Arindam: a Lead Singer from Band Kaya – Exclusive Interview

Arindam - a Lead Vocalist from Band Kaya

Gaanmela: How did you all think of forming the Band ‘Kaya’?

Arindam: Kaya was founded at the end of 2002 and our first public performance was in December that year. We had been in the music industry for quite some time and had experience in the fields of recording, accompanying, etc. Then we thought of starting something of our own. That was how Kaya started. When we were playing music for the others, we did not have enough freedom for experimentation. Starting the band fulfilled our desire to experiment with music.

Gaanmela: When accompanying another musician, did you not have the freedom to work the way you wanted?

Arindam: No, an accompanist does not have enough freedom to create music the way he wants to. As a co-musician, I had to yield to the wants of the musician I am playing for. Even if I came up with something new or different, it was not totally accepted. Under certain circumstances, we may have come to a point in between, but I did not always get the total acceptance.

Gaanmela: Kaya was formed in the end of 2002. Did you all compose songs before that ?

Arindam: No, we did not do much compositional works before that. Most of the time we accompanied in the recording sessions for both film music and non-film albums. All such recording sessions had their own music directors. We had to play music arranged by the other composers. We had also played with numerous artists.

Gaanmela: There are numerous bands in Kolkata now. How is Kaya different from the other bands in your views?

Arindam: We have many Bengali bands now, who are all singing Bengali songs, as far as the lyrics are concerned. But the numbers put in the lyrics are not always what should go with the Bengali language. And there are also many instances of the Bengali pronunciation being distorted by the band singers. Unlike many other bands, the treatment of our Bengali songs are much more authentic. A Bengali song originally had a prelude, an interlude, a couple of ’antara’s, and sometimes a ’sanchari’, which we try to maintain in our songs. We have also worked with a lot of Bengali folk songs. In 2008, the music album “Kayalok” was released, the theme of which was folk songs. We have worked on the folks that were sung in Bengal 200 – 300 years back, and also many folk songs that are from Bangladesh. We have put a lot of time and effort in collecting these songs and doing research in them. We have just made these folk songs sound a little bit more Western so that the younger generation finds it musically more appealing. The songs are a few countries old, and are not much acceptable in their original form. The audience of this time may not find a folk song very appealing if sung with just a simple instrument like the ‘ektara’ or the ‘dotara’. That is why we though of bringing in the fusion, keeping the original tunes intact. We wanted to modernize the songs to an extent where they become more acceptable by the audience. It is also a great way to preserve and reach out to the current generation with our musical heritage, may be in a slightly modernized form. Otherwise, the upcoming generation would have never listened to these songs. I think that is how Kaya is different from the other bands.

Gaanmela: I was reading it in our website that Kaya works with fusion between the folk and the rock. Fusion can be between any two disciplines of music. Why just folk and rock? Have you all worked with different kinds of fusion?

Arindam: Fusion can be between any different types of music. We try to be very versatile about our tunes. We do not deal with hard rock kind of music, nor we are a metal band. We try to do soft rock music and keep the melody in our songs.

Gaanmela: How do you bring fusion in the songs? I was trying to study some of your songs, and noticed that in different songs you have used different kinds of fusion.

Arindam: Yes, we have worked with different kinds of fusion. In a music album we have eight songs, and we try to make each song different from the other. For example one may be folk, another a reggae, the third one a soft rock, like that. Now in a rock, you have an intro, a base guitar or a distortion guitar with some other instruments. In our fusion works, we try to bring in a totally different kind of an instrument; using a ‘dugdugi’ with a distortion guitar, for example. In another song we may use a ‘ganjira’ with a distortion guitar, base guitar, and drums. We also use flutes in our songs.

Gaanmela: ……In the song, “Kori Mana Kaam Chhare Na” (Album: Kayalok), the flute was strikingly used with a very traditional ‘boithoki’ kind of melody. Or in the song, “Suddha Prem Roshik Bine Ke Taare Paay” (Album: Kayalok), the music was very modern compared to its philosophical verses. I could tell where the fusion was implemented into these songs.

Arindam: You are right. The song “Sudhdha Prem Roshik Bine Ke Taare Paay” is a Lalan Geeti, and hence very old. It was sung almost 250 years back. Songs that old are lost in time and the current generation does not like listening to these kind of songs in their original rustic format. So, when we implement some modern music and present these songs to the young generation, they listen. Otherwise, they would have never listened to these songs. They initially take the songs because of its music, and then with time the songs become a part of them. They start humming the verses and that us our achievement. In the same album (Kayalok), we have another song, which is ‘kirtan’ style song. It is called the “Aadi Jhumur”.

Gaanmela: ……Yes, the song “Kokil Gaahe Gaan Shono Shojoni Re” (Album: Kayalok),  was sung in perfect kirtan style, but the music was very different.  It is a “Basanti Jhumur”.

Arindam: It is ‘jhumur’ song, which was sung almost 350 years back in Bengal. Before the jhumur songs were popular and came to limelight, they were sung only in the royal courts or the ‘darbaar’. Since the songs were sung in the courts or ‘darbars’, it is also called ‘darbaari jhumur”. But the song is a kirtan in style. If you notice, you will see that we have used instruments like guitar, drums, base guitar, keyboard, which are unconventional for a kirtan song and in contrast to these instruments we have used the acoustic ‘khol’. But the original form of the song was kept intact, nor was the treatment of the song distorted. That is how the fusion was implemented.

Gaanmela: “Jori Naa, Aami Ki Tor Aapon Chhilam Naa”(Album: Kayalok) is another song that I think is very different. The intro music appeared to me as a rock and roll type, but the tune of the song startled me. It was very different than what I guessed from the intro music. The intro was very western and the song was totally of an eastern tune.

