00:00:16
a chancre thank you so much for joining
00:00:19
us today pleasure let's start with a
00:00:22
very simple question what does music
00:00:24
mean to you music is I think if you want
00:00:28
me to describe it in one word it's a
00:00:29
friend and when you have music in your
00:00:33
life you can never be lonely it is just
00:00:38
there with you as as a companion to whom
00:00:43
you can talk to you can interact with we
00:00:46
can think about and create tell me about
00:00:50
how you got started in music at a very
00:00:54
young age actually when I was about four
00:00:58
years old three and a half or four years
00:01:00
old I had gone to my uncle's place down
00:01:05
south I am born in Bombay and I saw this
00:01:09
instrument and I just I just picked it
00:01:12
up and I started playing it without
00:01:14
knowing what the instrument was
00:01:15
obviously I didn't know I had never seen
00:01:16
it and it was a harmonium and my parents
00:01:20
and my uncle and all the they felt a
00:01:23
little intrigued by how how is this guy
00:01:26
playing so they you know they started
00:01:27
testing me with a few melodies is to
00:01:31
sing and I just reproduce it I think the
00:01:33
decoding was already there to decode a
00:01:36
melody and you know I would put it on
00:01:38
the harmonium so that was interesting so
00:01:42
and I said that no I want this
00:01:43
instrument I want to buy one so I bought
00:01:45
one and that's that's how it started
00:01:47
then slowly of course you know being
00:01:49
from a middle-class South Indian family
00:01:51
I learnt Carnatic music and my parents
00:01:56
were you know very thoughtful of
00:01:58
teaching me the proper Carnatic music in
00:02:02
the you know in the proper way other
00:02:04
than you know taking any shortcuts so I
00:02:06
got lovely gurus and that's why I'm here
00:02:10
is there a difference between learning
00:02:13
music the way you did as almost like a
00:02:16
vocation and then turning it into a
00:02:19
profession what's the difference see you
00:02:23
can definitely become a professional you
00:02:26
can definitely become successful
00:02:29
and you can become extremely popular
00:02:30
even without learning music but it all
00:02:35
depends on what you want to do how how
00:02:37
do you want to pursue this art form of
00:02:40
of music whether you want to you want to
00:02:43
approach it the real hard way by knowing
00:02:47
every single technical intricacy that is
00:02:50
involved in in a song or you know in a
00:02:53
raga or why get into all that or you
00:02:56
want to you can just you know learn a
00:02:58
few songs if you're talented you know
00:02:59
people are talented they can just sing
00:03:01
but I feel that if you learn music the
00:03:05
hard way and you know what you are doing
00:03:08
every step of I think you're a confident
00:03:11
person and you are able to face any
00:03:13
circumstances any any situation any form
00:03:17
of music you know you're able to absorb
00:03:19
much easily and you will somehow stay
00:03:24
stay on for a longer time because it's
00:03:27
not superficial you're a learner it's
00:03:29
like it's like any any art form you know
00:03:32
it's like literature for example if you
00:03:34
have well read and you write something
00:03:36
you know there is a difference so you
00:03:38
can there's an easy way or two but I
00:03:41
think I think always helps if you if you
00:03:44
follow the path in the correct way I
00:03:45
think you describe the path very well
00:03:48
and what was some of the choices that
00:03:50
you made along the lines of this path
00:03:52
and what did you learn from those
00:03:54
choices see uh during our times during
00:03:58
our Tenzin's I'm sounding like an old
00:03:59
man but but times have changed very
00:04:03
drastically in the last 10-15 years so
00:04:06
when I used to learn music I don't I
00:04:08
don't even think I was thinking about
00:04:10
you know now the kids they become a
00:04:13
little calculated they when they learn
00:04:15
music they are already thinking about
00:04:16
the first album that they're going to
00:04:18
come out and they're working towards it
00:04:19
which I don't think is the way you
