Born in a legendary family of classical musicians, Tabla player Rohen Bose carries forward his legacy as a performer, composer, and teacher. His score in the internationally acclaimed Whispers of Fire and Water by Lubdhak Chatterjee will premiere at the KIFF. He also has compositions for movies and web series up his sleeves. We caught up with him at a recent event at The Wisdom Tree Café.
Was tabla a natural career choice?
I wanted to be a filmmaker since my father was working in the television and film industry throughout my growing years. Indian classical music was a set of recordings while growing up and a lot of hard work that my father and uncle were doing in the house. I used to play tabla at my leisure. It was only during my Class XI that I took it seriously. My father said to take institutional training, so I got into Rabindra Bharati University and things started changing.
Have you felt the pressure of continuing the legacy of the family?
It’ll always be there. In this field, I was famous when I was born for being the son of a sarod maestro [Pt. Debojyoti Bose] and nephew of tabla maestro [Pt. Kumar Bose]. When I started playing tabla people could relate to me. That’s a big advantage. If I enjoy the advantage I’ll also have to take the pressure of the responsibility that comes with it.
Also Read: Catching up with musician Arnab Bhattacharya
How has tabla evolved with time?
It evolved in the generation of my uncle when he started playing with ghazal and folk. Ustaad Zakir Hussain Sahab also promoted tabla at a global level. He introduced it to jazz, majorly in the late 80s and 90s. In the 2000s it was Pandit Bickram Ghosh and Tanmoy Bose who brought tabla into mainstream fusion. I see it differently. Players of my generation need to align it with contemporary electronic digital music.
You use social media to further the cause of the instrument…
The pandemic made me realise that digital space for performing music is a great way to connect. We have access to distribution. We can put out long / short time content and showcase it to people, free of cost and easily.
How did you conceptualise the music for Whispers of Fire and Water?
It's my first big feature film as a music director. The story is about the coal mining area Jharia near Jharkhand where fire and water play an intimate role in the inhabitants' lives. We listened and identified different sounds recorded on location by the director and built the music on it. There is minimalistic yet impactful music. I was briefed to make short music pieces with interesting instruments. We recorded Shehnai maestro Ashwani Shankar from Delhi and Soumyajyoti Ghosh played the wind instruments. The pieces used are mostly ragas with instrumental experimentation with shehnai, flutes, tribal flutes, and more. It is heavy on sound designing and I worked closely with Sougata Banerjee.
Do you think classical music has a niche audience? How can it connect with today’s audience?
Classical music has always been very niche. But is it necessary to make it massy? It is necessary for the economy of the industry. At this moment the industry needs to develop on the production quality like the presentation, sound quality, and other aspects. To take care of that we need money and it’s a circle. But I think there are great musicians and priceless content. If that happens, Indian classical music will pull in more people.