Arindam: “Jorina” is a Bangladeshi song. In West Bengal, we do not have much of the Jorina population elsewhere, except in the Sundarban region. When we went to the Sundarbans for a show, we heard this song from them. The song is very simple and down to the earth. There is no complexity in its theme. The song has the ability to get into a listener’s heart very easily. When we thought of singing this song, we had to westernize the tune to reach the young audience. So, keeping the original tune of the song intact, we brought the fusion in the accompanying music. We have used the western reggae beat and an eastern instrument like the ‘khol’ at the same time.

Gaanmela: I was studying some more of our songs.  The songs “Piyal Shakhar Bon-er Thekke”, “Ami Tomar Aashay Boshe Achhi Bondhu Re”, “Sujon Elo Ghore” all have very simple and down to the earth verses, and the music used with them are very jazzy in compared to the folk theme.

Arindam: In “Piyal Shakahr Boner Thekke” (Jigi Jagi Jang), we have used a totally western humming in the ‘antara’. The song is originally a folk from the Bankura district, West Bengal. Since it is a folk and an aboriginal song from here, we have used the western humming in the second stanza.

Gaanmela: You all treat every song individually and the fusion implementation of each song is different from another. How do you decide on the fusion for each song?

Arindam: The first and foremost thing that we have to keep in mind is the theme of the song, its lyrics and the original tune. This is true for any song, the folks or the ones that we penned. We always keep in mind the sentiment of the song when we are musically working with it. It is a trial process. Whatever the audience listens to is the final product and does not happen overnight. We have to work with the songs for a long time prior to coming up with the final version. It takes a lot of experiments and we have to keep on trying till we find out what is musically best for the song..

Gaanmela: …….. So, it is an iterative process.

Arindam: It sure is. There is no end to experiments. You can always come up with better things. Even after recording a song if we come up with something much better, we sing the modified versions in the live shows. Hence, some of our songs that we sing in live shows may be different from the recorded versions.

Gaanmela: What is your goal when experimenting with a song? Do you want to reach the point where it satisfies you or do you have to think about the audience and their preferences?

Arindam: When we are working on a new song, especially, the one that we have composed, we make a presentable version of the song and sing that in different shows to get the audience reaction. We try to find out what the audience is enjoying about the song, what not, and why not. We try to improve on the portions that the audience is not being able to enjoy. As I have already told you, it is a long term process and we have to keep on experimenting and get the feedback on our works from the audience. Our last album, “Kayalok” was a big challenge to us, because it was the first time we were experimenting with folk songs. All our previous albums were our own compositions. Since, we wanted to do something new with the folk songs, we have been constantly working on it for the last four years.

Gaanmela: Who is the audience of all our works? Do you have a particular target audience in mind, that you want to reach?

Arindam: No, we do not have any particular target audience. We have a very versatile audience for our songs. The older generation aged 65- 70 years dance with our songs just like the teenagers and the younger folks do. The year before last we went to the UK for shows, and we noticed that the second generation who cannot even speak Bengali enjoyed our music. They may not understand the Bengali lyrics, but that did not restrain them from enjoying our overall musical performance. Their parents told us that the kids were humming the numbers all the way home, and wanted to listen to our songs. So the language was not a barrier to them. They reacted musically……

Gaanmela: ………Music has its own langage and you are reaching out to the audience in the musical language.

Arindam: Exactly. And different audience reacts to the music differently. Some may like the lyrics, some the tune, some just the music used. Different people get attracted towards the songs differently. And when we are composing the songs, we do not have any prior knowledge of how an audience is going to react to the songs. They come back to listen to the songs for various reasons. A same song can touch different people differently.

Gaanmela: How do you get the audience feed back?

Arindam: It is not possible to get a detailed feedback from the audience for all the songs. Sometimes an audience may come up and say what he/she liked about a particular song. When someone tells us that he/she has enjoyed the lyrics of a song, or a tune of a song, we get the idea where the song has been able to touch him.

Gaanmela: …..So, you have to be in touch with the audience all the time.

Arindam: Yes, it is very important to be in touch with the audience. If we do not get the audience reaction, it is impossible to know what they want. And when we are making music for the audience, we have to have their reaction. If we just compose all our works according to our own preferences, then they may be not in accordance with the audience’s choice. The audience is always our main concern, since they are the ones who will have to accept our works. When we are composing new music, we keep a few songs the way we want to experiment, but we also have to compose some of our works for the audience. That is how things work. Some of the works can be according to what we want, and the others are for the audience satisfaction.

Gaanmela: How do you collect the songs that were song 200- 300 years back, and are not sung now?

Arindam: The songs are still sung, but they are sung in their raw format. Like the Jorina song, it is still sung in the Sundarban areas in chorus around a campfire, accompanied with khol, mandira, etc. They sing these songs for their own pleasure, after a long day’s work. The songs of Lalan Fakir are sung too in their original tune, in certain parts of Bengal. “Sudhha Prem Roshik Bine” is still sung today. They are not sung in the urban areas, and the urban population does not get to hear them. We are modifying these songs to reach out to the audience who have not heard these songs befoere.

Gaanmela: In context of the urban population, let me ask you something. Some of the songs “Anamika”, “Ek Poshla Brishti”, “Toke Chhunte Chai” are very sophisticated. They are very urban in their themes. They reminded me of another favorite singer of mine, Pratik Chowdhury.

Arindam: These songs are for the college goers and have been composed keeping the urban population in mind. We do stage shows not only in the rural areas, at urban places too. We have to keep the college audience in mind for the shows we do at the college fest. Pratik da does the same kind of works.

Gaanmela: Who composes the songs for your band and write the lyrics?

Arindam: I have written the lyrics for most of our songs. The lyrics are mostly done by Pulak, and some by me too. Once the lyrics are put into tune, we all sit together to practice. It is a long term process that we keep on doing unless every minute detail comes out perfect. It takes a long time for every single song to come up in its final form. It does not happen overnight. There is a lot of hard work and constant experimentation behind every song, and we have keep in mind every single detail about each song.

Gaanmela: Till now, you have four albums………….

Arindam: We have five albums till now: “Kaya”, “Sha-Naa-Naa”, “DhukPuk”, “Hasnuhana”, and “Kayalok” respectively.

