Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, who turns 80 this July, kicked off the year with back-to-back concerts with hardly a break in between. Spending hours in a car, on flights, living out of suitcases, late evening concerts, early mornings.... it has been a constant struggle. But this lifestyle does not seem to wear out the maestro.“This has become a routine of sorts. Moreover, it is a struggle that I relish. For, after all, it has been that way for the past 65 years,” says Chaurasia rather nonchalantly. He was in Kochi, after travelling a gruelling 10 hours from Kharagpur, for the Kerala State convention of SPIC MACAY, an organisation he has been associated with right from its inception.
There’s another reason why Chaurasia still travels. For him, it is part of a mission that he believes will never end — popularising the bamboo flute (bansuri). “This is my pooja. The long hours of training when I began, the constant travel to small towns to glitzy festivals, right to the regular preparation before a concert is to make the flute sing beautifully. I want the flute to be in the limelight. Today, the flute is a major concert instrument that dominates the music circuit; it has been accorded the status of the other instruments. That’s been my contribution, and I’m working to keep it alive.”
Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia
Chaurasia credits Pandit Pannalal Ghosh for developing the bansuri into a classical music instrument. “He was a great flautist and was responsible for transforming the bansuri from a folk instrument to one that could be used in classical music. He improved the structure of the bansuri in a manner that one could play serious ragas on it. But it took so much time for him to make it happen, so much struggle. He worked in films to earn money and as a composer in All India Radio. I have listened to him so many times. He was simply amazing.”
Pannalal Ghosh’s mission was continued by Chaurasia, who has played a huge role in popularising the instrument across the globe.
Before choosing the flute, Chaurasia began taking singing lessons from Pandit Rajaram, his neighbour in Allahabad. He did this secretly, hiding it from his father who wanted his son to carry the family legacy of wrestling. The first time Chaurasia stood transfixed by the magic of the flute was when he listened to Pandit Bholanath on the radio.
Beginning of his musical journey
“The sound of the flute was so beautiful. It transformed the ambience around me. I thought I must go, touch his feet, and surrender myself to that music. I took my friend’s bike and drove to the AIR station, where Panditiji worked, and waited. When Panditiji came out, I fell at his feet and told him why I had come. He needed someone to buy vegetables, grocery and run errands. He taught me whenever he found time. This continued for eight years. It was the beginning of my musical journey.”
For a short while, Chaurasia worked as a stenographer, which made his father ‘happy.’ “It was a State government job and it gave me the freedom to pursue my music seriously. I used to find more time to listen to concerts and learn from my guruji.”
When Chaurasia got a job as performer-composer in AIR, Cuttack, his father was devastated. “That’s when he knew of my music. Though he was happy that I was getting a central government job, he was upset that I had to go to Cuttack. In fact, he asked me why I was leaving him alone, for it was for my sake that he did not marry again when he lost his wife. I assured him that I would return soon. But that was not to be.”
Turning point
Chaurasia was transferred to then Bombay, which proved to be the turning point in his life. “I was forcibly transferred. In Cuttack, I had made a reputation, was getting concerts, playing for Odissi dancers and all that. But this was looked down upon by the administration, perhaps, jealous of my success. Bombay (Mumbai), however, changed my fortunes and became my home.”
Mumbai proved to be an invaluable training ground for Chaurasia and the start of his rise to fame. “I learned a lot playing in the studios, composing and meeting my Guruma Annapurna Deviji. It was here that I met Shivkumar Sharma with whom I forged a long-standing friendship.”
Annapurna Devi was a sort of recluse and, at first, flatly refused to be Chaurasia’s guruma. But he refused to budge and it took him almost three years to convince her. “She gave me a new direction to my music. It was completely different from what I used to play and had heard before. She changed my thinking about music, and I switched playing from right-handed to left-handed. It was she who taught me the complex dhrupad in the tantrakari ang (stylistics of playing stringed instruments). It was not easy to adapt to the flute but that was the challenge. That training has given me the confidence, the spirit to explore.”
Over the decades, Chaurasia has performed with musicians from as diverse backgrounds as jazz, classical or other musical anchors such as Gregorian chant. He must, in all probability, be the one who has recorded the largest number of music albums among Indian musicians. “It has been my good fortune to have been able to associate with so many great musicians. They seemed to enjoy my music and were gracious to ask me to join them. I have never felt uncomfortable with any genre. I think it is only a difference in style. It is like speaking different languages. For me, there is only one language, the language of music.”
His enduring dream
For decades, Chaurasia has been regaling alien audiences and connoisseurs with his bamboo flute, with his brand of music. Disciples flock to him from across the globe, which prompted him to start two schools, the Vrindaban Gurukul, at Mumbai, and Bhubaneshwar.
“It is in the traditional guru-shishya style. The aim is to recreate the heritage and tradition that was once alive. I find time to be at the gurukuls. Down the years, I have got a lot of love, affection and respect for my music. This is the only way I can compensate for all that. My dream is to keep the music of the flute alive through my students. No one must ever forget the flute and its music. They might forget Krishna but not the flute.”
Music trail
* Two biographies on Hariprasad Chaurasia have been published, Romance of the Bamboo Reed by Uma Vasudev and the ‘authorised’ biography, Woodwinds of Change by Surjit Singh. His life and career is the subject of the documentary film, Bansuri Guru , directed by his son Rajiv Chaurasia and produced by Films Division.
* Apart from the two Vrindaban Gurukuls, Chaurasia serves as the Artistic Director of the World Music Department at the Rotterdam Music Conservatory in the Netherlands.
* In 1967, Chaurasia teamed up with Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and Brij Bhushan Kabra to produce the record-breaking album Call of the Valley .
* Chaurasia played for the song The Inner Light that was featured on one side of the Beatles single, Lady Madonna, written by George Harrison.
* When Ilayaraja created his non-film album Nothing But Wind , he had Chaurasia play the North Indian flute part.
* With Shivkumar Sharma he formed the music team Shiv-Hari. They composed music for numerous albums and Bollywood films such as Chandni, Darr, Lamhe, Silsila, Faasle, Vijay and Sahibaan .
* Chaurasia, along with Shivkumar Sharma, were the first Indians to perform at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo in 1998. He was invited by Prince Charles to perform in London with John McLaughlin.
* Queen Juliana of the Netherlands was an ardent fan of his music.
* He is the first Indian soloist to perform at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and his playing caused ‘appreciative riots’ in the Theatre Odeon in Paris.
* Chaurasia has scored the background score for G. Aravindan’s Malayalam film Pokkuveyil (1982).
* Among the numerous awards and recognitions Chaurasia has received are Padma Bhushan (1992), Konark Samman (1992), Padma Vibhushan (2000), Officier in de van Oranje-Nassau-Netherlands (2008), Ordres des Arts et Lettres-France (2008), Honorary Doctorate, IIT Kharagpur (2011), Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship.
