Sounds of India

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Sounds of India

Sunday, 28 June 2020 | Shalini Saksena

Sounds of India

On World Music Day, Soundscape was launched to represent diverse melodies of the soul of India. SHALINI SAKSENA caught up with MAME KHAN, KAVITA SETH and PALASH SEN who talk about their experience of being part of the online initiative

Since the lockdown was announced on March 24, 2020, all entertainment has shifted to online platforms — be it releasing movies or holding dance workshops or even organising concerts. On Word Music Day, HCL Concerts launched Soundscapes, bringing to fore the rich and inclusive music from across the country’s landscape. The program, that will bring virtual performances every fortnight will feature a selection of popular artists from a variety of independent genres like Sufi, tribal, regional and folk styles with rare instruments, melodies and words to wow the audiences all over the globe.

With this initiative, HCL Concerts, which had been focused on promoting classical performing arts, has expanded its efforts to also include other genres of music and offer listeners a complete bouquet of music.

Rohit Kaul, Head, HCL Concerts tells you that while they had started to bring to people classical music, over the last few years, they had been expanding their genres. “We have organised folk songs, invited Devu Khan and even Kavita Seth. We have been consciously expanding but with Soundscapes we are pushing our boundaries and including artists who can be part of our concerts,” Kaul says.

There were three reasons for this expansion. First, the platform has always seen itself which connects artists and the audience and bring them together on a common platform. Second, over the years they have been getting a number of requests, from the artists and the audience to expand and include other genres to serve independent artists who do a lot of live performances. Third, since the platform has gone digital and physical concerts are not going to take place in the near future, Soundscapes gives an opportunity to serve a much larger set of artists and digital concerts are easy to do.

The name stems from the platform’s idea to expand. Just like they have Baithak where artists talk about their art and themselves, Soundscapes represents expansion of genres across India. This way, the audience can get attached to a certain initiative.

“After much deliberation, we felt that an expansion was in order. Eventually, good music is good music. We want to provide a certain kind of experience to our audience by bringing to them quality music. The good part was that the expansion has not been tough at all. Artists have been forthcoming and we had artists like Palash Sen, Mame Khan and Kavita Seth on our debut. Since we are looking at folk, regional and contemporary genres, we wanted veterans in this field who can stoke a feeling of nostalgia and give a contemporary feel. These three artists fulfill all our requirements – diversity and versatility,” Kaul tells you.

Palash Sen says his reason for saying yes was simple. “When Euphoria first started back in October 1998, HCL was one of the first companies to invite us to play for their employees in December. Our relationship goes back almost 32 years. The platform has primarily been promoting classical so when they came up with this new idea, I was excited to get an opportunity to play for them. The experience of being part of a concert from the comfort of one’s home while the artist performed from his was interesting. Communicating through the digital medium was a great experience even though the whole idea of being in one place as opposed to being on stage with the energy flowing was a tad difficult to adjust to. But we are living in difficult times and we have to get used to the new normal and do everything ourselves including looking after our health. For a performing artist, this is time that will prove if he can survive, only those who rely on purely their craft, and not the usual props of instruments, will be able to do so,” Sen says.

He had to adjust to the concept of singing into the phone sitting at home. “It is good that I have a great smartphone. One doesn’t have an amplifier on the phone and one can only use those sounds that will add to your voice and make the song sound nice on a smartphone. This experience was so different from anything that had been done in the past – on stage, the artist is larger than life. But here, the artist becomes a part of your home and that is the biggest joy,” Sen says.

He tells you that creatively, he didn’t have to make any changes. “People know what Euphoria is about and what to expect from us. This is an HCL Concerts for Euphoria — this is who I am and this is what my band is about. The only difference was that instead of 12 of us performing, there were four of us. If you talk about Euphoria, we are the taste of India now and are deeply rooted in our culture albeit westernised,” Sen says whose passion lies in the fact that he is singing for himself and God.

Kavita Seth, known for her ghazal and sufi songs, says that she had a bit of preparation to do since there were no musicians but then she found a way to work around it. “I had assumed that people would like these songs and went with that even though there were no accompanying instruments. I had to change the song list. Music has such healing properties and has helped me in these testing times. I chose songs that had positivity and sent a message of hope and charge and those that I could sing with just a tanpura in my hand,” Seth says.

She opines that for an artist, the whole idea is for him to perform, it is good that such platforms have stepped up and given an opportunity to share the art with the audience. “Another good is that one can reach out to people across the globe. When performing live, there is limited reach but online gives you the ability to reach out to millions,” Seth says.

Mame Khan says that such digital platforms are a great way to connect with the audience especially in these times of COVID-19. “For music lovers, this platform is great for artists. To perform on World Music Day was such an honour for me. I know what kind of songs my audience likes. I have been doing shows for the last 30 years. On the basis of the experience garnered, I chose my songs for this concert for the prep centred around how to get the technical issues – how to use technology and then perform accordingly. However, the excitement to perform remains the same,” Khan says.

 

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