I’m better known in Bangalore’s music circles as ‘Tarikere Mohan’ because I used to sing the famous Kannada movie song “Tarikere yeri mele…”, a difficult song no other performer of my time would sing. I would sing it, strumming my guitar. I have been in the music industry for the last 30 years.
I have sung at almost all the top hotels in Bangalore, including Tiffany’s, the Taj hotels, Ashoka, Solitaire. Now I’m a regular singer at the Rasa restaurant in Malleswaram, where I perform three nights a week at their restaurant Hejje. I have been singing here for the last five years. The restaurant’s owner Ajay Gowda is very encouraging and gives me freedom to perform what I want.
I specialise in old film hits and ghazals. I have a personal collection of over 500 ghazals. I know the lyrics of most of the songs; I sing by heart. I never look into a book and sing. I sing Kannada, Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Oriya, Marathi and Bengali songs. I don’t sing the latest film songs because that’s not my cup of tea and I don’t enjoy that music. People who come to Hejje want to listen to melodious music as they eat. They want something to relax with. Today’s music just goes on “dabba dabba dabba”. I’m not offended that people eat while I sing. Most of the patrons who come to restaurants where there is music, come for the music. We have to make them listen to us; that is our duty. I sing more than 35 songs each evening between 8 p.m. and 11.30 p.m., taking requests.
Bangalore has always had a great culture of live music in restaurants that goes back almost 50 years, I would think. I started off as a substitute singer at Tiffany’s in the late 70s, where my friends used to sing. Five-star hotels used to regularly host ghazal evenings. Earlier we used to play instruments “live” too. But it would be a problem when one of the instrumentalists didn’t turn up. Now I sing with karaoke tracks, and it’s not easy; you cannot afford to make mistakes, because the music won’t wait for you.
The demand for ghazal singers is always there, but today the number of people who can sing ghazals has come down. Today, most youngsters want to go do a one-year DJ course, come back, and make good money. DJs are in demand. But Bangalore is a great place for musicians. The mix of people who make up the city are very encouraging of all kinds of music. You can take up music as a full-time profession only in this city.
I also run the Aalap Institute of Music and I have a music troupe called Aalap Saregama. I’ve also released over 300 cassettes and CDs of my rendering of bhavageethe, janapada geethe, and songs of P.B. Srinivas, and presented over 1,500 stage shows.
In the mornings I teach at my Institute in J.P. Nagar; I also go to some students’ homes to teach music. I teach bhavageethe, ghazals and singing old film hits. Singing old film songs isn’t easy. I teach my students voice modulation. What’s helped me maintain my voice all these years is the fact that I’m a teetotaller; I don’t even touch paan. I’m not fussy about drinking hot water, and even gulp cold water while I am singing.
I feel thrilled when some customer walks up to me and says “You made my evening.” But the best is when, twice, customers have come up, blocked the mike, to check if I’m singing or playing a CD! That’s the ultimate compliment.
I Am is a weekly column that features men and women who make Bangalore what it is.
