Praying with the Flute

[Guest guest]

Praying with the Flute

By Kavita Chhibber

Music, says Harisprasad Chaurasia, is my aradhana, my prayer, and each auditorium a temple.

 

 

 

 

His musical journey had the most unlikely beginnings and yet today he is the

greatest living flute player in the world. He bemoans that while he may create

heavenly music blowing into a piece of bamboo, he remains jealous of Lord

Krishna, who despite not having any recordings of his music, is celebrated all

over the world in poetry and prose for his talents with the flute. By contrast,

Hariprasad Chaurasia laments, he had to struggle, perform tapasya for many

years, and yet he doesn’t have even one percent of Krishna’s recognition. But,

then, he concedes with his wry humor and a twinkle in his eyes, “Well Krishna

is the creator of this world and I am just a humble lover of his flute.”

Every time you meet Hariprasad Chaurasia, you are transported into a world of

mischief, music and magic, on and off the stage. His innocent smile hides a

sharp mind and ready wit. He is also nurturing outstanding talent in his school

Brindavan, which is based on the gurukul system.

In an exclusive interview with Little India’s Kavita Chhibber, conducted in

Michigan and Philadelphia, Chaurasia talks about his life’s journey, and why

despite the hoopla to the contrary, he is optimistic about the future of Indian

classical music.

You came from a family of wrestlers. How much of a handicap was that in your

quest to become a musician?

My father was a wrestler and though everyone liked music in the family, it was

taboo to even think of a musical career. In his eyes, music meant performing at

a courtesan’s mehfil, or you sang when begging for alms. My mother died when I

was five and my father had vowed never to marry and raised three of us single

handedly. He was very strict, and children those days did not dare speak up

before their parents. If I describe some of the thrashings I received from him,

you will be aghast. Looking back however I can understand, his frustrations, a

full blooded, young man, not marrying and raising us, cooking for us, single

handedly must have been very stressful.

I used to wrestle to keep him happy, but would often go to my friend’s house

where the parents encouraged music and would satisfy my urge to sing. Every one

knew my father’s temper, so they all kept my secret. When I was about nine years

old I started learning vocal music from Pandit Rajaram. He was our neighbor and

both his wife and he were very fond of me, as they had no children. He would

teach me secretly and when he discovered that I had talent he started working

very hard on me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then a chance rendition became the turning point musically I believe.

Indeed. At the age of 15, I heard the flute for the first time on Allahabad

radio. It was as if I was transported to heaven. The flautist was Pt Bholanath

and that was the major turning point in my life. He was a bachelor and must

have been happy to see a youngster like me at his doorstep. He hoped to get me

to at least cut his vegetables and grind his spices in return for the music

that I wanted to learn! I began learning the flute from him. Once I was

practicing at home and my father heard me. When he asked me to open my door and

asked what was I playing, I said, “Oh, I was just whistling.” I got an even

worse thrashing for whistling, because that was not something good boys

indulged in.

In the meantime I found a job, initially as a typist and then as a clerk in the

Uttar Pradesh government. I knew at that point that playing the flute was my

life’s calling. Soon after, while I was still in my teens I got an offer to

work as a staff artist on Cuttack radio in Orissa and I accepted. It was then

that my father found out that I was a musician. It was a major shock for him.

Not only the fact that I had learnt music and was now going to earn a living as

a musician, but also that I was leaving him, when he had sacrificed his whole

life for us. He tried to stop me, but for me it was as if God had answered my

prayer. I had felt so tortured, so stifled, not being able to give the amount

of time I wanted to give to my music, and now it seemed as if I could finally

break free and be on my own, to practice as long as I wanted.

In Orissa there was nothing but Orissi dance and I didn’t know the language, I

was vegetarian and all they ate was fish and meat, so I threw myself into my

music, and practiced day and night. Soon people heard me on the radio and

started inviting me home, the Orissi dancers asked me to accompany them, and I

stared getting paid very well. What I made in a month at the radio station I

began to make in a day as an accompanist. In fact the girls would seduce me

with movie tickets and say, here I have a movie ticket for you, don’t play the

flute at that other girl’s dance, play for me. The director of the radio

station was very kind and one day called me and said, there is a long list of

complaints against you, that you hardly ever come to the radio station and are

too busy performing outside. So son, why don’t you come once a month and sign

for the entire month, and the day you do show up, do some good work.’

