Reported By:
| Edited By: Yogesh Pawar |Source: DNA |Updated: Nov 13, 2016, 07:40 AM IST
Shivkumar Sharma (SS): We've both become very selective about concerts. You have to give credit to Mahesh Babu and Nandini for bringing us together to mark the 20th anniversary of their organisation, Banyan Tree. The association of the two of us, of course, goes even before Banyan Tree.
Hariprasad Chaurasia (HC): You know I would have persistently reminded them, if they hadn't invited us – maybe not to perform but at least to listen to and be part of the anniversary celebrations. It is really special that both Shivji and I are coming together for a concert. There is also the added temptation that if they call us and we perform well, they might call us to perform for the 25th anniversary too (both chuckle). So it is a good thing they have given us this opportunity.
HC: We generally do not. Both Shivji and me are so busy that we perform then and there what He (points skywards) wants us to.
SS: We've never rehearsed and planned a performance. That is what keeps classical music organic. With film, pop and any other genre, there are several rehearsals for musicians. I know that some classical musicians have also started borrowing that idea but that takes the soul away. Here it has to come from within, based on what you feel like expressing and creating.
SS: That would happen only if your hearts aren't entwined. With love and respect for each other, you don't need rehearsals. I know of times when Hariji has flown in and reached the venue in the nick of time. We sit on stage and one of us needs to just play the first few notes and the other smiles and responds instinctively.
HC: Between us, Shivji always takes care of me. He seems to sense whether I'm going to meander, walk, stretch or even lie down while chasing a note (smiles at SS). I'm totally at ease since I know that even if I lie down, he will always pick me up from where I'm.
HC: Always.
SS: This is just Hariji's modesty and greatness. The whole world knows of his superlative understanding of music. I'll give you an example. We were readying to jam during a concert when powerful lights and the air-conditioning changed the tuning of my santoor. Its pitch sharpened higher than what I had set. Tuning each of the 100 wires would've taken over 30 minutes. I resigned myself to the consequences and began playing. It still gives me goosebumps to remember how Hariji simply increased the intensity of blowing the flute to match the higher pitch of my santoor. I doubt whether anyone else can pull off something like that.
SS: I know that many say technological development is a part of life. But this has been a huge setback for Indian classical music. We have no music albums being recorded and even Rhythm House has shut down. On the other hand, thanks to the Internet, people have access to some of the music of the stalwarts of the yesteryears and can learn so much.
HC: I don't see much good coming from technology. Nowadays, everyone's lost in their cellphones. They don't even talk to each other. When everything is at their fingertips, there's little respect for its worth and it is taken for granted. People come to concerts, illegally record and then fuse my flute with some pehelwan's posing. This is wrong.
SS: But we have to accept technology. There's no running away, we have to adapt. Technology is now part of concerts too.
SS: Yes. people have the tanpura playing on the iPhone even on stage these days.
HC: Even the tabla. I think what's left is some wires to be fixed to us artistes also (laughs).
SS: Yes, we'll reach a point where an artiste is alone on stage and the accompanists are all machines.
HC: But where are we headed like this? We are directly in conflict with God in a way.
HC: It's not like we look down on it. Else, we wouldn't have composed for so many films. This was a good way of taking our music to the man on the street. We keep getting offers but politely decline. Most subjects require some "classical music-type" sounds as a backdrop for the maar-dhaad scenes. Why should we do that?
SS: Give us filmmakers like Yash Chopra and we'll still do films. Do you remember Yeh Kahaan Aa Gaye Hum from Silsila. The interludes had poetry, not music. It was poetry, Amitabh's character just recites poetry, and we were working on the background music. Around 3 am, suddenly we thought of a song and told Yashji about it. He was such a great connoisseur of poetry and music that he immediately warmed up to the idea and the song was composed.
HC: Even in Lamhe when Anil Kapoor's character slaps Sridevi's, she does not react by hitting him back or jumping into a river. We allowed her humiliation and anger to be expressed in a dance sequence.
SS: Today's filmmakers are only interested in making a killing at the box office. Earlier, songs used to tell the story. If you remove them, the narrative would fall through. Now, they are like item numbers to entice audiences to the theatre. Once that's done, they are forgotten in a week.
SS: If that was the case, why are daily shows based on old songs of Madan Mohan, OP Nayyar, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosale running to packed houses? And it's not that those going to the shows are all old people. That proves the audience hunger for good music. Our filmmakers are completely disconnected and can't see that.
HC: These are really dark times... I hope we see daybreak soon.
SS: This seems like the dark times of the North Pole which lasts for six months. (laughs)
HC: I know that there is money to be made quickly and move on. There is no time to even sit and count that. Nowadays, they even have cash-counting machines.
SS: Well, they can only speak and think in English, you see. They will need some serious education to get to what Shakeel Badayuni, Shailendra, Hasrat Jaipuri, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Anand Bakshi, Gulzaar saab and Javed Akhtar are saying in their songs. You know, earlier, people really followed and loved the lyrics as much and often more than the film itself. Booklets of the lyrics used to be sold during intermission.
HC: I remember running to get there first, so that the booklets would not get sold out.
SS: Everybody loved to explore the feel and meaning of the words and sing aloud. That was the kind of love for language.
HC: Now it is all gone. Perhaps keeping those booklets at home will be seen as a crime now and you could be booked. As for the lyrics in modern songs, even if you spent hours, you will not find any meaning in them. In those that you do, you will be left horrified that little children are singing them.
SS: We will have to find a way of familiarising our children with our music and culture from school onwards. If we keep cutting ourselves off from the roots of our tradition, we will be reduced to another country with nothing to take pride in.
HC: We are losing our music, languages and spirituality...
SS: Today, materialistically, we are much better off than we ever were, but look around. Do you see peace and happiness?
HC: If we inculcate this value in children, we will actually work towards nation- building. Unfortunately, our culture department is also apathetic. Because the appointees have nothing to do with culture. If you appoint an agriculture-wallah in culture, what do you expect?
SS: Our country remained enslaved for so long that we have forgotten even the best things in our culture and tradition. The arrival of the British has cultivated a sense of collective inferiority among our people. To reinject pride and confidence, we will have to bring them back to the roots. Nothing can do this better than our tradition of music