Gaanmela: What is your next album?

Arindam: We have not decided about our next album yet, since we are busy making music for a couple of films right now. We are pretty much occupied till the end of June. We will think of our next album after that.

Gaanmela: Arindam da, plaese share your experience working in Bengali films.

Arindam: We are working in a couple of films right now. One of them is “House Full” by Bappaditya Banerjee. Our overall experience is satisfactory and I would say that Bengali movies are in a recovering situation. Things are not the same as they were a few years back. And many Bengali other bands like the ChandraBindu, have already started directing music in the Bengali films. A lot of newcomers are also entering the film industry as music directors. The music of the Bengali films is not the same as it was some time back. New innovations are coming in. In “House Full” one the songs we have composed is a pure jazz, the other is a totally Sufi style folk song. The other film we are working in is by Nihal Dutta. It is his second film. We have completed making five songs for the film and each of them is different in forms form the other. We have used romantic, folk style songs. We have sung a couple of the songs, and some are to be sung by different artists like Shubhomita, Raghab, Jojo.

Gaanmela: How much freedom do you have when working as a music director in a film?

Arindam: We do not have the ultimate freedom when working as a music director. The reason behind it is that songs used in a film are made only or the film itself. The songs in a film are made to enrich the film, it does not work the other way round. So when we are making music for a film, we always have to keep the story and its requirements in mind. We have to create the songs and music according to the demand of the story and the situations in it. So there always exist some bounds on our works. But we are working with more freedom than usual. Since, we are working as a band, we are getting more liberty in our works. The director explains us all the situations in the films, and we have to make songs accordingly.

Gaanmela: Please tell us something about band “Parchhaiyn”.

Arindam: We are trying to make some Hindi compositions from Kolkata. There are national sector bands from every big city, except Kolkata. That is what we are trying to do. We want to reach out to a larger audience in the national level with the Bengali heritage. If a Punjabi folk like Bhangra, can be so much appreciated and popular all over India, then why not Bengali folk. R D Burman and S D burman have worked a lot with our folk songs, which have been widely accpeted both in the national and international levels. But after that, no one else have worked much with folk songs. We want to experiment some Bengali folk tunes on the Hindi lyrics, just as the way we have done the fusion between the with the Bengali folk tune and the Bengali lyrics, to reach a larger audience.

Gaanmela: Kaya has performed in more than 600 stage shows both in India and abroad. The audience likes your works. What is key to your success?

Arindam: It is very difficult to say. When we started our journey, we did not have any idea how things were going to come out. It is hard to describe any reasons behind our success in words. We really do not understand why song is hit, and  why not. It is difficult to capture it in words. It may be that our musical thoughts have been identifiable with the audience’s, and that is why they have admired our songs. That may be our key to success. When the thoughts of the audience does not match with the performers’ musical thoughts, they flop. Our thoughts may have matched with the audience’s, and that is why things turned out the way they are now.

Gaanmela: Do you listen to the other bands? If so, which are the other bands that you enjoy listening to?

Arindam: Among the Bangla bands, I specially like the lyrics of ChandraBindu. It is a very good band. I also like Cactus very much. All the other bands work with very hard and metallic rocks which I personally do not enjoy much. Since, the lyrics are in Bengali, the hard rock does not go well with the language, and the audience is also not very used to and prepared for such hard rock implementations. There is another thing that I would like to mention here is the distortion of the Bengali language. The langage and its pronunciation should be kept natural. I am proud of our linguistics. There is nothing good in changing the sounds of a language. Since most the Bengali bands do not do justice with their language, which I strong contradict, I do not listen to their songs. I simply do not enjoy their music.

Listen to the Exclusive Interview with Band Kaya Online

Gaanmela: Do you listen to the other kinds of songs, than the bands?

Arindam: Yes, I am a versatile listener.We listen to every kinds of songs. Some of my favorite singers are Manna Dey, Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, Srikanta Acharya, Monomoy Bhattacharya, Rupankar. I also listen to English songs.

Gaanmela: You and all the other singers of Kaya are experienced musicians. You all have worked with different musicians and have played different instruments and learnt Jazz, Blues, and all different kinds of Western music. Please tell us how much training one has to have when forming a band.

Arindam: Yes, we do have rather good experience. But there is no end of learning. We are still learning all the time, though the form of learning is rather different. We do not go to a music teacher any more, but we are still students of music and learning from multiple sources. It may be from a live show or a video or an album or from the internet or just picking up things by ears or some other incidents in our daily lives, that can enrich us. There are numerous bands in Kolkata now; in every street and neighborhood, you will find a band, and this number is going up so fast. Every fraction of a time gives birth to a new band. But to sing presentably in band, one has to have a minimum level of education. Music is just like any other discipline. Unless you learn how to play the instruments or how to sing, you cannot perform gracefully. Just like one cannot be a doctor without going to a medical school.

Gaanmela: I often see common people have a notion that building a band is quite an easy job. It is not quite so I guess.

Arindam: No, it is not. The common people have that kind of a notion because a lot of times they see a young group of people coming up with a band out of nowhere. These folks form a band before anything else, and then go to buy the musical instruments and the very next day go to perform in live musical performances. Unfortunately they have never learn how to play the instruments. And when the audience watches such a novice band perform, they get the impression that building up a band is as easy as that.

Gaanmela: Or may be since band is a source of entertainment for the common audience, and is why it is thought as something that does not require seriousness.

Arindam: No, that is not true. Singing in a band requires immense seriousness and there is no chance to act carefree about it. In bands, we do music and it takes a lot of hard work and perseverance as any other disciplines. It is not an easy job as most people think it is. I think if you want to be good at anything, it is hard. I do not blame the common people for having these funny ideas. They think what appears to be true. And these days everyone is coming up with a band. Bands do not form on a natural course any more, people just come up with one whenever they feel like.

Gaanmela: What will be your suggestion for the newcomers who are trying to form a band?