I started doing some compositions then, just to stop people from grumbling. Soon

the director left and since the others were not too pleased with my extra

curricular activities they had me transferred to Bombay.

Bombay was a major culture shock. My salary was Rs 250 ($5). That just covered

the cost of my train fare for the month. A small, room cost Rs 500. I had

brought some savings with me and had decided I would work for a month or two

and then return to Orissa and continue with my work there as I had been making

good money. I realize now that nothing in this life ever happens by accident.

When I played at the radio station, some of the famous music directors from the

films, like Madan Mohan and Roshan, heard me and soon after I started getting an

abundance of assignments to play for films. I would be out all day after my

radio station work and return home only at night with my pockets bulging with

cash. Very soon I resigned from the radio station, and made working for film

directors my full time job.

You worked with SD and RD Burman. Can you share some memories of these stalwarts?

SD Burman was a very gifted musician, a simple man but exceedingly stingy! He

had a hard time parting with his cash even after he had become very affluent.

There was a time we were all struggling and staying in rooms in a hotel, and

Sachinda, as we lovingly called him, would hide behind a curtain if he was

eating something. Once lyricist Anand Bakshi had come over to discuss a song,

and Sachinda told him he must eat something, borrowed ten bucks that Anand

Bakshi could ill afford to shell out, got the errand boy to get a dozen

bananas, fed Bakshi one and kept the rest for himself!

I still remember this incident where we had to all meet at his place once he had

made it, to discuss the composition of a song. I arrived straight from another

recording and saw the producer, director, the hero and the heroine and some 4-5

musicians seated around this table. Sachin da asked his wife to provide tea and

some sweets. His wife Mira brought a plateful of rasgullas, which someone had

probably brought from Calcutta for him.

In between, the servant came and whispered there was no sugar in the house.

Sachinda promptly said, “oh, then never mind the tea, by the time you get the

sugar the tea will be cold.” But he couldn’t send the sweets away! Reluctantly

he asked people around him to have a rasgulla. People were too scared of him

and said “No, no, we have already eaten before we came.”

Well I had come straight from a recording and was pretty hungry. As he covered

his face with his fingers and closed his eyes to think of a tune, I made a grab

for the sweets. In no time I had polished off 15 rasgullas and there were barely

a couple left. Dada saw his precious sweets disappear and was quite annoyed.

The next day Lata Mangeshkar was to be briefed about a song and I was asked to

play the flute at various points in the song. As I started, dada chimed in,

still rattled about his lost rasgullas, “See Lata, he is sounding extra sweet

today isn’t he. I’m not surprised considering all the rasgullas he polished off

at my house yesterday. It has made his flute extra sweet today!”

Sachinda was very serious and would seldom smile. RD on the other hand was

generous and full of mischief. Not too many people know that he was a serious

student of music as Sachin da had sent him to learn from Ali Akbar Khan. We

would often sit in a separate room cracking wild jokes laughing our heads off

then rearrange our facial features and look very serious when it was time to go

before his father. At times Sachinda would wonder and ask, “Who was laughing

outside?”

The one time that I did make him laugh happened because of a trick I played on a

shehnai player Dakshina Mohan Tagore. Both Sachin da and Dakshina Mohan Tagore

had dreams of the latter going abroad and striking it big. Once we were in

London and we found a street where they would print phony newspapers with any

headlines we wanted. So we got this headline printed “ Indian Musician Dakshina

Mohan Tagore Caught Streaking Across West End.” I took the paper to Sachinda and

said “What a shameful thing, look at how Dakshina ji is making his name abroad.”

Dada was shocked until suddenly it dawned on him that he had been had and he

burst into laughter. Dakshina babu however didn’t forgive us for a long time!

Bollywood made me affluent. Soon I had my own flat and a car, and all the

material comforts, and then the discontentment started.

