A focused musician

Budhaditya Mukherjee is a down-to-earth, grounded musician on whom stardom sits well. One of the senior-most sitariyas today, his exclusivity as an artist on stage stems more from a disinclination to repeat concerts in a city too frequently than from arrogance. He wears the accolades that have been showered on him with nonchalance; he has been hailed as a “major discovery” since the age of 20. His incredibly swift, crystal clear movements on the sitar, the rounded mellow sound of his stokes are a delight to fans worldwide. He was also the first musician in the world to perform at the British House of Parliament. His training as an engineer (during which he won a Gold Medal) has seeped into his music as well — he analyses his music and the music world with a logical precision that is unlike the average artist’s. A hugely focused man, he says “I do not allow frustrations to overcome me; I overcome frustrations.”

Some excerpts from a chat:

Panditji, you say you are from the Imdadkhani gharana?
I prefer to refer to the founder of the gharana, Ustad Imdad Khan, rather than the Etawah gharana so called, because of where the family belonged. I feel he was a great musician, and all sitariyas owe him a great debt — according to my father (Acharya Bimalendu Mukherjee) it was he who first introduced the “ra” stroke on the sitar —prior to this, all veena and surbahar strokes were only “da” or “da ga” (with the second finger). My father learnt from his son, Ustad Inayat Khan.

You sound exactly like Ustad Vilayat Khan; did you consciously try to sound like him?
I was totally enamoured by the sound of his sitar! He was really my star, my sun – that shining light I tried to reach for. In fact, for years I struggled to acquire a sitar that could sound like his! To engineer a perfect sounding instrument took me literally 15 years to achieve, and which I personally worked on even though I am not an instrument maker. I had to break open a sitar, try out a change, play it, and then try again! A painstaking, time-consuming, expensive process... Finally I have a “saaz” that I am satisfied with.

I have heard there is a story associated with Vilayat Khan sahib’s sitar. In the mid 1950s, while en route to a concert, his sitar got completely drenched, and he was unable to play it. His father’s disciple, Viru Mitra offered his sitar for the concert, and its sound suited Vilayat Khan so well that he decided to retain it, and accounts say that is the same sitar he had till the end of his days, which is now with his younger son Hidayat.

Why did you never go to learn from Ustad Vilayat Khan?
Vilayat Khan’s music was my goal, the shining star, and the sun in whose ambience I too wanted to bathe. I had my father who was my guru, who brought me to the level of wanting to emulate my “star, my sun”. Had I gone to that sun, maybe its glory would have burnt me… my immature mind was not capable of absorbing that excellence! My guru was also my father, moulding me at the pace I could take. At a later stage, when maybe I could have gone to Khan sahib, I realized I did not want to ever have a situation where I would not be known as my father’s disciple, but as the disciple of the great Ustad Vilayat Khan. The man, who made me, my guru, would have been ignored! How could I face myself in the mirror?

Your style of playing has a lot of gayeki (vocal) ang. Which vocalists have you listened to a lot?
Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Amir Khan sahib, Kumar Gandharv, mainly all through recordings. They were not considered legends for no reason! On music legends I have another thing to add — any musician who has devoted his whole life to music (acquiring it, honing it and presenting it) is “Kaabil-e-tareef” even if he is not a perfect musician.

You have been playing for more than 40 years; what changes do you find in listeners today?
Well for one today most of my audience is younger than me. I view it differently —it’s not about the audience; it’s about you, the performer. Let me put it like this — someone in your audience may have come to your concert because his friend dragged him along; and he knows nothing of classical music. It’s up to you, the artist on stage, to perform with such sincerity (asar) and in such a way that the appeal is insidiously absorbed. Maybe later the listener goes on to start to listen to another form of classical music, maybe vocal – but at least he’s hooked!

Please tell us about tabla accompaniment:
I am quite particular about who accompanies me. There are so many factors that go towards creating a perfect ambience for a perfect concert. Tabla “sangat” (please note the word, which means together) is a very important factor. I have played with greats of an earlier generation like Pt Samta Prasad, Ustad Allah Rakha, Pt Kishan Maharaj — I was so young then, yet was so lucky. When I heard Pt Samta Prasad was to accompany me in 1971 (I was 15 years old) I literally felt the floor slipping from under my feet; I wondered how I could play! But that gentleman — and he really was a gentleman in the true sense of the word — put me so much at ease, he made me feel like a king on stage! Nowadays I like playing with Soumen Nandy, a young tabla player.

So, when is your next concert Delhi?
I am playing at the Bhilwara Annual Fest on March 25. In fact, my first big concert was in Delhi, at the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Festival in 1975.