Tabla player Unmesh Banerjee made his Bollywood debut with Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s hit film 12th Fail. The song Bolo Na sung by Shreya Ghoshal and Shaan, and composed by Shantanu Moitra, features notes of tabla by Unmesh. He had two tours this year, covering almost every city in the US. The young musician, who is essentially a classical tabla player, tells Indulge about the road ahead. Excerpts:
What are your plans for 2024?
I will be coming up with two albums next year. One will be essentially a col laboration, a rhythmic album,
wherein each track will have a tabla fusing with a different kind of percussion. For example, there will be
duets comprising tabla and mridangam, tabla and kanjira, tabla with Bangla dhol, or with drums. I will work on my second tabla album, too, besides shorter content with electronic music and tabla in reel format.
Tabla is going big, especially on social media. What’s your take?
Well, Bollywood and its fascination with tabla is not new and dates back several years. It is done pretty creatively, but my only expectation from the younger musicians is to learn the art form while doing it for fun.
Are the new-age music listeners fond of classical music?
I’m seeing a lot of youngsters who are pursuing traditional art forms, not just music, but all kinds of art forms. So, this idea that the new generation is not rooted in music, is not true. But there will always be a majority who will be more into commercial, and trendy things. There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s how it has been for centuries.