00:04:21
should do it you should just learn music
00:04:23
because you want to learn music and just
00:04:26
follow it blindly with great you know
00:04:29
perseverance and dedication and you're
00:04:31
just you know hammering that into your
00:04:34
system and what other things happen you
00:04:37
become a playback singer or
00:04:39
become a pop star or you have a you have
00:04:41
a successful release all those things
00:04:43
are just derivatives of your musical
00:04:45
knowledge that happened that is how we
00:04:47
have done it and if you I don't think
00:04:50
you can have a calculated approach
00:04:51
towards learning musically so can you
00:04:53
take me through some of the steps that
00:04:54
you took in your musical journey yeah
00:04:57
I'll tell you one thing that I one thing
00:05:00
that I did was or it happened to me was
00:05:03
the teacher that I got mrs. balamani
00:05:07
that was a teacher that is a teacher who
00:05:10
who who has dedicated her entire life to
00:05:12
teaching so if you have got the correct
00:05:16
person from whom you're learning half
00:05:18
the battle is won and I think that you
00:05:21
should not think about you know what I'm
00:05:23
going to do and how I'm going to make so
00:05:25
much money this is that when you're
00:05:26
learning music I think you just learn
00:05:28
and you know and rigorous rigorous
00:05:31
practice focus and and perfection of the
00:05:35
art so that when you for example when
00:05:37
you go and you perform my father used to
00:05:39
always tell me that when you go and
00:05:40
perform at a competition it's okay I
00:05:44
mean you should you should you should
00:05:46
aim for the first price but you should
00:05:48
not aim only for the first price the
00:05:50
difference between the first price and
00:05:52
the second price should be almost ten
00:05:54
steps means there should be no
00:05:56
comparison that is when you have
00:05:59
achieved excellence you know so all
00:06:01
these things were there with me always
00:06:03
and I think I I and me I was always a
00:06:06
student I am always a student of music
00:06:09
even now anything new that I hear
00:06:11
anything that's challenging like in my
00:06:14
in my journey of music I was learning
00:06:17
Carnatic classical music and but I was
00:06:20
never a person who wanted to be a pure
00:06:23
Carnatic classical singer only because
00:06:26
there were other forms of music which
00:06:27
attracted me equally like when I heard
00:06:30
Ghulam Ali Khan saw for the first time
00:06:32
it just blew my mind that how can a
00:06:34
person compose like this you know when I
00:06:37
have heard some of the some of the great
00:06:38
jazz masters when I heard you know some
00:06:42
Indian Hindustani classical artists and
00:06:45
when things you know the I get I get
00:06:49
completely blown by certain things then
00:06:51
I
00:06:51
learn it I want to pursue that and I a
00:06:53
lot to leave that thing until I achieve
00:06:56
so I say I started you know hearing
00:06:58
Ghulam Ali I heard a lot of other North
00:07:00
Indian artists and I wanted to sing all
00:07:03
those things that they sign so you know
00:07:06
these are certain qualities I feel in me
00:07:08
which helped me move the head I sang
00:07:10
every single result at Ghulam Ali Assam
00:07:12
and that helped me you know in my
00:07:15
composing in my adaptability to various
00:07:18
forms of music it's very interesting
00:07:20
you're using terms like excellence
00:07:22
perfection adaptability in the business
00:07:26
world - these are terms that companies
00:07:29
use as they compete with really not that
00:07:30
I know of because I'm completely a zero
00:07:33
here all these things but it I guess but
00:07:35
what I wonder is what can business
00:07:37
people learn from the creativity that
00:07:41
that a musician has that because there
00:07:46
is a creative side yeah due to business
00:07:48
as well see there is a creative side to
00:07:49
anything I feel and I feel that one
00:07:55
thing that a businessman can learn is do
00:08:00
not follow a path that has already been
00:08:03
successful you'll never be a path
00:08:07
breaker then you know it's like I will
