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Interview : My father’s achievements are legendary: Salil Bhatt
Salil Bhatt comes from an eminent lineage - he is the son of Grammy winning ace musician Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. But he prefers to state that he is sandwiched between and has to thus live up to the high standards of not just his father but also his prodigious son Satvik. Known like his father for venturing into collaborations and, as he put its, ‘genuine’ fusion, Salil Bhatt talks about music and the Bhatts...
Excerpts from the Interview:
What have you been doing lately in terms of recorded music?
My Slide To Freedom has been released in UK and USA, which is a collaboration with Doug Cox, who is a Country Blues specialist. Another recent and much-appreciated release has been Out Of The Shadows, which I have done with Lawrie Minson who is into Australian Country Music and Blues and also plays the harmonica. I have just completed Raga & Rock with German guitarist Mathias Mueller, a disciple of John McLaughlan and is influenced by 11 times Grammy winner Pat Matheeny.
In India I have just released Revitalize with Times Music and Flowering Buds, besides a live concert recording of the Mohan Veena, also on Times Music.
Your father is an iconic musician. Do you feel the heat of comparison sometimes?
My father’s achievements are legendary. He has not only conceived the Mohan Veena but when he won the Grammy in 1994, it was he who made the award famous and not the other way around, though Pt.Ravi Shankarji had also won it in the ‘80s. I remember the then-President of India wanting to know whether the award was for Science, Politics or something else!
As for me, my father is extremely happy that I am not in his shadows, and blazing my own trail. My Satvik Veena is another variation of the instrument. I have a predilection for fusion too but in a different way from my father. My son Satvik also is showing signs of forging his own style - he has been able to make out some raags since he was two! I guess I am also content with some of my unusual achievements.
Like?
For someone who comes from a musician’s lineage, I began learning music very late - at the age of eleven-and-a-half. I am thirty-six-and-a-half now and I am completing my Silver Jubilee in music! I have become the first Indian ever to perform in Reikjavik in Iceland, that too coincidentally in the presence of Dr A.P.J.Abdul Kalam. This was at the first historic Indo-Icelandic meet of the Parliaments. I also was the first Indian musician to perform inside and in front of the entire Parliament of Germany. I was also invited by the Taiwanese government as ‘Artiste in Residence’ for 30 days during which I not only performed concerts but also gave lectures and demonstrations on Indian music.
You seem to have a preference for Blues. Why is that so?
I think that is very earthy, truthful music - it is what it is. There is a simplicity that leads to a connection deep inside my heart. Though associated with Blacks but not any particular nation or region, it has antics and nuances that have corresponding meeting-points in Indian music. From example there is something very like a meend- which is a sliding from one note to a different one without a break in sound.
The general impression is that Blues is music with sadness, for a blue mood.
That’s a wrong belief. Blues, Blues Grass, Country Blues - all of them have all colours from sad to happy to satirical and others.
There are also so many myths about fusion.
You are too right! Speaking of Blues again, I have studied, imbibed and analyzed Blues before fusing it with our music. Only jamming and fusion are not synonymous but have been made so.
Your family has always supported mixing music. But there are those who feel that Indian music will suffer due to undue mixing.
I think that if you have learnt Indian music, you cannot think that way, Our music is enriched by outside influences and not diluted. A clear-thinking brain cannot think anything else. Music is like food, it should be balanced and varied. Yes, I know that the complaint is that outside musicians do not come in that kind of quantity towards us. But the reason for that is they cannot, not that they do not wish to do so! They cannot adapt because they find our music complicated, whereas someone grounded in our music can apply his knowledge easily towards an amalgam. And all my collaborations are not just classical music oriented anyway.
But mark my words, they are getting there - 20 years from now it will be a different story. And to really learn Indian music at that time one will have to go to America or Europe!
Why do you say that?
I say it because other than Maharashtra and Bengal, especially Mumbai and Kolkata, and also Bangalore city, I see the bastions of Indian music crumbling. Tamil Nadu is too orthodox. and Rajasthan and the old citadels like Varanasi, Kanpur, Lucknow and Patna are all but finished! The average Indian wants to listen to film music, which has its own fusion element,ghazals and classical but does not want to shell out money for anything other than film music.
What is your take on film music, especially today?
Three generations of Bhatts are crazy fans of Himesh Reshammiya! He has a smooth and easy flow in his music even if he is not highly-trained. I love remixes in general and those of DJ Suketu and DJ Akbar in particular.
R.D.Burman was a visionary who said decades ago that one day rhythm and fast beats would rule. Music is like that. We have to accept changes and evolve with the times. And along with music, our attitude, approach, presentation and applications must change. Ilayaraja has an awesome yen for fusion, and A.R.Rahman is just following in his tracks. But where Rahman succeeded more was in his smarter presentation to a changed audience.
Today no one wants melodies that they will treasure after 40 years. They relate to a different kind of music.
Unlike your father, you have never ventured into composing for films.
I will at some stage. At this point I have other areas of interest.
Is there any area of interest that you share with your father?
