PICTURE SPEAK

SINGING A DIFFERENT TUNE: Amaan (left) and Ayan Ali Bangash: Niladri Kumar (facing page)

Niladri Kumar, 32, begins his day at 8 a.m. His customary riyaz quickly completed, the dapper sitar player, dresses in jeans and a T-shirt and takes calls on his cell phone before driving down to his studio to record another quickie-his latest album. The session lasts till late afternoon. After a quick bite, Kumar heads for a sound check at the Taj Mahal hotel where he is scheduled for a fusion show three hours later. Satisfied with the arrangements, the Mumbai musician drives back home in his Honda City to check his e-mail. He takes a few more calls and packs his bags. Kumar is just in time for the concert, where, much to the delight of the audience, he strikes a stylish note. As soon as the show finishes at 10 p.m., he dashes to the airport for a flight to Dubai where he is slated for a "classical" show the next day.

Kumar is archetypal of today's young classical musician-adaptive, aggressive and raring to go. Flaunting designerwear and equipped with the latest gizmos, he is a market-savvy high-flier whose appeal lies as much in in-tune-with-the-times image as in his sitar strumming. Sure, he has a grounding in Hindustani classical music, but he does not necessarily stick to the old ways. On the contrary, he draws on different forms of music, often giving them a new twist. Constantly on the move, today's musician has no time to lose in contemplation. Unlike in the past, he steps out of the shadow of his guru much earlier to make his own mark, even if it means embracing a multiplicity of genres and juggling several roles.

The younger generation is driven largely by the market and its USP lies in its ability to package. Versatility is the key to success. The young musicians say this is the only way to survive, given the waning interest in classical music. "There is nothing wrong in being experimental and tantalising the imagination of the audience as long as it is not a striptease," says Kumar.

THEN & NOW

TRAINING: When a master took a student under his wings, it took him 15 odd years to hone the skills and prepare him for the stage. Learning was largely by rote. A student is ready in a much shorter time frame. Gurus do not have enough time for students, who use a tape recorder and the recordings of their guru as aids to learning.. THE ART: Followed one particular gharana (school/style) of playing or singing. Concerts relayed by All India Radio or LP records were the only way to reach and influence audiences. The student imbibes the best from other gharanas as well. Today's musician listens to all types of music-film, world and western classical-and is ready to experiment with other genres.. IMAGE: Kurta-pyjamas and dhotis for men and saris for women were the preferred attire. Home and concert halls were the musician's playground. Networking was totally unheard of. Casual clothes and designerwear are the norm. Musicians seen not only at concerts but also at Page 3 parties, rubbing shoulders with politicians, ambassadors and industrialists. HARD SELL: The concept of marketing and self-promotion did not exist. If someone mentioned a portfolio, he was likely to be met with a blank "what's that?". Well-designed portfolios with pictures shot by celebrated photographers, fully-updated websites and CDs with all details about the musician are the norm these days.

The trend to experiment is not entirely new. It began in the 1960s when sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar teamed up with Yehudi Menuhin and even the Beatles. Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain and vocalist Shubha Mudgal have also ridden on the wings of the fusion flying carpet. The difference this time is that today's musicians are more in-your-face as they shuffle varied forms, genres and roles with much greater ease. Take Bikram Ghosh, for instance. He accompanies Ravi Shankar on the tabla and has an independent fusion band, Rhythmscape. Ghosh has already composed film music and acted in a Bengali film. And he is still aspiring. Similarly, Sanjeev Abhayankar, disciple of classical vocalist Pandit Jasraj, won the National Award for playback singing for Godmother. He is now working on other films. "It is not the genre I am dabbling with that is significant, but my contribution as a musician. I want to create something that lasts, something classic," says Abhayankar.

For this generation, another way to expand the horizon is to interpret current events through their music. If nothing else, it ensures them news value. Shubhendra Rao, a disciple of Ravi Shankar, was to perform a week after the September 11 attacks. He was so touched by TV images that he composed a piece reflecting the scale of the tragedy. Rao and his cellist wife Saskia Rao de-Haas performed the piece, called Pukar, at the British High Commission. Says Rao: "Today the musicians are not living in ivory towers. We feel strongly about what is happening around us. Music is our medium to express our feeling and solidarity." Such headline versatility is also reflected in the work of santoor player Rahul Sharma, who was struck with grief by the scenes of bloodshed when he visited his home state Kashmir. His piece, Battle Torn Pahalgam, echoed the feelings he experienced in the album Kashmir. "My reaction was spontaneous," says Sharma. "Yes, we do have a tradition to carry but the outlook has to be modern," he says.

PICTURE SPEAK

FUSION IN FASHION: Anoushka Shankar

The adaptability of the artists to jive in with the prevailing fashion is a reflection of the new realities of the day. Classical musicians have always explored the commercial market for a livelihood. From Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan to Abdul Haleem Jaffer Khan, Shiv Kumar Sharma and Hari Prasad Chaurasia, they all played for background film scores and perhaps even more anonymous assignments. However, the difference is that they were reticent about their non-classical night jobs, whereas today that need has become a fetish, if not a virtue.

