In a free-flowing chat, Indulge caught up with musician Ekannt Singh at the Wisdom Tree Café on Western Classical music and its significance today. As Singh mesmerised the audience with his guitar tunes ranging from Baroque to original transcriptions, here’s an excerpt from the conversation.
How did you enter the field of music?
I was 18 and my brother gifted me a guitar. Since then there has been no looking back.
Who inspires you in music?
Music is a part of my life. If I don’t practice for a day it’s not good for my mental health.
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How is the classical music scene today?
In India, we still need to develop it. Musicians must come up with newer ideas that can make this genre popular. Orchestra inspired by Mozart or Beethoven has been used in Bollywood songs but not popularised on a larger platform. Kolkata is still better. There are some orchestras that are doing well. ICCR and Calcutta Youth Orchestra (CYO) support music. In Mumbai you have the NCPA supporting music.
You have worked in Bengali movies like Phoring, Kanttho, etc. Do you think there is scope for experimentation with music today?
Yes. Bollywood has used Western classical music but there is still a lot of scope. Work is already happening in this field.
In an age of remixes and auto-tunes how can artistes and audiences contribute to pulling up Western Classical Music?
We need to have more live concerts with musicians.
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Cafes are taking music out of studios. How is that boosting the music scene?
A café like this one is doing a great job. I am seeing good musicians coming here and performing. I think it’s a great thing and if all over India it can be adapted for whichever genre of music – regional, traditional, Hindustani classical, etc, live show scenes must go on in cafes or restaurants. When I was in Spain every restaurant and café had a setup. There is a guitar, microphone, and chairs. If there are musicians, they can start performing. The audience also loves it.
What are you currently working on?
I am now thinking of transcriptions of Hindi, Bengali, and Rabindra Sangeet music. I upload it on my Youtube channel.