Shubhendra Rao and Saskia Rao

Found this interesting article on Hindu.

Shubhendra and Saskia Rao believe in exploring new musical idioms to enrich their own

To use a cliché, they are made for each other. Shubhendra Rao, the sitarist from Bangalore, married to Saskia Rao-de Haas, the Dutch cellist, have more than music in common. Both these artistes, rooted firmly in their respective traditions, have made bold strides into other musical worlds in pursuit of fresh musical idioms.

Shubhendra, like his illustrious guru, the world famous sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar, is constantly on world tours, interacting with musicians of different sensibilities, even as he adds to his own repertoire. Saskia came away from her own world of Western classical music, completely fascinated by Hindustani music. So much so that she even changed the cello to suit the new style of music that she tuned into. Saskia's cello now has five playing strings and 10 resonant strings, whereas a normal cello has four playing strings and no resonant strings.

The couple, with their little son Eshaan, came for a concert to Bangalore. In total awe of each other, Shubhendra and Saskia spoke of their brand of fusion. DEEPA GANESH caught the notes of a quiet conversation, as Eshaan busily improvised on them.

Saskia: If you look up the dictionary, fusion means chemistry. But it can mean so many different things in our context. Probably beginning from me playing Indian classical music on a Western classical instrument. Though that's not what people normally see as fusion. When I play Indian classical music, I'm very much within tradition. In that sense, I have to call myself a traditionalist or a purist. That now is a very different perspective to the whole concept of fusion. It all depends on how you look at it, isn't it?

Shubhendra: Classical music has strict rules on what you can do and what you cannot. But it is great fun sticking to that discipline and provide enjoyment. Even in restriction there is lots of freedom. (To us) Me and Saskia are natural rebels. She comes from Holland and plays Indian music. I was born into a South Indian family and went away to learn North Indian music. We met, we got married... again a fusion of two cultures... Otherwise, she would have been in Holland and I would have been married to a South Indian girl. It is this streak of rebellion, a refusal to be straitjacketed, that has naturally extended to her music also. Saskia and I are individual musicians too. We have to keep travelling. So we decided to make our own compositions for our fusion performances and break existing barriers.

Saskia: I wouldn't call it barriers. Our music is not even a conscious design. Both of us are interested in music. So we sit together, listen to different kinds of music, and even practise together. When we listen to so much music and exchange ideas, our compositions become a natural outcome of all the interaction that takes place. I must say that it is a big misconception that classical musicians listen to only classical music.

We do listen to other forms of music also. And you can't help being influenced.

Shubhendra: In that sense, the world is a much smaller place now. Time seems compressed...

Saskia: Time in terms of music too, as in the rhythm and time tradition. The stability that it brings is also very important.

Shubhendra: Whenever we play solos we try and stick to our respective traditions.

Saskia: The danger in fusion is that it can end up without meaning, sometimes pointless. That shouldn't happen, even as one is trying to find meaning in everyday actions all the time. We do try and bring in several traditions into our music, but we keep our own structure and syntax intact.

Shubhendra: That's why even the so-called purists seem to appreciate what we do. They often tell us that even though we've taken the boundaries a little further, we haven't destroyed the core.

It's heartening to get enthusiastic response from the youth, which, to me, is very important. Personally, I believe that it is very important to connect to the youth to keep our traditions alive...

Saskia: All that without base guitar and drums...

Shubhendra: The cello has a wonderful base and you have done wonderful improvisations on it.

So naturally, the sitar and cello complement each other in terms of their different sounds. Many people have even told us that our performance sounds like an entire orchestra. And, I think, just like Vishwamohan Bhatt has popularised the guitar and U. Shrinivas has popularised the mandolin for classical music, you too have done it with the cello.

Saskia: No one has ever played Indian classical music on the cello and I feel very good about it. I would like to be remembered as someone who created a place for the cello in Indian classical music.

(I intervene to ask about Saskia's shift to a new style, considering that changing styles can be traumatic.)

Shubhendra: When your mind is open there is so much more. It is not as difficult as one thinks.

Saskia: Since we've been at it from a young age it isn't much of a problem to shift from one musical language to the other. The shifts come naturally, a free flow.

Shubhendra: I find folk fascinating because it is earthy, it is people-friendly. Improvising on the basic structure of Indian classical music by bringing in all these elements enables even a non-classical music learner to appreciate it. We get loads of email from listeners. With our experiments we are not just trying to reach out to people, but also graduating them to higher forms of music.

Saskia: You cannot be serious all the time. You need to have different tastes in life...

Shubhendra: My guruji always said that if you are firmly rooted, any deviation that you take will not matter. That's what told you and me that we have a life together. We desire to go through this journey with each other' help, don't we?