Guitars and veenas and several string instruments fill up Babu Rajasekar’s studio. He is perhaps one of those rare musicians who plays them with left hand. “Initially I was discouraged by many people but I drew inspiration from the legendary American left-handed rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix.”
With the veena being used as an important accompanying instrument for classical music renditions, Babu simplified it, albeit oddly. He played it like the guitar in a standing position and fine tuned it to demonstrate his skills. But it was this unusual style that fetched him opportunities. He got a chance to be part of the movie ‘ Snehavin Kadhalargal ’.
All instruments in his studio are customised and exclusive. “Only I can use them,” he smiles. “The strings are rearranged to suit my style of playing with the left hand,” says Babu who has now come to be known as ‘Left’ Babu. Wherever he goes, he hogs limelight for the improvisations he makes with the instrument.
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Highly motivated, Babu learnt the basics and nuances himself. “When I started playing there were no online facilities. My attempts to find a guru also failed because most of them stopped me as I was a left hander,” he says.
Babu was introduced to music at a young age when his father Ananda Rajasekar took him regularly to the Margazhi music festival at the Sathguru Sangeetha Samajam. “I was fascinated by the performances and the veena in particular attracted me,” he says.
When a neighbour gifted a guitar to be shared with his younger brother, he was both thrilled and restless. “It was a difficult arrangement because my brother was a right-hander. Everyday I would wait for him to go to bed and then change the strings and practice late into the night,” he recalls.
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Babu joined the church choir to perfect his skill and had to wait for 15 years to have a guitar of his own. His college professor Christopher Sherwood offered him one for Rs.4,000. “The 12-stringed guitar is my prized possession even after 30 years,” he says.
While in college, Babu started the Playboys band with like-minded friends and won laurels at several inter-collegiate cultural festivals. We travelled across the state and performed. Those performances shaped me,” he says.
He still remembers the day when legendary M.S. Viswanathan appreciated his skill. “I played the song ‘Nenjam Marappathillai’ from the film by the same name. My rendering of the Maandu raga based song impressed him and he came on the stage to congratulate me,” he says.
“I have learnt a lot from listening to the music of Maestro Ilayaraja,” he says. Babu has worked with music director James Vasanthan in several albums. He loves melodies and likes to perform the unplugged versions of songs. He regularly conducts guitar classes for a group of aspiring musicians.