali Khan saab's sur mandal, Ustad Zakir Hussain has given us his father's late Ustad Allah Rakha's guru Mian Qadir BakshJi's tabla, Kishen Maharaj has given us his uncle and guru Kanthe Maharaj's tabla, Ustad Ahmed Jaan Thirakwa's tabla is also housed there as is Ustad Allauddin Khan saab's violin which was given to us by his late disciple Pt V G Jog. Please understand that these are all instruments which were in use by these greats and have that legendary stature rubbed off on them too.

The late president APJ Abdul Kalam was full of praise for this.

Oh yes! He was such a great man and yet so full of humility and curiosity for the new. At a Rashtrapati Bhavan event he happened to mention he was going to Gwalior. I already had a Shanghai trip planned on those very dates with my wife. There was no way I could be there to receive him formally. Yet, I suggested he visit the museum. He consulted his staff immediately and said he'd come there by 5 pm after he was done with his other official commitments. Accordingly, I kept coordinating with the staff at the museum from 4.30 pm onwards from Shanghai. When I learned he had still not come at 8 pm, I thought he mightn't come anymore. Despite his stretched day he came to the museum at 10 pm and spent over an hour understanding little intricacies and stories behind each instrument and gave me fulsome praise for this initiative when we next met.

Is it easy to maintain and upkeep the museum?

Well, it is becoming difficult and we're trying to find a private player, maybe a corporate house, to take over and run the place.

Aren't you not reaching out to the government?

Given the government's track record of what it is doing with existing museums it does not fill me with much hope. Also, this whole business of the agriculture secretary becoming culture secretary is a bit scary. And this is too important to be left to the mercy of changing the direction of political winds. I, therefore, feel the museum's interests will be best served by someone who is a real music and art lover... someone who will translate that passion into Sarod Ghar's upkeep.

Many call Indian classical music as an example of living heritage. As a senior musician do you feel assured about efforts to conserve it?

Here I want to point out that the government literally spends crores and crores of rupees by giving it to various NGOs working in the area of music. Whether this is a political grant or a cultural one there needs to be some effort at establishing accountability in terms of how this money is being spent. All these NGOs claim to be working towards promoting classical music. But classical music is not soap, shampoo, fizzy drink or toothpaste to be promoted. Music grows on you. You cannot even impose music.

That really happens?

Yes. Some of these NGOs in their zeal to “promote” classical music invite senior stalwarts and throw them in front of school children. Such experiences can be terrible for both school children who are tuned into popular film music or other genres and for artistes expected to match the foot-tapping frenzy of the latest chartbuster.

You've been conferred the Padma awards and the Sangeet Natak Akademi award and fellowship apart from several international awards. Which one means the most?

All these awards, whether it is the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize or the declaration of April 20th as Amjad Ali Khan Day by the Massachusetts state in the US are all honours I feel deeply and equally indebted for. But there is an award really close to my heart conferred when I was really young. I was being invited from when I was barely 10 to perform by the Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad. They conferred on me the title of sarod samrat. This was undoubtedly a great honour. But do you also see how it pinned responsibility, very early on, to live up to that title?

You've always spoken about India's syncretism. How do you react to the sharp polarisations of our times?

From my father's time, my family has always spoken of religious co-existence and harmony. He used to say about Partition, you can divide the land but not music. Like wherever you go in the world music always remains the same with the same 12 notes, the same applies to humanity too. We are living in times of unprecedented hate and bigotry and this should worry everyone with a stake in peace and harmony. You know I recently went with my family to Ujjain's Mahakal temple and attended the bhasmarchana in the early morning hours. Never once was I made to feel unwelcome by priests or devotees. This beautiful side of India is being torn apart. People spoke of the 21st century with hope and optimism but we now find that these is the most dangerous time humanity has ever known. From attacks on poor over what they eat here to the attacks in Las Vegas, it is like only the worst things are coming to the fore. And this is all happening in democracies. Whether in India or the US, the polarisation of people for votes is perhaps the most to blame for the state we are in. It is time for people in power like our Prime Minister to reassure people that they will be safe and treated on par.

There are justifications sought for open beheadings in the name of love jihad...

This is the handiwork of some misguided souls trying to tear away at what is the most celebratory aspect of our land. This melting pot of the Ganga-Jamni tehzeeb is too precious to be frittered away like this. Hindus and Muslims are attached to each other because we need each other. You know my sarod maker Hemendra Chandra Sen of Kolkata is a Hindu. Without him making a fine sarod where would I be? Similarly, take the example of the sari-weavers in Azamgarh or Benares. They are largely Muslim. And yet the patrons who buy their wares are almost always Hindu women who wear these embellished weaves to temples and marriages. That's not simply being together because it sounds romantic but because the communities really need each other.

Why don't artistes speak up against it?

Those who want to, speak up. This is can't be forced. It needs to be a calling from within. I play the sarod and instruments like mine are purely based on sound. There is no scope for hitting a wrong note or going off-key. I will be instantly caught by audiences. The other kind of music is based on words where lyrics, language and context are important. It can be very popular: Hum tum ek kamre mein bandh ho aur chaabi kho jaaye can appeal to a different aesthete. The world of words is also one of manipulation which some are using with great dexterity to distract us from real issues or just to win elections. In my world of pure sound, I can't manipulate like that.

You have collaborated with Western musicians and performed with them too. Has this affected your view of them?

I was raised to respect every genre and form and encouraged by my guru and father to imbibe the best they have to offer. I respect West for being able to read and write music and being able to reproduce the exact same piece time and again. If I play Raga Yaman once, I will not be able to play the exact same piece again and again unless someone records and plays it out.

So many of your peers from the world of classical music live and perform in Mumbai but you choose to stay in Delhi...

This has more to do with the belly of the sarod than anything else. You see this changes its temperament as humidity disagrees with it. As a sarod exponent one is trying to ensure the instrument produces the best sound and one has to take care of it. Mumbai's climate is not really suited to that. It is also one of the reasons why I don't play outdoors as much as indoors. I was the youngest and my parents needed me. They were scared that if I went to Mumbai I would get sucked into this world and not come back. So I became a Dilliwala.

Have you chosen not to be part of mainstream Bollywood music composition?

I will be more than glad to. Only the subject and its temperament need to suit me. I have done albums like Vaada for Gulzar Saab and even given music for Saeed Naqvi's 13-part tv series based on ghazals: Guftagu. Asha Bhosle had sung the title song: Ishq ki arzoo ghazal. Everybody from Hariharan to Anup Jalota had sung for the series where two ghazals were rendered by the late Shobha Gurtu.

It is not like there is no good music around now in Bollywood but they are just occasional flashes of brilliance, nothing has the staying power of timelessness like old songs. (Sings Kahan Ja Raha Hai Tu Ae Jaanewale from Seema). When you go abroad and listen to the music in the NRIs' cars or put on tv to watch reality shows why do you think you get to hear these age-old compositions again and again?   

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