Indian flautist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia discovered his love of music through food. “I remember,” he says in a hushed tone, “when my mum was feeding me she would hum in my ear so that I would fall asleep quickly. I used to enjoy [it]. I also used to try to hum along.”
Chaurasia, who went on to try singing before taking up his now-famous instrument, recalls wistfully, “She [his mother] was like my first teacher — she started my training.”
Those childhood lessons would also be his inheritance; she passed when he was just six.
Ahead of his show in the UAE on August 25, the award-winning musician spoke to Gulf News tabloid! about music, his father and the opportune encounters that helped a young boy with a penchant for humming become a popular flautist. The maestro will be playing at Centrepoint Theatre, Ductac, from 7.30pm.
Chaurasia was born into a house of wrestlers in Allahabad in 1938, and expected to carry on his father’s legacy. But unbeknown to the senior Chaurasia, he was secretly taking singing lessons from his famous neighbour, Pandit Rajaram.
However, his singing career was doomed to fail. He recalls, ruefully, “After one or two years when he [my teacher] came to know that my voice is not OK — it was sounding not so sweet — he said, ‘why don’t you pick up an instrument?’ Now I really liked the bansuri [bamboo flute]. I said, ‘I like to play [this].” And so began his journey into fame.
Well, in the short version of the tale, at least. In reality, it caused much friction between him and his father. When asked how he managed to justify his career move, he says, “Let me tell you frankly, I wasn’t [ever] able to convince him [that it was the right move]. He died about 15 years back. I wasn’t able to convince him.”
When Chaurasia told his father he’d have to travel away from home to follow his passion, for instance, he was upset. “He was a little bit confused and a little bit angry with me, because I was also leaving him. There was a problem because there was nobody to look after him and I left him alone.”
Fortunately, this didn’t prove too big an impediment to the young man’s career; this was his one shot to do something he loved and he would not let bickering get in the way. The gamble he took — letting go of a secure job as a stenographer for a government department, moving away from his father and chancing his wrath — paid off. He has since won the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian award in India, and the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres title; worked on Hindi films such as Silsila, Lamhe, Chandni and Darr; collaborated with legends such as the Beatles; and opened two centres to teach music, in Mumbai and Odisha, Vrindaban Gurukul.
The flautist’s name has become synonymous with classical Indian music, even though he is quick to rebuff any pigeonholing.
Chaurasia is still young and learning, he insists. “Until my last breath I’m going to learn. I’m trying to find out what are the [types of] music that I’ve not heard. And how to make the use of those melodies in Indian music. I was also active in the film industry. So now I’m thinking [of] writing some kind of music for symphony and for other projects.”
But for now, he’s looking forward to playing in Dubai, along with percussionists Satyajit Talwalkar on the tabla and Giridhar Udupa on the Ghatam in a session that promises a blend of rhythmic flavours from across India. “I love [UAE] fans. They are also most of them Indian, but sometimes you know local people they come and they enjoy… I feel honoured,” he says.
The question now is this, UAE — are you ready to hum?
Don’t miss it!
Tickets to see Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia in concert at Centrepoint, Ductac, on August 25 start at Dh75.
