It is said one can honour one’s guru by excelling in the field and bringing laurels to the teacher. With these thoughts in mind came a shishya from Texas to Hyderabad to pay tribute to his guru on the occasion of Guru Purnima. Stephen Slawek a professor of music (musicology/ethnomusicology), a disciple of Late Pandit Ravi Shankar chose to play tribute to his guru through his sitar rendition at an event organised by Sur Mandal and Konkani Association, Hyderabad. On a breezy evening, the music professor dressed in a cream kurta pyajama, walks into Vidyaranya School with a smile and greets the gathering with a ‘namaste’. It is his first visit to the city. “Compared to Delhi which is extremely hot, Hyderabad is pleasant,” he says with a smile.
Growing up in Philadelphia, Stephen was fascinated by guitar and rocked to the tunes of Beatles. He was mesmerised by the tunes of sitar and when an Indian family living there brought him a sitar, he took to it like a fish takes to water. He initially began learning sitar from Dr. Lalmani Mishra.
During the early ’70s, he visited India and studied at the Banaras Hindu University. And, when be became Pandit Ravi Shankar’s disciple, he couldn’t believe his luck. “Panditji invited me to his home and I would observe the way he would teach his students like Deepak Choudhary and Krishna Chakravarty. Just the experience of having him as a guru and seeing him perform was bliss,” recalls Stephen with moist eyes. He pauses for a minute to collect his thoughts and looks overwhelmed while recalling the days spent as sitar legend’s disciple. “He was an absolute top musician and was also different because he was perfect. It will take at least three life times to come close to learn everything he taught ,” he says.
Stephen has recorded and digitised the whole recording of what Pandit Ravi Shankar taught him and has preserved them in archives. “One cannot match up to his standards. It was a privilege to know him and learn from him,” he says. Sharing little nuggets of information about his association with the sitar legend, the classicist talks about the simple things he learnt from his guru. “I toured along with him and saw him closely. Be it the stage manners, how one should prepare for the stage or the way one packs the instrument… it was incredible to see and learn,” he says. Now, as a professor, he teaches academic courses for the graduates and supervises too. “The problem in the US is that one can’t make a living as a sitar player,” he jokes. Stephen has travelled extensively across India, USA and Europe giving concerts and sharing stage with notable musicians like Zakir Husain, Swapan Chaudhuri amongst others.
With a wife who sings Hindustani music, his house is full of instruments. His life is now dominated by 117 pound labrador named Max. “I was inspired by the Beatles song,” he smiles before taking the centre stage to create magic on his sitar.