Arindam: One has to have a proper and minimum level of education in music to form a band, just as with any other things. We often have newcomers who come to us for guidance. We advise them the same way. There is no alternative to learning.

Gaanmela: Playing in a band requires a lot of application of your musical training. So, what is important in a band: having theoretical knowledge in music or its  application side and working experience?

Arindam: Both of them are equally important. If you do not have some basic training in an instrument or music, you cannot do anything just being with a musician. Learing is an endless process- we still learn a lot of new things. And it always very important to listen to a very wide variety of music. Listening to different kind of music makes you more matured and experience.

Gaanmela: In the USA, I often see that they emphasize more on the notations than on playing by ears.

Arindam: In the US things happen a bit differently. The musical groups prepare for a concert for several months, and everything they have to perform in the musical piece are all written down methodically. So they have to play by the notations written out.

Gaanmela: …….Even the dynamics have to followed strictly. A musician playing a piece does not have much freedom in that sense.

Arindam: Well, I contradict here. I would not say that the performer does not have any freedom. When a band writes their music, they can improvise it any time they want to – they have the freedom to do that with their own works. But if someone plays a piece on the piano that is some other musician’s composition, they cannot play it differently or improvise it. It is not always right to change a composition of another composer. Sometimes, a performer still improvises a piece, but it depends on that person’s experience. The more experienced you are, they better you are at improvising things.

Gaanmela: So when you all started learning Western music, Jazz, Blues, whatever it is, you had to learn how to read the western notations.

Arindam: Definitely. We had to learn how to read notations and play things correctly as per notations. You cannot play by ear at an initial stage of learning music, because you do not develop an ear for music at a basic level, and hence cannot pick music by ears. It takes some experience to play things by ears. It does not happen overnight. When we first started, we had to learn how to read notations and now after almost 15 – 16 years, we can play music from a notation. It also takes a long time to learn to read notations. We could not play from the notations the first day we started.

Gaanmela: You all are so much experienced and can play several instruments. So what kind of instruments do you play with your numbers?

Arindam: We use a lot of different varieties in our own songs. Some of them are folk instruments and some are the usual instruments played with Bengali music like guitar, base guitar, drums, keyboard, flute, dugdugi, ektara, dotara, flute, ganjira, and different percussion instruments.

Gaanmela: How do you maintain the versatility in your songs? Some of your songs are folk, some old Bengali, some very urban, again the song “Missed Call” is very rhythmical. How do you maintain this variety in the numbers? Sometimes we can tell from a song, which band it is, since they have a pattern. How do you break this pattern in your songs?

Arindam: We target to make all the eight songs in an album of eight kinds. If the first one is a western soft rock, then we would try to make the second one a folk, the third one a reggae, the fourth a classical based or an ‘adhunik’. We try to bring difference in all our songs. So far, we have been able to maintain this format. Though, I am not sure how long we can keep on doing this.

Gaanmela: How do you all practice to put everything together?

Arindam: We get to practice only when we do not have any stage shows. We used to practice more regularly in the initial days when Kaya was formed. We do not get much chance to practice regularly any more. When we do not have any shows, we sit and practise all day.

Gaanmela: Arindam da, Please sing a few lines from any of  your songs.

Arindam: ‘ Jigi Jagi Jang, Jigi Jagi Jang, Jijang Jijang Re /  Jigi Jagi Jang, Jigi Jagi Jang, Jijang Jijang Re / Ei Piyal Shaaler Boner Theke SonaJhuri Bandhe-te / Tuke Niye Polai Jabo Re’

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Pandit Abhijit Banerjee – Exclusive Interview

Considered among the front ranking tabla players from India , Abhijit Banerjee is one of the most sought after creative artists in the realm of Indian classical music. With nearly 20 years of professional experience Abhijit has crafted a unique style and creative approach which has brought him accolades and awards from allover the world for his sensitivity, skill and deep sense of musicality. Apart from his contributions to Indian music he has left his mark in a diverse field of crossover music both as a performer and composer. Listen to the Exclusive Interview with Pandit Abhijit Banerjee. 

GaanMela: You started taking tabla lessons when you were only four years old from Shri TusharKanti Bose and Shri Manik Pal, and later from Pandit Gyan Prakash Ghosh. Why did you choose tabla?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: There is a little story behind it. We had a musical environment at home, my father being a singer by passion and my mother a sitarist. And our next door neighbor was a tabla player. Kids usually get more attracted towards tabla than any other musical instruments, and as a child I was no exception. I was very inquisitive about my next door neighbor and his tabla, and would often go over to his place to see him play. But what I did was quite different than what any other kid of my age would. Usually a kid would just beat the tabla, but I would put my hands on the instrument just as the way I watched my neighbor do. Seeing my natural knack in tabla, he suggested to my father to take me to a tabla teacher for formal training. That was how I started playing the tabla. I really never analyzed about why I took it as my instrument. Later, I was also very much attracted towards vocal and other instrumental music and took voice training and violin lessons, too. But tabla has always been my main subject.

GaanMela: You have taken vocal training from Pandit Ajay Chakraborty and violin lessons from your Guru Maa Annapurna Devi.

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: Since we had a musical ambience at home, I have always taken interest in singing. My elder sister was a singer and I used to sing with her. In fact, I was quite good at singing and very serious about it. One day I was at Guru-ji Pandit Gyan Prakash Ghosh’s class, for my regular tabla lessons. There were some other students who had come for their vocal lessons. I happened to sing a song in front of Guru-ji, and he liked my singing. He advised me to take vocal training from Pandit Ajay Chakraborty. Ajay-da himself was then a scholar at the ITC-SRA (Sangeet Research Academy). It was later that he became a guru at the SRA. I took vocal lessons from Ajay-da for quite some time. Unfortunately, I developed a problem in my vocal chord, and had to quit singing. I was still playing the tabla, but I thought of taking up another instrument that could bridge up the gap. So, I started playing the violin, as it is the closest instrument to voice. My first guru in violin was Shri ShishirKona Dhar Chowdhury. After some time, I had the rare fortune to be a disciple of GuruMaa Annapurna Devi. By this time I got so much busy in my prefession that I was neither being able to devote much time and practice to violin, nor was I being very regular to my classes. I could not practice playing violin with as much seriousness as she was showing in teaching me, and in course of time, had to give it up. But my violin lessons have helped me develop my musical sense on the whole and made me more matured as a musician. Music is vast subject, and tabla, vocal, instruments are all parts of it. So all my lessons in different subjects of music have helped me a lot in my compositional work.

