Zitar, zest and other string theories

When we were waiting at the reception of the Bandra studio where Niladri Kumar was recording at questions were whirring in our head as we had to make sure that we didnt miss out on anything Niladri will take 10 minutes more as he is finishing a recording we were told giving us more time to prepare Finally with our presumptions of a serious kurtaclad nononsense musician intact we entered the woodenfloored studio with bright orange and green walls only to emerge over an hour later with an entirely different mindsetOn entering Kumar swamped us with apologies and instead of the stereotypical kurtapyjama he sported a chic wellfitted pair of black pants a Tshirt and a blue denim jacket The artiste welcomed us with warmth and soon our inhibitions and presumptions vanished as we got down to speaking about his upcoming album Sur Yajna The musician settled himself on a bright red stool complaining rather amusingly about its rickety baseClassical for allI recorded this album in the south of France and then got it mixed in India by the great sound mixer Eric Pillai because I wanted the best sound possible reveals Kumar stressing that it is not just for the connoisseurs of Classical music but even for those who might not understand it too well but connect to Classical music at some levelKumar also plans to release a DVD with the album that will try and create the euphoria of a concert For the younger audience music has become more of a visual medium than an audio one They like to see the artiste than just hearing him he puts things into perspectiveThe zitar revolutionWith the conversation flowing we quizzed him about his invention mdash the zitar mdash that added another dimension not just to his personality and his music but also his popularity Being his effervescent self the musician revealed that he followed the famous adage mdash necessity is the mother of invention mdash to create the instrumentKumar was born in Kolkata and was just a month old when his family shifted to Mumbai While the environment at home was allthingsClassical his world outside the house was not even close to that Even at college fests when I used to play Classical music peoples focus was more on other RockPop performances So the seed was sown there he sharesAfter college Kumar began playing the sitar for Indian films It isnt easy its specialised work It took me a few years to get the hang of it says the musician adding that that journey left him exposed to nonClassical instruments and newer sounds In the late 1990s Kumar started playing alongside instruments alien to the Classical setups like the drums piano bass player etc I began playing fusion with them I was playing with DJs and drummers I didnt even have proper amplifications So the DJs drowned my sound out Because my sound was not reaching the audience and all the other factors put together I made the zitar which was a mix of a sitar and a guitar informs the musicianNo fair playHowever despite great achievements and unparallel talent musicians like Kumar are often subjected to exploitation in India Music companies exploit musicians There is no return for the artistes own works in our country We are culturally so rich but we dont care for musicians and thats why several people who were top musicians at one time are now finding it tough to even make ends meet in their old age rues the musicianBut he maintains that his generation of musicians is aware of this and try not to get bullied into doing things For example I dont like to do a lot of work with music labels anymore because its better to be independent There was a time when music labels would create the artiste nurture him and propagate his works utilise it to generate money to give it to him That was the role But now they arent doing any of it They are just waiting to get a product from the musician which they can exploit and pocket the returns he opens upOn that note we ended the conversation with a musical piece by Kumar hoping for better situations for artistes in the future