00:08:11
never I would never want to create a
00:08:12
breathless again you know because always
00:08:16
it'll be compared to my first breathless
00:08:17
or or I would never want to create
00:08:20
something like the music i created for
00:08:23
dil chahta why would i because that was
00:08:26
a path breaking thing that's over so I
00:08:28
think every time you want to create
00:08:30
something you look at a new what were
00:08:34
untapped territory and I'm sure untapped
00:08:37
territories are there in music in
00:08:39
business in arts in painting in dancing
00:08:42
in you know melodically you can go and I
00:08:46
am talking from a musician's point of
00:08:48
you can go and compose something in
00:08:51
untapped territories you know you can go
00:08:54
and see it may sound and the risk is
00:08:57
very high of you succeeding or falling
00:09:02
flat on your face
00:09:02
because
00:09:04
that is a territory where nobody is
00:09:05
black when I composed breathless I could
00:09:08
have just people would have just thrown
00:09:10
the whole thing out saying that what is
00:09:11
nonsense how can anybody sing the song
00:09:13
just for the sake of - yeah are not
00:09:15
familiar breathless was your first
00:09:17
tremendous least block blockbuster
00:09:20
success yeah I don't success and it was
00:09:21
a different team it was a song which
00:09:23
seemed like the sang in the song in one
00:09:25
breath and it just starts and it goes on
00:09:28
and on so it really succeeded because
00:09:30
something just completely new and you
00:09:32
know untapped so things like that you
00:09:35
know you used another term that is very
00:09:38
commonly used in business and that term
00:09:40
is risk hmm how do you manage risk in
00:09:42
your art and what can business people
00:09:46
learn about risk management through your
00:09:49
eyes see or through your voice the risk
00:09:52
the risk in in an art form becoming
00:09:57
successful is much more than a risk
00:09:59
involved in a business because I think
00:10:02
in business in a business you can have
00:10:05
certain statistics you can have certain
00:10:07
you know pre what has happened in the
00:10:10
past few years calculations based on the
00:10:12
graphs and you know calculations and
00:10:14
statistics you can judge whether you
00:10:17
will be able to at least achieve this
00:10:18
much or no so you couldn't lose your
00:10:20
shirt if you miscalculate risk in
00:10:21
business yeah that is true but in in in
00:10:24
an art form it's such an abstract thing
00:10:27
you know what is a melody I mean you
00:10:29
think about it if you see technically
00:10:30
you are just putting through few
00:10:31
frequencies together and few words
00:10:33
together and you are just letting out
00:10:36
into thin air and it has to appeal to
00:10:38
you when you listen to it so it's a very
00:10:40
abstract thing so it may appeal to you
00:10:43
it may not appeal to you but I feel
00:10:47
consistently if you are a lurid musician
00:10:49
to begin with if you are a master of
00:10:52
your own art then when you create
00:10:55
something you internally you have to be
00:10:57
very critical
00:10:58
you should not fool yourself saying that
00:11:00
yeah this is okay no it can't be just
00:11:02
okay it has to be good and it has to
00:11:05
appeal to you it has to touch your own
00:11:06
heart and and the people around you and
00:11:08
you create something which and then
00:11:11
there is this risk whether the public
00:11:13
you never know whether they're going to
00:11:15
accept it not accept it
00:11:17
but one thing is for sure what I believe
00:11:20
in when we create new forms of music
00:11:25
consistently we go on doing it one after
00:11:27
the other one after the other some fail
00:11:29
some succeed some fail some succeed but
00:11:33
nobody will tell that this music is
00:11:36
mediocre so it failed failure or success
00:11:40
does not mean it's good or bad it's it's
00:11:43
good because you know that musically
00:11:45
you're learnt and aesthetically
00:11:47
musically it is of a certain level so
00:11:49
nobody can tell me that you know that
00:11:51
muddy mo Pancham is not right and it's