GaanMela: What would be your suggestions to the students? Should they try to learn the multiple disciplines at the same time, or it is advisable to learn a single discipline properly before switching on to another discipline?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: I have talked to several masterminds in music. They have all said – and I, too, think – that one needs to master a discipline with utmost dexterity. One may attempt to know various disciplines, but it is next to impossible to be a master in everything. So, I would suggest that you try to learn a single discipline with all your heart, before you try to explore the marvels of another discipline. If you want to be a musician, then all your musical innovations must to be made regarding your chosen discipline.

GaanMela: You have worked with three different expressions – tabla, vocal, and violin. How do they complement each other?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: Let me explain it to you a bit more clearly. Music is a vast subject, and tabla is a part of it. Now if you want to play the tabla, you have to know well not only the subject, but also  about the other disciplines of music as well. If you are accompanying another musician, you have to have knowledge about his/her discipline, too. When you are playing with a vocalist, you need to realize the singer’s needs and what exactly to implement to make the music flow over smoothly. And to implement your knowledge of one discipline in harmony with the other disciplines, you have to know about them too. All of the greatest tabla maestros are skilled in at least a couple of instruments, and are also good singers. Similarly, all great instrumentalists know how to play several other instruments, apart from their own specialties, and of course know how to play the tabla. This is about the classical artists. For composers, it works a bit differently. They know how to play one instrument, but at the same time they have to think about the totality of music and how to use all other instruments in the musical pieces. So no matter whatever you do, in the beginning you have to concentrate on any one discipline that will help you learn all about the subject.

GaanMela: So if someone else is accompanying you in the tabla, when you are playing the violin or singing, does it make you feel uncomfortable, since tabla is your main subject?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: Yes, of course. I am always sensitive about someone else accompanying me in the tabla, no matter how good or bad they play. With the not so good accompanists, I keep on thinking about how I would have played in this scenario. I cannot, however, stop in the middle of a song, but it keeps intruding. And when they are good at playing the tabla, I still get distracted with the ‘bols’ they play.

GaanMela: Does tabla play a dominant role too, when you compose a musical piece?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: Since table is my principal discipline, the compositions I make are a lot more versatile in rhythms. Although I have taken vocal lessons and am aware of the ragas and try to think as a singer when composing different pieces, my sense of rhythm as a tabla player still plays a dominant role. I cannot avoid it.

GaanMela: Abhijit-da, you a graduate in English, and a post graduate in Journalism. When and why did you think of taking music as profession?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: I did not really think about taking music as my profession. It just happened. And to tell you the truth, the average Bengali households, and perhaps non-Bengalis, too, cannot really think of music being an actual profession. My father worked for a company for some time and then started a business of his own. His friends did not believe for a very long time that I am a musician and music is my profession. They have always had the impression that being as a musician, I was financially dependent on my father. It took them a long time to realize that I make my own living just being a music professional. Or perhaps they still do not believe me, but somehow they do not show it anymore; but it’s a very common way of thinking. And if your instrument is tabla, then things become even worse. The majority of the people cannot really think that tabla in particular, can help you earn your living. For quite some time, I myself could not think much differently. So I worked as a journalist in the Telegraph for quite some time. But music is very addictive. Once you are into music, you cannot concentrate in anything else. That was why I quit being a journalist. Let me tell you a about a small incident. Once I went to cover a musical program where a famous persona was reciting some poems, with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan’s sarod lightly being played in the background. Once the music started, I got completely lost in it, totally forgetting what I was there for. That was the very day I realized that I am completely unsuitable for things like that. I often see people listen to music and doing Maths at the same time. I have never ever been able to do that. I think it is simply not possible for a musician, or someone who loves music that profoundly, to concentrate on anything else with the music on. This has happened several times where I got completely lost in music when I had something more important to do as part of my job. Then there was a time when the Prime Ministers was elected; I was freelancing for Telegraph and had to cover those political issues within 24 hours. After spending a couple of nights to cover the story, I quit journalism. I was very sure by then that it was just not my job. It was also a very crucial time for me because I had already started playing in quite a few musical concerts, and my association there was becoming stronger with time. Journalism is a full time job and a very demanding one. And you cannot really do several things at a time, especially if you want to be honest to whatever you are doing. So I decided to stay with music, and music only.

GaanMela: How secure is music as a profession? Is it why common people do not think that music can be a full time profession?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: Nothing is totally secure as a profession except government jobs. Not all doctors or lawyers are successful in their professions. Music is not any exception either. It does not guarantee any more than any other means of livelihood. But at the same time it is not as insecure as people think. And with time music is becoming more of a profession than ever before. The music industry along with the market of performing arts is gradually increasing. So, thinking in terms of business, it can a very good profession.