Yes, we like designing kurtas for ourselves!
 |
Salil Bhatt comes from an eminent lineage - he is the son of Grammy winning ace musician Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. But he prefers to state that he is sandwiched between and has to thus live up to the high standards of not just his father but also his prodigious son Satvik. Known like his father for venturing into collaborations and, as he put its, ‘genuine’ fusion, Salil Bhatt talks about music and the Bhatts...
Excerpts from the Interview:
What have you been doing lately in terms of recorded music?
My Slide To Freedom has been released in UK and USA, which is a collaboration with Doug Cox, who is a Country Blues specialist. Another recent and much-appreciated release has been Out Of The Shadows, which I have done with Lawrie Minson who is into Australian Country Music and Blues and also plays the harmonica. I have just completed Raga & Rock with German guitarist Mathias Mueller, a disciple of John McLaughlan and is influenced by 11 times Grammy winner Pat Matheeny.
In India I have just released Revitalize with Times Music and Flowering Buds, besides a live concert recording of the Mohan Veena, also on Times Music.
Your father is an iconic musician. Do you feel the heat of comparison sometimes?
My father’s achievements are legendary. He has not only conceived the Mohan Veena but when he won the Grammy in 1994, it was he who made the award famous and not the other way around, though Pt.Ravi Shankarji had also won it in the ‘80s. I remember the then-President of India wanting to know whether the award was for Science, Politics or something else!
As for me, my father is extremely happy that I am not in his shadows, and blazing my own trail. My Satvik Veena is another variation of the instrument. I have a predilection for fusion too but in a different way from my father. My son Satvik also is showing signs of forging his own style - he has been able to make out some raags since he was two! I guess I am also content with some of my unusual achievements.
Like?
For someone who comes from a musician’s lineage, I began learning music very late - at the age of eleven-and-a-half. I am thirty-six-and-a-half now and I am completing my Silver Jubilee in music! I have become the first Indian ever to perform in Reikjavik in Iceland, that too coincidentally in the presence of Dr A.P.J.Abdul Kalam. This was at the first historic Indo-Icelandic meet of the Parliaments. I also was the first Indian musician to perform inside and in front of the entire Parliament of Germany. I was also invited by the Taiwanese government as ‘Artiste in Residence’ for 30 days during which I not only performed concerts but also gave lectures and demonstrations on Indian music.
You seem to have a preference for Blues. Why is that so?
 |
I think that is very earthy, truthful music - it is what it is. There is a simplicity that leads to a connection deep inside my heart. Though associated with Blacks but not any particular nation or region, it has antics and nuances that have corresponding meeting-points in Indian music. From example there is something very like a meend- which is a sliding from one note to a different one without a break in sound.
The general impression is that Blues is music with sadness, for a blue mood.
That’s a wrong belief. Blues, Blues Grass, Country Blues - all of them have all colours from sad to happy to satirical and others.
There are also so many myths about fusion.
You are too right! Speaking of Blues again, I have studied, imbibed and analyzed Blues before fusing it with our music. Only jamming and fusion are not synonymous but have been made so.
Your family has always supported mixing music. But there are those who feel that Indian music will suffer due to undue mixing.
I think that if you have learnt Indian music, you cannot think that way, Our music is enriched by outside influences and not diluted. A clear-thinking brain cannot think anything else. Music is like food, it should be balanced and varied. Yes, I know that the complaint is that outside musicians do not come in that kind of quantity towards us. But the reason for that is they cannot, not that they do not wish to do so! They cannot adapt because they find our music complicated, whereas someone grounded in our music can apply his knowledge easily towards an amalgam. And all my collaborations are not just classical music oriented anyway.
But mark my words, they are getting there - 20 years from now it will be a different story. And to really learn Indian music at that time one will have to go to America or Europe!
Why do you say that?
I say it because other than Maharashtra and Bengal, especially Mumbai and Kolkata, and also Bangalore city, I see the bastions of Indian music crumbling. Tamil Nadu is too orthodox. and Rajasthan and the old citadels like Varanasi, Kanpur, Lucknow and Patna are all but finished! The average Indian wants to listen to film music, which has its own fusion element,ghazals and classical but does not want to shell out money for anything other than film music.
What is your take on film music, especially today?
Three generations of Bhatts are crazy fans of Himesh Reshammiya! He has a smooth and easy flow in his music even if he is not highly-trained. I love remixes in general and those of DJ Suketu and DJ Akbar in particular.
R.D.Burman was a visionary who said decades ago that one day rhythm and fast beats would rule. Music is like that. We have to accept changes and evolve with the times. And along with music, our attitude, approach, presentation and applications must change. Ilayaraja has an awesome yen for fusion, and A.R.Rahman is just following in his tracks. But where Rahman succeeded more was in his smarter presentation to a changed audience.
 |
Today no one wants melodies that they will treasure after 40 years. They relate to a different kind of music.
Unlike your father, you have never ventured into composing for films.
I will at some stage. At this point I have other areas of interest.
Is there any area of interest that you share with your father?
Yes, we like designing kurtas for ourselves!
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