Pipe dreams - Pt Ronu Majumdar

Pipe dreams

purvamehra

Posted online: Saturday , November 03, 2007 at 12:00:00


Mumbai, November 2

Few can boast of a teenage recital at the former The Beatles' star, George Harrison's home, with Michael Caine as an eager spectator. But this is just one of Pandit Ronu Majumdar's many high-profile performances. "That was 1989," recalls the flautist, back in Mumbai for the Ragranjan concert heralding the onset of Diwali at the Ravindra Natyam Mandir yesterday. "George is a remarkably spiritual and inspiring pop singer," says Majumdar.

Hailed as India's bansuri wizard, the 44-year-old has travelled far from his birthplace Benaras, to giving scholastic lessons in the flute, at the Sadhana School of Indian Music in Chicago. "My tryst with the flute started whenI was six as my father was a disciple of Pandit Pannalal Ghosh. I broke quite a few bansuris before it became my natural choice of instrument," smiles Majumdar.

The ace flautist remarks that genres like jazz and Indian Classical music have been relegated secondary status, after Indian film music. "I just returned from the first Bombay Jazz Tour in UK, an offspring of the Mumbai Jazz Yatra festival. The response was phenomenal as we played in the interiors of England to an all-white audience," says Majumdar of his performance with Larry Coryell and George Brooks.

Majumdar, who was mentored by Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pandit Ravi Shankar and R D Burman, humbly subverts talks of his Grammy nomination in the World Music category for his track Why the Sky, with John Hassles and legendary guitarist Ry Cooder of their album, Fascinoma. "I once complimented Panchamda on one of his old tracks and he told me 'Ronu that was in the past'." An ardent fan of Kishore Kumar, Majumdar is excited about his upcoming album Ronu and His Friends. "This one will mark my journey so far and features some of my contemporaries—Taufiq Qureshi, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (guitar), Tarun Bhattacharya (santoor), Kadri Gopalnath (Saxophone), Kunwar Rajendra Singh (swarlin) and others," he says. "It's my version of the seven wonders."

Majumdar also individually composed the music for the international film Mystic India. As well as the Hollywood film Primary Colours based on President Clinton's lifestyle, besides having performed at The Kremlin, Moscow, and Palais de Beaux Arts, Brussels.

"I caught up on some of these so-called talent shows on TV before leaving for the UK. Sa Re Ga Ma Pa had some great artists, but my message to them is not to ape legends but to find their own style. There's a paucity of originality today."

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