Touring with Maharaj ji has been the most enriching learning experience of my musical career. Every tour around the globe meant new places, new people and new music. Our mornings would be filled with stories of Maharaj Ji’s life, his performances, recollecting thumri, dadra, ghazals from the past and endless musical adda.
Neil Nongkynrih was an unusual man. He passed away quietly early this month, on 5th January at the relatively young age of 51, rendering his 25-member team of the Shillong Chamber Choir orphans.
Now, he was an associate producer of Indian music for BBC radio programmes, with a mandate to create short episodes introducing Indian music to the British audience. With a lot of trepidation, he produced his first episode, a short introduction to Indian classical music. It was an unqualified triumph.
On the one hand, The Disciple is a tribute to Hindustani classical music. On the other, it is a tribute to the guru-shishya parampara.
I carried on practicing and now I play the flute in concerts when given the opportunity. Whatever little I have mastered is by dedication and practice.
And we met and we talked after the show. And I saw he had talent. He was playing guitar backstage doing Twenty Flight Rock by Eddie Cochran. And I turned around to him right then on our first meeting to say do you wanna join the group?
But nights are more often associated with fear of the evil powers, lurking both within and without. The fear of the unknown – an existential crisis – impinges upon us during these dark hours.
Ray and Dey represent the long line of western music connoisseurs in the city, who have promoted this form over generations, starting from the second half of the 19th century.
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