00:11:54
it's not wrong in a bass or other or the
00:11:56
Bethel I that will never happen because
00:11:59
my quality I am quality conscious I will
00:12:01
make music that is of a certain quality
00:12:03
if it succeeds it's great if it doesn't
00:12:05
it's fine are there some risks you will
00:12:08
not take that is what the biggest risk
00:12:11
is when you go into untap territories
00:12:13
and and and you create something that
00:12:15
nobody has ever done before you know
00:12:18
like when we did the song mark it was
00:12:20
just with one guitar in a voice which is
00:12:22
oh my god it's sounding so bare and it's
00:12:24
so this that was a risk that we took
00:12:26
many people do oh you should double in a
00:12:29
child's voice because it's a child's
00:12:31
emotion how can you how can a male adult
00:12:33
male be singing for a child's emotion
00:12:36
I'm just talking because we are talking
00:12:37
about you know film music and stuff so
00:12:39
I'm just giving you an example so but
00:12:41
then we divide that thing you know we we
00:12:44
give it a thought should be dub it in a
00:12:46
child's voice it's a no let it just
00:12:48
remain in an adult it's a new thing
00:12:50
because somehow we felt that childrens
00:12:53
this is the analysis that we did we felt
00:12:57
that the a child's voice always appeals
00:13:00
I mean it reaches how to a a lesser
00:13:03
number of people somehow subconsciously
00:13:06
people feel that it's a children song
00:13:08
where is an adult male singing and
00:13:11
emotion it just cuts across and it
00:13:13
becomes an universal emotion and that's
00:13:16
what I did the whole country cried
00:13:18
that's very interesting
00:13:20
now you just participated and won a very
00:13:23
interesting competition in India called
00:13:26
music problem yeah in which
00:13:30
four teams of musicians competed against
00:13:32
one another yeah tell me about your
00:13:35
philosophy of managing a team and and
00:13:39
how do you bring out the best in a team
00:13:40
because this is a very common yeah
00:13:42
challenge that companies face as well
00:13:45
see I'll tell you what I enjoyed the
00:13:49
most in music ammama cobbler was I had
00:13:53
to get out of my own little comfortable
00:13:57
zone that I had created for myself
00:14:00
because I was very I am very established
00:14:03
in my own field so being established in
00:14:07
my own field what do I do I perform for
00:14:10
people I compose I perform and a lot of
00:14:13
shows I do and by now after performing
00:14:16
repeatedly you're very comfortable in
00:14:18
your own zone so you know I can the
00:14:20
whole team is ready I was just talking
00:14:22
to somebody the same thing
00:14:23
the team is ready waiting 20,000 people
00:14:25
are there in the audience but you're not
00:14:27
you're not you're not nervous or tensed
00:14:29
because your act is absolutely ready I
00:14:32
walk in I Drive into the venue ten
00:14:35
minutes before the show five minutes
00:14:37
before the show I get the mic in my hand
00:14:39
and I walk on stage and I perform but
00:14:41
I'm very comfortable and I'm I know my
00:14:43
band is ready I my act is ready the
00:14:45
songs are super duper hits I know that
00:14:48
the crowd is going to dance from
00:14:49
beginning to end but suddenly being
00:14:52
thrown in with a team like this what
00:14:54
happens you're a little you are you have
00:14:57
to think out of what you normally do you
00:14:59
would think for your team you have to
00:15:01
think as as functioning as a group and
00:15:05
not only for yourself and you were
00:15:09
thrown with many challenges like you
00:15:12
know we had to do a round of songs which
00:15:15
were from you know 1960s and 70s and you
00:15:18
know something which is an unplugged
00:15:20
round which is only with the piano and
00:15:21
stuff like that and there was a very
00:15:23
interesting round called the medley
00:15:24
round now what we decided was we make
00:15:28
use of this this medley round especially
00:15:30
and we try to create new you know things
00:15:35
new medleys new concepts it's not only a
00:15:39
bunch of songs put together and that is
00:15:41
what made us stand