The problem perhaps lies in the fact that while the number of classical musicians has grown manifold in the past decade or so, the number of classical music venues has not risen correspondingly. Even though there are organisations such as spic-macay, which are dedicated to the promotion of classical music through lecture-demonstrations in educational institutions, it is not enough to meet the aspirations of younger classical musicians. Organisers of big music concerts prefer star performers or established artists. Younger musicians have to make do by performing short pieces at the start of a concert. "It is usually to set the mood for the bigger name or fill up time before the main concert begins," says sarangi player Kamal Sabri. Most musicians agree that it is difficult to survive by staging only classical music shows. "It is just impossible to get concerts all through the year," Sabri says. Not surprisingly, the trend of composing for films and TV shows and performing for private parties, fashion shows, festivals and corporate dos is catching on fast. "People accuse us of playing to the gallery but we have to constantly reinvent ourselves. Otherwise we are dead," says mohan veena player Salil Bhat.

PICTURE SPEAK

DRUMMING UP SUPPORT: Bikram Ghosh (above); Rahul Sharma

Not everyone is impressed though. For purists, the measure of a musician's versatility lies in his ability to transport audiences through the power of musical articulation alone and not through video images and slinky fashionwear. Veteran classicist Kishori Amonkar sees this insecurity as the reflection of a symptom of a larger disease. "Forget competition, practise and get guru-gyan for 10 years and then see the results. We are not fools to stick to classical music," she says. "All this so-called experimentation destroys the divinity of our music," Amonkar says. Rudra veena maestro Asad Ali Khan echoes the sentiment. "I feel all this fusion is a sham," he says. "Fusion is confusion and the way things are going, there will be no pure classical music left," says sarangi maestro Ram Narayan. It is not just the music that is under fire. "It took me years to reach a point of acceptability and perfection," says Ravi Shankar. "Now a young lad who has just taken a few lessons wants it instantly," he rues.

Ghosh feels the criticism and comparison with earlier generations is unfair. "Let's face it, we have been able to do what previous generations could not: popularise classical music," says Ghosh. "We are born at a time when technology and opportunities stare us in the face. If they were available to the previous generation, they would have also strummed the guitar and beat the drum," he asserts. He forgets how the violin came to Carnatic music two centuries ago, or that Brijbhushan Kabra played Indian classical on the guitar some 30 years back.

Even though established musicians condemn their successors for being publicity-hungry, they themselves are not entirely untouched by the trend. Some of them are not averse to employing pr agencies, ringing up mediapersons, appearing on TV programmes and agreeing to judge sub-standard shows only to be seen on television.

However, there are other established musicians who are more tolerant of the trendy kids. Grammy Award winner and mohan veena player Vishwa Mohan Bhatt is one such maestro. "We are living in a past syndrome. The present lot of musicians is brilliant," he says. "This is the golden era where creativity is blooming. We need to develop other genres of music too," he says. Sitarist Shujaat Husain Khan agrees. His advice to the younger generation is: "You can break rules when you know the rules. So first get your foundation right and strong and then build your castle on it."

The newer artists, however, see the ability to dabble in a variety of forms as a natural progression. Abhijit Pohankar, son of classical vocalist Ajay Pohankar, plays Hindustani classical music on the keyboard. A disciple of Shiv Kumar Sharma, Pohankar combines Indian classical with modern sounds. "There is a struggle between populism and conservatism. The great masters have done so much that we have to go beyond them and find new ways of expression," he says. In his successful album Piya Bawri, he mixes genders in its title as traditional compositions combine with western accompaniment. He prefers to call himself an Indian classical keyboardist and a New Age music producer. "I am not adulterating music but calling it New Age classical music," he says.

PICTURE SPEAK

CAPTIVE: The table at the O Coqueiro

The trend towards fusion music, it is perceived, fits in neatly in an increasingly globalising world. Yet, the phenomenon manifested itself way back in the '80s with the emergence of the band Shakti in Los Angeles featuring John Mclaughlin, Zakir Hussain, L. Shankar and Vikku Vinayakram. Since then, several crossover bands have emerged, the latest being Raga Afrika (sitarist Purbayan Chatterjee and violinist Kala Ramnath with South African jazz musicians). Sitar players Gaurav Mazumdar and Shujaat Husain Khan were nominated for the Grammy with such crossover albums. Others such as sarangi player Kamal Sabri and Meeta Pandit, classical singer from the Gwalior gharana, have won attention for their international collaborations. Mazumdar won the ECHO Klassik prize, said to be the German Grammy for his album East Meets West this year. Anoushka Shankar recently cut a fusion album, Rise, for which she collaborated with Indian and western musicians engaging in unexpected ways to create amazing new sounds. Says Anoushka: "It is very much my own music and my journey and who I am right now. I felt like I was rising into that. On a personal note, albums like Rise signify growth. It was a step up for me. Not even up, just more into my own."

PICTURE SPEAK

FUSION IN FASHION: Anoushka Shankar

It is not just the music that is different. The musician's image, too, has undergone a complete makeover. Rather than the dhoti-clad artist lugging his instruments on a railway platform, it is more likely to be a tech-savvy jet-setter calling out to the world from his mobile. With so much emphasis on presentation, there is more attention to grooming too. "We are not just heard, but also seen on the stage," says Amaan Ali Bangash, whose album Reincarnation is just out. "It is also important to market one's art," adds his brother Ayan. Both did a stint of anchoring a talent-hunt show on television.

Hiring a PR consultant is the preferred way to ensure better reach. Some musicians have even taken crash courses in English, French and German to be able to communicate better. Technological advances have only helped. Many young artists have personal websites which feature their indepth profiles, press coverage and updates about their forthcoming tours.

Like the boundless expanse of the Internet, the young artists too refuse to be restricted by norms of yore. It is not only about keeping up with the times, but also about making a better living. Perhaps this is the new sound of music. Enjoy.

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