Be prepared for the thorns

Pandit Debu Chaudhuri has been playing the sitar for 63 years. A life of music has it ups and downs, he tells Surabhi Khosla.

The strains of the sitar rise above the cacophony of the room and reach our ears as we enter the room to interview Pandit Debu Chaudhuri.

A living legend of the purist Jaipur-Senia gharana, Pandit Debu Chaudhuri, who has been felicitated with a Padmabhushan (a top Indian civilian honour), is not of a musical family.

Born in a business family in Calcutta in 1935, Pandit Debu's musical journey began in 1942. At 7, he began going with his eldest sister-in-law to her music lessons at the Sangeet Sammelan School of Music.

"I would sit outside her class and just let the beautiful melody of the sitar surround me. It was in these moments of utter bliss that I decided that I wanted to be a sitarist," he reminisces.

However, the going wasn't easy for him. When he expressed his wish to become a musician, his father wagged his finger in anger and forbade him from chasing his dream.

It was only when his mother intervened that a sitar was purchased for the young boy.

The next hurdle came in 1948 when the 13-year-old Chaudhuri was playing for a radio station in Calcutta.

His father insisted that there would be no more music in his life unless he passed his Matriculation examinations.

Complying with his father's orders, Chaudhuri passed the exams. But then his determination to prove himself as an exemplary musician overtook every other purpose in life.

He started training under Ustad Mushtaq Ali Khan who made him go back to the basics and start from Sa Re Ga Ma. Under him, Chaudhuri learnt to play the 17-fret sitar unlike the 19 or more frets that most sitarists play.

The 17-fret sitar was a tradition of the Senia Gharana that traces its origins to Mian Tansen. The lesser the number of frets, the more skill the player has to exercise in order to strike the right note.

First break

By the time Chaudhuri completed his training, he was itching to get out of Calcutta.

But he had to wait until1959 when his elder brother read an advertisement for the post of a part-time tutor in Delhi University's Faculty of Music and asked him to come to Delhi for the interview.

Chaudhuri sailed through the interview and got the job. That was when his dream started turning into a reality. He had a steady income of Rs200 (about Dh18) a month (not a bad sum then) and time to practise his art.

"I came to Delhi so I could stay out of politics in music but the then Delhi University vice-chancellor Dr V. K. R. V. Rao was kind enough to remind me that I had walked out from Calcutta right into the centre of the country's politics," Chaudhuri says.

"I realised the truth in his words many a time when I was left feeling frustrated," he adds, smiling.

By sheer perseverance, Pandit Debu Chaudhuri managed to get a National Programme on All India Radio in 1963.

From then on there's been no looking back. He has travelled far and wide giving numerous memorable performances in all parts of the world.

His extensive experimentation has led him to compose several melodious symphonies, release nearly 60 music CDs, create eight new Ragas and author four books.

Failure & success

In his 40 years at Delhi University he has taught an impressive number of students.

Even today at the Ustad Mushtaq Ali Khan Centre for Culture (his own centre where he performed recently), he teaches anyone who is willing to learn.

Although he has given innumerable recitals both in the East and the West, Pandit Chaudhuri does not feel much for fusion music.

"I don't believe that experimentation is bad. Some of the songs are really good but most of them are made with the aim of instant success and therefore lack the patience and diligence of a good composition," he says.

Winner of numerous awards such as the Padmabhushan, the National Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, the Sahitya Kala Parishad Award and an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from the Indira Kala Sangeet Viswavidyalaya, Khairagarh (the only music university in Asia), the cultural trendsetter says he has no axe to grind with anyone.

"My journey has been one of many failures and eventual success. I have missed out on a lot of things in life and I want to warn everyone who wants to traverse this path to prepare themselves first for the thorns. However I am where I wanted to be now and there is no point in brooding," he says.

Indeed, the only time he broods is when he worries about the future of the sitar.

"I do hope that my disciples will be able to carry forth the tradition of the Senia gharana. I trust that they will not let the remixes of today take over the powerful melodies of our classical roots," he says.

— Newsmen Features