00:15:43
you know differently when when people
00:15:46
saw the thing our team was always
00:15:48
standing out when I medley came because
00:15:50
we try to you know deal with many issues
00:15:53
with social causes with every medley had
00:15:56
a theme sometimes it's funny sometimes
00:15:58
it was extremely sad sometimes it was
00:16:00
about you know we gave a social message
00:16:02
so I think thinking out of the box is
00:16:06
basically it you know what we are not
00:16:10
supposed to do is more important than
00:16:12
what we are supposed to do that's that
00:16:15
that's a great piece of advice one last
00:16:17
question for you know based on
00:16:19
everything we have said music is of
00:16:20
course an art it's a vocation but it's
00:16:23
also a global business and it's a global
00:16:25
business that is being dramatically
00:16:27
disrupted by technology how do you see
00:16:30
the future of business in which you know
00:16:33
intellectual property may be very hard
00:16:35
to protect how do you see the sources of
00:16:40
success in the music industry going
00:16:42
forward
00:16:43
see I'll tell you since you've talked
00:16:45
about intellectual property I would like
00:16:47
to talk about the scenario in our
00:16:48
country so that the people over here
00:16:50
also realize what what's happening there
00:16:54
it's a very sad situation as far as
00:16:56
intellectual property is concerned in
00:16:59
our country where the composer's that is
00:17:02
the authors and the songwriters they
00:17:05
don't own any of the works you must be
00:17:08
surprised by this none of the works
00:17:11
which are which are created by not not
00:17:14
only by us which is created by great
00:17:16
masters like maybe not chard or or even
00:17:20
you know Madan Mohan or Shankar
00:17:22
Jaikishan or pandita Suraj or Ravi
00:17:25
Shankar or today we met Ali Khan or
00:17:29
Jung ji saying or any artist in this
00:17:32
country does not own any of his work
00:17:35
that he has created himself this is a
00:17:39
very sad situation that has happened
00:17:40
that is due to I think a because of
00:17:43
ignorance to a certain extent be because
00:17:45
of the music companies and and you know
00:17:49
the people who are managing the music
00:17:52
taking advantage of the situation
00:17:54
and writing agreements where you say no
00:17:57
all your rights you know now the
00:18:00
government of India there it has come
00:18:02
into this thing where they are bringing
00:18:04
out an amendment in the copyright law
00:18:06
when they are giving ownership of the
00:18:09
rights to the artists which is going to
00:18:11
be fantastic if the law gets past which
00:18:15
we pray it will and I'm sure it will I
00:18:18
think a lot is going to change because
00:18:20
the authors and the composers right now
00:18:23
what happens is honestly speaking my
00:18:25
rights are gone so I am not very I am
00:18:27
honestly I am worried about piracy but
00:18:31
it doesn't affect me you understand it's
00:18:34
not it's not the money that I am
00:18:36
supposed to earn because I feel I feel
00:18:39
anyway cheated and and exploited because
00:18:42
my right side anyway taken away
00:18:44
are you using technology to reach your
00:18:46
audience directly like through your own
00:18:49
website things yeah we have our websites
00:18:51
and stuff like that of course but I feel
00:18:53
that once this law comes into place the
00:18:57
the authors and writers they will be
00:19:00
able to retain their own rights and
00:19:03
quality will improve quality of the work
00:19:06
that people do will improve because it
00:19:08
will directly affect their income you
00:19:10
know it's not like you just write
00:19:12
anything any get paid the same amount
00:19:14
it's like that so things are happening
00:19:16
and the biggest problem is piracy as
00:19:20
everybody knows and but when something
00:19:24
goes on I think something else erupts
00:19:25
from here so the mobile phone business
00:19:27
is doing great so somewhere or the other
00:19:29
it gets that's great yeah Shango thank
00:19:32
you so much for speaking with us today
00:19:34
really appreciate it
00:19:35
likewise Thanks