I believe that it was santoor maestro, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma who really got you back on track.

I worship Shiv Kumar Sharma from the deepest interiors of my heart. He is the

elder brother I was lucky to have. Shivji is not of this world. I realized that

the moment I set eyes on him. We met in the 1950s at a youth festival and then

again in Bombay in 1961 and became very close. Once he was married, his wife

was like my second mother. I would fight with her, walk off with things he got

from his hometown of Jammu and demand particular dishes. We had a lot of fun

creating music for films together and touring and indulging in my brand of

mischief. Once we were being hosted by two very scary looking old ladies and we

wriggled out of that by telling them Shivji snored and I screamed. Shivji was,

indeed the one who asked me one day if playing in Bollywood films was all I was

going to do in my life. I was not growing as an artist. I needed more. What did

I have to show in terms of personal creativity, or growth? He was right. I back

tracked and decided to find my guru.

For that you went to the reclusive Anna Purna Devi, Baba Allauddin Khan’s

daughter, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan’s sister and Ravi Shankar’s ex wife. Why her?

She had stopped performing in public and was considered very moody.

She asked me the same question when she kicked me out of her house the first

time I showed up there! Many years ago, when I was a lad, her father the

legendary Sarod maestro Baba Allauddin Khan used to come to Allahabad and stay

at a hotel owned by my best friend’s parents and my friend would drag me to

listen to him. One day he forced me to take my flute. When Baba saw the flute

he asked me to play. He liked what he heard and asked me to come to Maihar

where he lived and become his disciple. I told him my father would kill me.

Then he said, if you can come, come. I will feed you, clothe you and train you.

If you cannot and I die, then go to my daughter Anna Purna. She is endowed with

amazing talent. Strangely he did not recommend his son sarod maestro Ali Akbar

Khan. That somehow stayed in my mind and then I realized Anna Purna Devi was

living in Bombay and she was married to Pt. Ravi Shankar.

Anna Purna Devi played the surbahar and when I went to her for the first time,

she threw me out. As it is, filmi musicians have a flaky reputation, on top of

that I played the flute, and not surbahar, her forte and thirdly she wondered

why was I coming to her and not going to Raviji. The second time she threatened

to call the police, but I persisted, and finally after three years of

persistently dogging her, she finally relented. She asked me to play something

and when I did, she said, that if I had to learn from her, I had to start from

scratch.

To show her I was serious. I decided to switch hands. I used to play with my

right-hand, I switched to the left and believe me it is sheer torture. It’s

like if I tell you that instead of walking straight, walk backwards for the

rest of your life without looking back. I used to cry in sheer agony.

You have heard of stories about baba beating up his students with a hammer if

they made a mistake. His son Ali Akbar Khan once jumped from the first floor of

the house and ran away to Lucknow to work in a radio station, because he was

beaten so much. Although one time the tables were turned on Baba as he tried to

hit a foreign student who turned on Baba and there was Baba running and asking

for help and apologizing as the irate student chased him with a stick.

Annapurnaji too was a very strict disciplinarian and even more demanding than

her father. She did not play the flute so she would sing the ragas and teach

me. All I can say is that if I am ever reborn I want to have the same teacher

in each birth. She has brought a depth and meaning to my music that is

incomparable. I realized because of her that I am finally on the right path. I

have missed out so much that can never be made up, because she came into my

life so much later. She is not just my guru, and my mother, she is the

reincarnation of goddess Saraswati for me. In my life my music has been my

greatest passion, until I met her. I realize that I have never loved anyone as

much as I have loved her, and she has showered immense love on me in return. I

still go and learn from her. When I am away I miss her terribly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anna Purnaji doesn’t perform in public. I believe, from the stories I have

heard, she was a far superior performer than even Raviji and her fame began to

upset him, and so Baba made her vow that she would give up performing in

public. Raviji has commented upon his marriage to her in his autobiography.

What is your take on her and Shubho?

That is the greatest tragedy of the women of our country and my heart bleeds at

the sacrifice they have made through the ages. I also do not approve of talking

about my woman in public. We worship our women. They are devis, whether they are

our mothers, or wives, sisters, or daughters, and it is in poor taste for a man

of that stature to make any kind of comment about a lady.

