When Ravi Mathur joined the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata, as the Executive Director in June 2009, the Academy that grooms high calibre professional musicians, welcomed him with open arms. The reason was it needed good governance sans any added baggage of ‘competition’ from a director like Vidyadhar Vyas whose imposing persona as an erudite musicologist and ‘practising-musician’ (an important criterion set for the coveted post so far) caused discomfort for many inmates.
Mathur, a mechanical engineer with MBA from Mumbai’s Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies and ITC personnel with his 36-years’ expertise in the arena of corporate human resources, won hearts despite his ‘non-musician’ status. He was sharp enough to take cues from his predecessors. He could see that both Pandit Vijay Kichlu (the founder-director of ITC SRA) and Vidyadhar Vyas had remained completely focused on the scholars (read young students) while treating the renowned gurus with due respect – by following the traditional tehzeeb associated with this mysterious, half-mystic and half-hard-core-commercial world where, more often than not, qualification becomes disqualification!
Kichlu had succeeded in chiselling several top vocalists . He inducted most of the first-batch scholars as Academy’s gurus, whose protégés either followed their footprints or blended several elements easily accessible under SRA’s roof that houses different gharanas. IVyas, during his short tenure, strived hard to ‘place these brilliant products of this ‘IIM of Classical Music’ in key positions (in AIR, Doordarshan, music colleges, recording studios, music journalism etc) all over India’.
Mathur knew charity begins at home! He did not waste time in bringing many of the old scholars back to SRA as ‘Musician Tutors’ who began grooming junior scholars either independently or as their guru’s understudy. This not only produced a second line of gurus but also helped these young turks to improve upon their own musical thought-process. Moreover it saved them from becoming small time music teachers even after being groomed in this premier institution of Hindustani classical music of the country.
This is, perhaps, Mathur’s biggest contribution. His other major steps were to reintroduce dhrupad classes with traditional practice sessions and to include sarangi and shahnai, two beautiful but now dwindling instruments, in SRA’s instrumental section. He did away with some of SRA’s stringent policies to let scholars pursue their academic careers. He sent the deserving ones to TamilNadu or Maharashtra to seek guidance from renowned musicians. He accepted young school-going children from all over India, as SRA-students provided they ‘live and learn’ with their gurus for three months at a stretch. He then started classes to enhance their communication skills; conceptualized ‘Instrument Ensemble’ to showcase many scholars at one go; experimented with other genres of music and dance, only to be able to bridge the yawning gap between classical and non-classical idioms; encouraged the junior gurus and scholars to try their hands in composing music, organizing events, developing PR-skills; created opportunities for them to perform on prestigious platforms all over India by helping and collaborating with different organizations.
Happy with the results, SRA-Trustees allowed collaboration with Bengal Foundation of Bangladesh to set up a music academy in Dhaka. The new Academy came into effect from 2013 with about 100 students of classical vocal and instrumental music. SRA provided full technical support besides deputing senior musicians, while Bengal Foundation took care of the finances and logistics. To raise funds for the ‘dream project’, annual classical soirees were held in Dhaka. These turned out to be the largest single festival with 35,000 people from across Bangladesh attending more than 100 well-known musicians’ recitals. As a cultural exchange, a unique fest of Bangladeshi art, culture and cuisine was hosted at SRA.
But Mathur, after exactly six years, is handing it all over to Ravi Srinivasan with the hope that his successor, who is another ITC old-hand and who trained with the violin legend VG Jog once, will look for newer vistas to further the cause of music.
