Sumeet Anand Pandey, who performed at the HCL’s Baithak, speaks with SHALINI SAKSENA about how he left his corporate job to become a professional Dhrupadiya

What made you say yes to the concert?

Saying yes was not a tough to make. They are an established platform; I have been watching their work for some time now. In Delhi-NCR, they do various festivals. I am familiar with the kind of work they do; the kind of artists they have been brining in to their fold — classical as well as contemporary. As an artist, on would really look forward to be part of it. When it came to me, I was happy.

Are online performances going to be another option for artists in the future?

Everything has pros and cons. The same is true for performing online. It is up to us, (artists) how we use it to further the cause of music and arts. When lockdown happened last year, none of us knew how to deal with the situation and there was a learning curve — whether they were going online from their living home or using their mobiles to broadcast, within a few months people realised that they needed to find to deal with it. That’s when organised festivals started to happen. In hindsight, it seems to have been the right thing to do. If one takes care of the audio quality, since we are talking about performing arts, technical aspect is important. However, much hard work has gone into the preparation and in your riyaz, if you don’t present it well, it doesn’t work for the audience. But the pros is that they can watch it later and your reach is wider.

Was this the first time you performed for them?

Yes. I loved being on this platform. It is beautiful to be associated with them. As an audience, I have attended some of their concerts. What I like is that they present different kind of music. They have a great reach and this is just a important for all the artists. Dhrupad is oldest style but not the most popular. It needs the kind of platform where it can reach to lakhs which this platform ensures.

How strange was it to be online with no live audience?

Interestingly, the answer to this question has changed for me in the last 10-12 months. When the lockdown happened, I was also experimenting. Initially, one couldn’t even have artists come over. I did a few concerts where I was all by myself playing the tanpura and broadcasting from my living room or my mobile. To be honest, I didn’t enjoy it. After one or two, I stopped. If it was a lecture or a demonstration, I could do but not a performance. But when we could have people over and I could have other artists with me, musically I felt things were in place. For me, music is something where I connect with myself and not just the audience. When I perform, I was often in my own world and when I sing, my eyes are closed and can do alaap for half-an-hour. It doesn’t bother me much whether the audience was there or not. For live performance, one gets daad then and there; online you get thumbs up.

You left your corporate job to pursue music full-time. How did that happen?

It happened organically. I started my professional career sometime in 2007-08. I come from a musical family, so I learnt music from both my grandfathers for more than 10-12 years and then graduation and MBA. Later, I met my guru Pandit Abhay Narayan Mallick and realised that if I wanted to take up Dhrupad professionally, I would have to devote more time led me to make some hard choices and took the plunge.