I would never have the inclination or the guts to speak about my wife in public

no matter how turbulent our relationship. It’s just not done, even though I

love Raviji and have the utmost regard for him. I don’t think there is any

truth to the story that Baba asked her to stop playing or that Raviji felt

threatened. I have never had the courage to ask her and I have never seen her

play. All I know is that from what I have heard from others she was far

superior as a musician than anyone else in that era.

I saw her son Shubho who was a young, kind child and was emerging as a very

gifted musician and painter. He was very dedicated to his music and would

practice almost 8-9 hours every day. He was also studying painting. Then he

chose to move to the USA and lost focus. I know people blame Raviji for

spoiling him, but the fact is it was not Raviji’s fault. Shubho was old enough

to know right from wrong. I think sometimes when you are fortunate enough to be

born in a musical family you may take it for granted. It’s really important for

sons and daughters of artists to not get scattered, but unfortunately that is

what I see happening a lot of the times. It is very interesting to see how all

three — Raviji, Ali Akbar Khan and Annapurna Devi, were taught by the same

master, but their playing was ruled by their own temperament, making them

uniquely different from each other.

You have collaborated with an amazing number of vocal and instrumental artists,

both from the west and India, including with Jethro Tull in three concerts

recently.

Yes they now call it fusion music, but I think its confusion in the minds of

those who created the phrase. We play alongside each other, it’s not in fusion

but in unison. I have enjoyed playing with all the artists. In 1972 we had

musicians from the west and fellow Indians, including Ravi Shankar, Allah

Rakha, George Harrison, Jean Pierre Ramphal and toured 54 cities. It was really

interesting to see how each artist approached his music, the concert, and his

moods, both on and off stage.

Yehudi Menhuin was great. He loved Indian culture and music and was one of the

genuinely humble men I have known. Of course at times there were ego hassles

when even the audience could see the other musician was trying to outshine me,

or over shadow me. Don’t ask me for names. How can I tell you which one of my 5

kids is more naughty? I normally walk away from controversies. It’s more of a

stress being embroiled in them. Jethro Tull was surprisingly fun and very well

behaved and we played to a full house everywhere. We worked on a few melodies

together and at other times we played our own stuff but it all jelled very

well.

You created a CD “Divine Dhrupad.” It was interesting, because dhrupad is either

sung or played on the veena traditionally.

Well I come from the Senia gharana and it is a pre-requisite to start with

dhrupad when you start learning music, and after that you can go to khayal or

thumri. I have felt that the singers who sing dhrupad have been trying to

monopolize and control the dhrupad style, so I decided to play it on the flute,

and every one appreciated it greatly.

What do you think of the young musicians of today? They are getting younger and younger these days.

I think they are very short-sighted. These days they are more interested in

signing contracts, and cash in on their talents as early as possible. What they

don’t realize is that if you are not ready, you will flounder eventually. It’s

like working on an empty stomach versus a full stomach. An empty vessel only

makes a lot of noise. We were never ready until our guru told us that we were,

but these days there is no reverence for teachers. Earlier we used to run after

our teachers, now the teachers run after their students, and are often told,

please sit, my son is watching TV. Or he is taking a shower or still sleeping.

Even those artists who are famous all over the world have not been able to

teach their own kids the discipline necessary to become a great musician.

Their kids too have released records, signed contracts well before their musical

talent has reached the level it should. However I’m very happy to see how

parents today are pushing their kids to learn music or some classical art form,

something I never saw in my time. I do have to say, however, that if you truly

want to understand and learn classical music you have to live in India and

learn it there. There are no two ways about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You have created some beautiful music for films along with Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma.

Has the quality of film music deteriorated and is it why you are so picky?

Well I won’t really blame the music composer because the quality of music in

films has deteriorated. The days of Baiju Bawra, Anarkali are gone, when the

music director would research each scene and create great melodies. Now any boy

who can shake his hips and any girl who can wear skimpy clothes are made to star

in a movie. What kind of music can you provide for such a film? It seems like

ages since the last time I saw an actress wearing a sari throughout a movie.