GaanMela: When did you start playing as an accompanist?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: When one plays the tabla, he/she has to be an accompanist. So I have always been an accompanist. But I have been very fortunate to play with an eminent sitarist of Kolkata, Subrata Roy Chowdhury. I had always played with him, but when I was in the eleventh grade or twelveth at the Scottish Church College, Subrata da took me to Paris on one of his musical tours. It was at the end of 1981; we performed in several European countries for about a month. These days you see a lot of musicians go abroad, but it was not very common and easy at that time. It was a very rewarding experience for me, and as a young boy of that age, visiting Paris and Germany interested me much more than the music concerts. Then when I was in the first year of my graduation, I was playing solo in a concert, when a gentleman approached me along with my English professor Amlan Dasgupta, now a professor in the English department in the Jadavpur University. Amlan Dasgupta was a keen music lover, and he was also very fond of the tabla. The person who was with him was the son of the eminent sitar maker Hiren Ray. I call him Bachchu-da. It was the first time we met, to become very close friends in course of time. Hiren Ray was a very good friend of the sitarist Pandit Nikhil Banerjee. Bachchu-da later talked about me to Pandit Nikhil Banerjee, and how much he liked my tabla. Then one day Pandit Nikhil Banerjee called at my home and left a message with my mother for me to go and see him. I was totally startled and could not believe it at first. Anyway, I called him and he asked to come and accompany him on the tabla. I went to see him the very next day and played in front of the great music persona. He liked my music and asked me to accompany him whenever I could. It was a very big turning point for me to play with Pandit Nikhil Banerjee at that age, when I was still in the college. I wonder if anyone else at that young age have had the fortune to play with such a great musician. I consider myself very very lucky. I accompanied him in many of his musical tours to the continents of Europe and America in 1984. It was a great feeling for me to be with such a great person. Every budding musician dreams to be with a great music persona. It is a lifetime’s achievement for any student of music. It is a big part of enriching yourself as a musician. Just writing music in your notebooks is not enough to be a musician. A musician is more than just a mere performer – how you go on to the stage and leave the Dias, your performance, behavior and lifestyle, all count. I had the golden opportunity to observe and witness Pandit ji in some of his musical concerts that has helped me develop myself as a musician. But a year after we came back from the tour, Pandit Nikhil Banerjee passed away. It was in 1986, after the Dover Lane Music Conference. His passing away was a deep shock to me. It was the same time I was taking lessons in vocal, and trying my career as a journalist. I lost the spirit for pursuing my journey as a musician. However, life again brought me the chance to play with the renowned vocalist Begum Parween Sultana. It was again another turning point for me and I resumed my music career and gradually I stopped working as a journalist.

GaanMela: Who is your audience in the musical concerts abroad?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: It depends on where I am performing. In America, depending on the organization, the audience can be Indian or American. However, in Europe the audience is mostly European, with the only exception in London. In the USA, we have more NRIs, so there can be more Indians, depending on the organization.

GaanMela: You have accompanied almost all the great musicians of our times. Would you please share some of your experience with them.

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: Yes, I have played with a lot of great musicians. I do not know what to say other than that playing with all of them has been a great experience. The only thing I would like to add, the greater a musician, the more command he has over the performance. As a co-musician , I can feel their profound skill and knowledge in music. Accompanying someone of the stature of Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma is very different from being with someone junior to him. And playing with a great persona enriches myself as a musician. That is the most important aspect of the whole thing.

GaanMela: Abhijit-da, you have played the tabla with both North Indian and South Indian classical music. Please tell us how different it is to play with South Indian music from playing with North Indian Music.

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: It is very different, because South Indian music is totally different from North Indian music. The very basics of music are the same in both, but what is different is the approach. So when we accompany with the South Indian music, our approach needs to be different too. We have to prepare ourselves for that. When playing with a South Indian music, you have know about the type of music being played, and have to have a lot more senses in rhythms and their intricacies. And the implementations have to quite different., just the way it is when I accompany in jazz music.

GaanMela: Do you play tabla when you are playing with a jazz group?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: Yes, I mostly play the tabla. However, in a few occasions I have sung or played some other instrument like the Khanjira. I have never played the violin. When you are playing with a jazz group, you need to have some knowledge in the subject itself, about the rhythm structure and its progression, and bring out the proper effects. When playing with the jazz, it does not require my direct knowledge of tabla, nor do I have to directly play the tabla. What I need to do is to apply my knowledge in tabla in a totally different scenario and make it useful and effective. As long as you do not learn how to apply your wisdom, you are a student, and your education is not complete yet. Though we are students all our lives, as long as you do not know the implementation of your subject your education is insufficient.

GaanMela: So, does it require a lot of preparation when playing with jazz?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: There has to be some preparation, not a whole lot I would say. But you need to think about the music and how you can contribute to it.

GaanMela: Are there any good schools in Kolkata where they teach jaaz and western classical?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: Yes, there are some good institutions these days. We have always had a lot of talented jazz musicians and guitar players in Kolkata. The Calcutta School of Music offers classes in Western classical.

GaanMela: Have you worked with fusion between the Indian and the Western music?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: Yes, I definitely have. It is the latest trend. I have a musical group named “Tarang” where we work with fusion music. Last year we played fusion music in Los Angeles Music Festival. The common notion that fusion music is just the crossover between the Eastern and the Western. But fusion can be between any different types of music. The crossovers between classical and folk, Eastern and Far East or Middle East, Western and Middle Eastern, South Indian and North Indian music are all fusions. Last year we played with a Japanese Taiko drumming group. There have not been many instances of fusion music between the Japanese Taiko drumming and Indian music. Very little work has been done, mainly based on the guitar and drums, not in much depth of the subject. I have immensely enjoyed working on this rare fusion between the East and the Far East. I have to listen to music from all over the world and that is something I enjoy doing, too. I have previously worked with Middle Eastern music, that is Arabian music, and with Indonesian gamelan music. I have lived in Bali for a while, and learnt how to play the gamelan. In the Chicago World Festival of Music, we represented five countries. There were representatives from China, Japan, Burma, Indonesia and me from India. It was another rare performance that does not happen very often. It was a great experience rehearsing with all the other musicians and we presented a two hour musical session in the festival.

GaanMela: You are the founder of both “Dhwani” and “Tarang”. Please tell us somethting about them.

