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On a sound trip
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Rahul Sharma tells Mangala Ramamoorthyhe is on a mission with santoor
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Photo: K Murali Kumar
Weaving melodies Rahul Sharma is on experimental mode these days
Inspiration can come from anywhere. Take musician Rahul Sharma. He found his stimulus for his latest album, Antariksh, from a casual conversation. “I was playing in this concert which was being watched by the former President APJ Abdul Kalam. A
fter the show, he came up to me to express his pleasure and said, ‘Listening to your music I felt as if was flying. I was up with the planets and the stars’. Those words kept me thinking. If music can transpose you to another world, why not make music based on that world,” he reels out.
Space fantasy
The nostalgia of watching Star Trek as a kid, Sunita Williams’ return from space and India’s mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-I, all worked their way into Rahul’s mind. “Space is such a wonderful mix of fantasy with reality. The thought that a person can travel beyond the earth intrigued me. It has a mystery to it. It’s like stepping into the future,” he says, informing that the album even has a track titled “Chandrayaan”.
Music, sometimes, has that ethereal aura. And when you have an uncommon instrument like santoor for company, it adds to the mystery. Rahul agrees that he often finds inspiration in abstract thoughts, “I do get crazy ideas. I love to do funky things and not do the regular stuff.”
But is it okay to be on an experimental mode always? “I think experiments are exciting. There’s a risk involved but people also love such music. I have done 40 albums. If there was no saleability, why would a record company come ahead and release it?” he questions.
Then, is that a reason why most of his recent albums are fusion or lounge based? He clears the air saying that he has been doing a lot of classical music as well. “My upcoming America tour with Zakir Hussain is a classical one,” cites Rahul.
With the younger generation of musicians taking to classical music, the field has acquired a new glamour quotient. “Till seven to eight years back, who would have thought of having a music video for instrumentals? Now, my music videos are out on channels like MTV and Channel V,” explains the son of the legendary Shiv Kumar Sharma.
So how does Pandit ji react to his son’s work? “He is happy that santoor has moved beyond classical. He was especially happy with my collaboration with Richard Clayderman, as it took santoor to a different set of audience.”
Amidst all this, film music doesn’t quite figure anywhere in his list. This is in spite of his first venture into music direction, Mujhse Dosti Karoge, garnering a good response. “I travel so much that I don’t have that much time to spare for music direction.I have a mission with santoor to fulfil and that is to take it to new genres of music.”
It has been an unplanned journey for this 35-year-old who discovered his calling for music a tad late in life. “It has been an interesting one though,” Rahul sums up.
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