The singers don’t want to learn and take short cuts. The musician doesn’t want

to tire his brains by thinking too hard, because there is no time. It’s all a

rat race now.

If you were given the opportunity of doing a duet with one of the past legends

who would you choose?

First of all I don’t think I have the talent to perform duets with anyone of the

musical greats, but if I could have the honor of accompanying them my choice

would be Baba Allauddin Khan. He was an amazing musician and an amazing

teacher. He played a variety of instruments from trumpet, to sarod, to sitar,

to piano, to violin to ghatam. What is amazing is the fact that the temperament

of each instrument is so different and so unique and he could play all of them

beautifully. I have yet to meet anyone who was such colossal talent.

Tell me something about your dream, “ Brindavan.”

To this day my gurus have never charged me for anything. Instead they have fed

me and taken care of me. I wanted to revive that gurukul tradition, and to

build a school for music where I wanted to select about 10 students or so,

adopt them and provide them with everything. They would study and learn music,

see other fellow musicians perform, attend and give lectures and of course be

educated in other subjects as well. It would be an all-round education. They

would be from all age groups, but will not get a degree. Just the fact that

they are from Brindavan will be a certificate enough.

Lord Krishna’s Brindavan is known by his idol. Here my Brindavan would be alive

with the lord’s music through his instrument. I didn’t know how to go about it

though. It was in 1988 that Rajiv Gandhi asked me to fly to Japan with him and

asked me how my music was and if there was anything I needed. I told him about

my dream and he said he can arrange for 20 acres of land for me in Delhi. I

said I was based in Bombay and while eventually I would love to see a music

gurukul in each state, with my earlier commitments and I was still giving music

in Bollywood, it would be hard to shift.

I was then given land in a prime location in Juhu, but many years passed and I

had no clue how to start building. I had neither the knowledge nor the

financial resources. I have somehow always had God’s grace, where whenever I do

dream of something, somehow the doors open.

It was in the nineties that I bumped into Ratan Tata of the Tatas at a function

where I was being honored. His father had always been fond of me and Ratan had

seen me around his father growing up. He asked me how I was and I told him how

I had no clue about using the land given to me to create my dream school.

Within a short time, the Tatas sanctioned Rs 3 crores for the project and not

just that, Ratan used his construction company to build the school including

the Krishna temple I had wanted and handed me the keys. Today we have about 100

students who come in to study music, though there are only 6-7 who stay there

full time and are totally supported by me. That is all I can afford at this

time.

If you were to live your life all over again, what would you desire?”

To be born again as a musician. In a way it was good that I was not born in a

gharana. It is too much of a burden to carry on your forefathers’ legacy and be

constantly compared to them. My son learnt the sitar, but decided he’d rather go

for academics, his first love. He didn’t like the thought of being constantly

compared to me. He studied in London and USA and is doing pretty well.

There is a lot of concern that classical music is being drowned in Indi-pop and remix kind of music.

Well, this trend won’t last. Even when these youngsters do these remixes, they

are going to the old songs. Eventually you cannot stop the sun from rising, the

water from flowing, the moon from spreading its light and you cannot change the

seven notes to anything else. Classical music will retain its luster, the

pollution will be washed away. I’m really not worried by this temporary

deviation.

We listen to Hariprasad Chaurasia. What does Hariprasad Chaurasia listen to?

Also, you seem to have a very hectic schedule, touring, teaching at home and

abroad, charity concerts. You are now in your sixties. How do you cope?

I love traditional music and folk tunes. I was in Korea recently and asked them

after my performance to play their traditional music. They did and I had a

wonderful time.

I guess I don’t get the time to get tired! There have been occasions where I

have flown to a different country for a 1hour recital and flown back

immediately after to perform somewhere else. For me my music is my aradhana, my

prayer, and each auditorium a temple. Music rejuvenates and energizes me and the

love I have received in return is the greatest reward.

http://www.littleindia.com/march2005/PrayingwiththeFlute.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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