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: “Dhwani” is the music institution that I founded, and “Tarang” is the music group which I started to focus mainly on compositional works. I am the leading musician in “Tarang” and have with me my co-musicians. The compositions played by “Tarang” are all my creations. I occasionally sing there too, besides playing the tabla. “Dhwani” is a music school that I started almost seven – eight years back in India. We offer free classes to blind and mentally retarded students. Every year we choose two of our best students and give them scholarship and the opportunity for public performance with many other renowned musicians. We also present the very best student with an award of 15,000 rupees in memory of my guruji, the late Manik Pal. We are doing this for the last five years now. In that sense, “Dhwani” is not just a music school – we are trying to help the physically or mentally challenged people learn music. There have been several efforts made to teach the disabled how to read and write, but there have not been many instances where they were taught music. And when we give them music lessons, they enjoy it. The idea came to me when I played music at a school for the disabled people in England. I tried to come up with a similar organization in India. That was how “Dhwani” started. Our school has now flourished with time, and we have a branches of “Dhwani” in Los Angeles, California, and in New York. My student Jyoti (Jyoti Prakash) takes care of my LA school. He stays there all year round and gives lessons to the students. I, too, come to the US to take care of the students, and here too, we offer lessons to disabled ones. It is a community work in my little own way. We, however, do not offer classes other than on percussion yet. Mostly we teach tabla, pakhwaj, and also about south Indian rhythms.

GaanMela: In the United States, who are the students in your music schools?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: We have all kinds of students. There are many second generation Indians, who try to preserve our culture and heritage, come to my schools. Besides, we have a lot of foreigners who come to learn Indian music. We have a wide variety of international people, not just only Americans. We have students from all nationalities- Mexican, Hispanic, Japanese to name a few.

GaanMela: For quite a few years, we have had several new trends like “Band”, “JibonMukhi” and the younger generation are very much inclined to learn these kinds of music. There was a time when we had to learn Indian classical music. Even if we wanted to sing Rabindra Sengeet, NazrulGeeti, or any other light songs, learning classical was a must. But a large portion of the new generation is now inclined towards the newer trends of music. So, do you think that we are not having enough students these days who appreciate the Indian Classical music?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: There has always been a part of the population who have not come to the classical music. I do not intend to criticize the bands or the other newer forms of music that have recently developed. We should always appreciate new things and take them with open minds. This is a totally Western thing: we did not have anything like it in Indian history of music. And there is nothing wrong in taking up something that has come from the West. If we can dress up in western attire, and there is nothing wrong in it, then there is nothing wrong in doing Western music. But the problem lies somewhere else. Most of the folks who form bands are the ones who have never been much educated in music. A couple of their songs may click and bring fame, but other than that there is nothing much that can be said in appreciation of those bands. Most of the time, they are not musically enriched and do not even sing their notes properly. And that is what makes me sad. In the West, you have to learn all about harmonization, which is the very basic key of building a band. In the West, their lessons in harmonization start in school choirs. So later on when they start singing in the bands, the singers do not deviate from their respective notes. However, in India, they try to play the guitar, just as they do in the West, but the musical effect they generate is awful. They may think they rule the world of music, but that does not really carry any meaning. Hitler once ruled the world too. Does it really matter anymore today? I am not really concerned about things like that at all.

GaanMela: You do not think that a few decades down the road we will not have classical music at all.

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: Not at all. I am totally confident about the existence of classical music. It was always there, and will always be. Bands, on the other hand, may not survive that long. Classical music has survived its long journey of 5,000 years. Just like our original religion – I won’t use the term Hinduism – that has survived all external invasions as evident in history. We still exist with our original religion undeterred. I think anything precious and meaningful always wins in the long run. They may change their forms, however, in course of time. ‘Dhrupad’ may transform into kheyal, or kheyal into some other form, but the classical form will always be there. I might add here, that classical form is not acceptable to everyone. You may think that we do not have a larger audience for classical music these days. But to tell you the truth, classical music never had that large an audience. You cannot except the people at the mass-level or the very grass-root level to appreciate classical music. It is just not possible. I might add here that as a person, when I express my myself in music, it does not have to be classical all the time. I often sing a lot of light songs, like the songs sung by Kishore Kumar or some folk songs, for example, because they have a better ability to touch one right into the heart. All these different forms of music will always be there, too. So, coming back to the discussion of bands, all I have to say is that before you form a band, you have to learn about music and how things work in a band.

GaanMela: So, you do not have any negative feelings about bands.

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: No, I don’t have any negative feelings. Rather, I do not have any feelings at all. “I just don’t care.” Let them do whatever they want to. It does not really affect me.

GaanMela: What kind of songs do you personally like to listen?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: I listen to a variety of songs, especially Bengali songs. One of my all time favorite singers is Manna Dey. I also love to listen to the oldies, but unfortunately, most of those singers have passed away. I love the songs by Suman Chattopadhyay, especially the ones penned in his early singing career. Let me tell a funny anecdote. I often visited a DTP (desktop publishing) center to take care of some business. One of their employees was a young boy. In between work, they all listened to the songs aired on the FM. One day he told me that the FM channel alternatively broadcasts a ‘band’ song and a ‘good’ song. I asked him if he had listened to the bands singing, and he said that he had. So I asked him why he distinguished between a ‘band song’ and a good song. He tried to explain to me that a band song is just a band song, and the other songs were the good ones. I told him that I quite understood what he was trying to convey, and that according to him a band song is anything but good. I did not teach him to say that. It was solely his opinion and I have known others who think the same way too. And all these folks who have expressed similar opinion are the audience of the band songs. As I have already said, it does not really matter whatever they do. All I have to say is that they need to learn music properly. These bands often make themselves subject to much ridicule in the West, which is the birthplace of the bands. I have heard a lot of the Western musicians complain about the lack of harmonization among our band singers. That is what I really resent. These folks do not care to learn whatever our original music offers, nor are they musically trained in whatever they trying to produce. It will not be a bad thing at all, if they learn some music properly before attempting to form a band. The bad part is their musical representation, that shows their inadequacy in the subject. Otherwise, band is definitely welcome and we should encourage the youth in trying new things. But it might get better with time. After a few decades, when this experimental part will be over, things will get lot better. Every new invention has to go through a lot transformation. The bands are still in their experimental stage. Once they are done with this process of modification, their presentation will definitely get better and they will be more musically educated. People may get pretty mad at me right now for saying this. But if they look back at this current period of transition 25 years down the road, they might feel the same way as I do right now.

