Violinish & Composer, Sharat Chandra Srivastava spoke to us about his musical journey, his life as a performer, Teacher, Founder of a School & best of all an amazing philanthropist.
Violinish & Composer, Sharat Chandra Srivastava spoke to us about his musical journey, his life as a performer, Teacher, Founder of a School & best of all an amazing philanthropist.
Tell us about your musical journey.
I started learning violin from my grandfather / my guru Pt. Join Srivastava at the age of 7. So the journey began at home. From my childhood I ' ve seen students coming home to learn from him. I always love hearing music, so it came very naturally to me.
You have been performing in the circuit for 3 decades, both Hindustani and Rock music. How did you manage to experiment with different genres?
I ' ve always learnt Hindustani music from my childhood until the time when I joined Parikrama at the age of 17. It was the early nineties when Parikrama happened. That was the time when the Indian music scene was taking a huge turn. That was the era of music album being made mainly for pop musicians hence, the music videos. Then Punjabi pop came in. Independent musicians started making a mark. New music channels were introduced, cable TV came in. So a lot happened around that time. Playing in a rock band was a big learning for me which eventually helped me to form my own fusion band Mrigya. There I had the freedom to experiment with our own beautiful Indian Raagas with different genres of music.
Even for us as Mrigya, we were the only ones starting out in 1999 with our own unique sound of Raag based fusion. That experiment became a huge hit in the country.
Collaborating with different forms of music like jazz, Celtic, flamenco, from Africa has always been a great learning experience.
Tell us about your philanthropic initiative recently and being awarded for the same.
It all started in the year 2012, when while working with musicians across the globe, I got inspired to start my own musical. I started‘ Strings of the World’ music festival where musicians from Scotland, Slovenia, Norway, Holland, China and Iran came together to bring different genres of music under one roof. First year was a huge success. That motivated me to do it in the next year. Then we started taking these international musicians to the slums of India and started performing for children. It was a great experiment for us as these small children were getting exposed to such beautiful classical instruments like the violin, cello, kora from Africa. Also, teaching the art to someone who does not have the resources encouraged us to take initiatives like these. Apart from playing concerts I also teach. The way, I learnt violin under Guru Shishya Parampara, the same way I ' m also teaching my students. They come and stay with me in my house and learn this art form. I ' m not charging them any fees. Also I ' ve been playing concerts for children living in slums so they are exposed to various musical instruments and stores of music. I ' m doing this with a hope that maybe someday I ' ll find these kids to come and learn this art form.
You are also the Founder of Strings of the World. Could you elaborate a little on this festival?
I started Strings of the world music festival in 2012. The main idea was to feature a whole variety of string instruments under one roof. Since I ' m a string player I always had an inclination towards string instruments. Along with this, I also infuse the Indian music with them. For example, Indium, a kora player, playing with Ravan Hatta from Rajasthan, or a sarangi or sitar playing with harp or oud from the middle-east. I find these combinations very fascinating. The main goal of the festival is collaboration. Musicians come to India, meet new musicians then make new music and perform. Thus, the music that comes out is very fresh. This has now become an annual festival that happens every year in November where musicians from different parts of the world come and collaborate with our Indian musicians. We have had musicians from Scotland, Slovenia, Holland, Norway, Russia, China, Germany. This year I ' m planning to bring orchestra from Italy and the USA.
Which has been the best stage you ' ve performed at so far? Having traveled across the globe.
Every stage is a good stage. But there are a few concerts which I have a very fond memory of. I played Yaman in Aurangabad, Jaijaiwanti in Berlin in 2007. With Mrigya, we had some great concerts in Edinburgh in. 2001.
Apart from all of this, you ' re also a brilliant teacher yourself. What is your take on the current music scenario in India.
I guess the current music scenario is mainly about Bollywood. I think I belong to the other side of the fence. Playing with jazz musicians, big bands, more of collaborations with international musicians.
What inspires you the most?
My grandfather my Guru Pt. Joi Srivastava. The way he played the violin was pure magic. In the seventies bands like Shakti, mahavishnu orchestra, pt. Ravi Shankar and his collaboration with the Beatles, L. Shankar, Dr. L. Subramanium, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. These are the musicians I ' ve grown up listening to.
Give your message to upcoming artists.
To learn this art form properly. Find a good Guru and work hard, not to opt for short cuts.
Do you have a role model? If yes, who and why?
A role model acts like a guiding light. Of course, my grandfather had been one of the foundation pillars to what I am today, but I am till date very inspired by Shri Shri Ravishankar, L. Shankar, Dr. L. Subramanium, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. In the late seventies there was a huge fascination for Shakti.
If not music, what do you think you would have been doing?
Music had been so much into my existence that I never thought of taking any other career. I tried to pursue engineering but left it at the half way and came back to my grandfather to learn this art form.
What do you think about the current music scenario?
Well music industry windsurfing has been changing continuously. The audience for Indian classical music is very different from the audience for pop music or film music. There was a time when baithaks were organized and the concert would go on for hours. Now people don ' t have the time to sit through a long concert. Internet indeed has changed everything in our lives. Now we can enjoy any kind of music sitting at home. For me, as a performer there is nothing better than being on stage. Now the scene is totally different. People are doing all kinds of experiments. Sufi rock is mainly what young musicians are working on these days.
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