Listen to the sound of music
ADITYA MAJUMDAR
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Beginning their music career at a tender age, these young musicians play with grace and ease.
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PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMaPHOTO: shankar chakravarty
Stage storm: Shashank and Zoheb (right) PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMaand Mehtab PHOTO: shankar chakravarty
The legendary American musician Leopold Stokowski once said, “A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.” Recently some young artistes of Delhi proved they are ready with their musical paint brushes, willing to leave no canvas of silence unexplored — even before they begin to explore life. At the programme organised by Prachin Kala Kendra (Chandigarh), N. Sashank, Zohaib Khan and little Mehtab Ali Khan mesmerised t
he audience with their classical music skills. Sashank, 15, has devoted most of his life to the sarod, under the guidance of Ustad Danish Aslam Khan. “Music is food for soul, it never leaves you lonely,” says Sashank, who is also learning Hindustani vocal from Ustad Mazhar Ali Khan, and tabla from Zohaib’s guru Ustad Akram Khan. But sarod is the instrument he has literally bled for. “At the age I started, the fingers and the nails are rather tender. But my guruji began my training early, and I am indeed grateful to him.”
Sashank and Zohaib started learning the sarod and the tabla respectively when they were about five, and now perform on stage together with ease and confidence. Coincidently, both of them had their first individual performances in Moscow.
“It’s not that difficult now, although during the first few performances I was a bit nervous,” says Sashank, who has won the Kala Bhushan award and Ugadi Puraskar For Child Prodigies among other recognitions. “Our guru does not let us climb the stage till he is confident we have mastered the art enough to be able to deliver a performance.”
Zohaib says, “I started learning the tabla because it was my mother’s wish. But now, I am in love with it.”
Pure classical
The two friends plan to bring out their first instrumental album next year.
“It is in its early stages but we want it to have both pure classical, which is the base of all music, and some pieces that have classical blended with Western,” Sashank says. “Fusion is not necessarily with Western. One can fuse Indian classical with Sufi and Qawwali as well. In fact, I would love to explore these arenas in future.”
Mehtab Ali Khan, who is learning the sitar from his father Mohsin Ali Khan and also Pandit Partho Das, floored the audience with his mastery over the instrument.
“I started under the guidance of my father at the age of four,” says Mehtab, whose 10th birthday falls later this year. “There is only one thing I love as much as the sitar, that’s kite flying,” he says with an innocent smile, as he proudly flaunts the calluses on his fingertips.
These young musicians are determined to carve their careers in music. “It’s what I enjoy doing, and I want to keep doing it,” Zohaib says. Sashank aspires to become an electrical engineer, and pursue music simultaneously. “Science appeals to me and music is what I love,” he says.
The canvas of silence cannot remain blank for long. Colours are all around, tempting these young ones to paint rainbows with their seven notes.
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