GaanMela: Who are your all time favorite musicians?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: As far as classical music is concerned, Pandit Nikhil Banerjee, Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, are definitely some my favorite instrumentalists. We have so much genius and talents in the Indian classical music, it is really hard to choose a favorite. Everyone is great in their respective fields. And for tabla, my all time favorite is Ustad Zakir Hussain. He is a genuis. We know Zakir-ji for many of his other creativities too. But I think his greatest talent is as a tabla player, and then the rest.

Listen to Pandit Abhijit Banerjee online

GaanMela: Who are the promising musicians of this generation?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: There are a lot of promising classical musicians. And the newer generation is more concerned about taking music as their professions. They are very serious about it. The standard of classical music is still very high and even better in some cases. But you do not expect to get a genius like Pandit Ravi Shankar in every generation, just like a genius like Rabindranath is not born in every age. But the overall standard of classical music has definitely improved with time.

GaanMela: What would you suggest to the budding musicians?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: I would tell them to give it their best try. The more you devote to the subject, they more you get out of it. This is what we were advised by our teachers too.

GaanMela: You have created music for many telefilms and short films, and it brought you a lot of international awards in return. How independently can you work when directing music for a film?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: In some cases, I had to compromise to the wants of the producer or the director of the film, though not to the audience demand. But it was not that bad. Personally, I think it is the director who makes the film knows more about it and has a bigger responsibility about the film. It is all right to go with what the directors’ wants. And most of the time we discussed things together before we jumped to any conclusion.

GaanMela: How much important role do the online media play on the life of an artist?

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: The online media is a very new concept. It has been introduced in India too, but it has not been much exploited in India as in the West. I think it is going to be a very revolutionary medium. If used effectively, it can reduce distance of learning and enhance accessibility.

GaanMela: Please sing a few lines from a favorite song of yours.

Pt. Abhijit Banerjee: Let me sing a few lines from one of my compositions. “Jag Me Ishwar Tero Naam / Jo Allah Wohi Ishwar / Daya Karo Mujhko / Dukh Se Karo Paar / Tuhiko Smarana Kare baar baar“.

Listen to the exclusive Interview with Pandit Abhijit Banerjee by GaanMela

More About Abhijit banerjee

Recognizing his talent and natural inclination towards music his father steered him to tabla at the age of four. Abhijit also studied vocal music and violin making a complete musician out of him. Now he is accepted as one of pioneering disciples of the illustrious guru, the late Jnan Prakash Ghosh.

Abhijit has accompanied nearly all the top ranking luminaries of Indian classical music including Pt.Ravi Shankar, late Pt.Nikhil Banerjee, Begum Parweena Sultana, Pt.Jasraj, Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma, Dr. Balamurali Krishnan to name a few. As a tabla soloist he has also made his mark in numerous performances and recordings in India & abroad.

Abhijit has been holding center stage in all of the major classical music festivals in India . and touring extensively in USA , Canada , U.K. , Europe , Japan , Australia , South Africa , South East Asia and Mexico giving concerts, conducting workshops and attending seminars in the Universities and music schools. His International performances of note include Lincoln Center , Carnegie Hall, Gevant Haus in Germany , Paleis in Brussels , Theatre de la Ville & Radio France in Paris , South Bank, U.K. Abhijit also has had the honor of representing India in the Granada Festival of Music in Spain .

In addition to a highly successful career in Indian Classical music his crossover work includes collaborations with musicians such as Ry Cooder, Larry Corryell and Trilok Gurtu. Abhijit founded his own touring ensemble TARANG performing his original compositions, and released a CDs of the same title. He is also member of the Raga Jazz group, Arohi Ensemble .

Abhijit has scored music for Indian television & won the National Award for Documentary Music for the film about Calcutta ‘The Trail’, which was screened in the Munich and Amsterdam film festivals.

Abhijit has founded & established Dhwani Academy of Percussion in Los Angeles , New york , Singapore and Calcutta attracting talented students from around the world. The Academy also works towards the promotion of Indian music and has initiated needy blind children in the art of music.

In his academic life he is a graduate in English literature and post graduate in Journalism.

Achievements
As An Accompanist :

• Pt.Ravi Shankar
• Late Pt.Nikhil Banerjee
• Begum Parweena Sultana
• Pt. Jasraj
• Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma
• Dr. Balamurali Krishnan
  
  As a tabla soloist he has also made his mark in numerous performances and recordings in India & abroad.

Tours : Abhijit has been holding center stage in all of the major classical music festivals in India. Outside India he extensively travelled in:

• USA
• Canada
• U.K.
• Europe
• Japan
• Australia
• South Africa
• South East Asia
• Mexico

Other Performances :
His International performances of note include

• Lincoln Center
• Carnegie Hall
• Gevant Haus in Germany
• Paleis in Brussels
• Theatre de la Ville
• Radio France in Paris
• South Bank, U.K.

Ry Cooder
Larry Corryell
Trilok Gurtu

Abhijit has scored music for Indian television & won the National Award for Documentary Music for the film about Calcutta ‘The Trail’, which was screened in the Munich and Amsterdam film festivals.

TARANG - his ensemble

Abhijit founded his own touring ensemble TARANG performing his original compositions, and released a CDs of the same title. He is also member of the Raga Jazz group, Arohi Ensemble .

DHWANI – Academy of Percussion Music

Abhijit has founded & established Dhwani Academy of Percussion in Los Angeles , New york , Singapore and Calcutta attracting talented students from around the world. The Academy also works towards the promotion of Indian music and has initiated needy blind children in the art of music.

Visit homepage of Abhijit Banerjee to learn More.

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Performances with other Musicians :

Pandit Abhijit Banerjee - Exclusive Interview with GaanMela