Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

The first step towards that is establishing the KM Music Conservatory as a bridge between music, technology and culture. The conservatory will help techno-savvy sound-engineers to learn the basics of composing and spend time with instruments hands-on and musicians to learn the importance of technology and the basics of sound recording. And thus, create that unique Indian orchestral sound. Or symphony, as Rahman likes to call it.

The reason musicians in the West find themselves financially secure is that even if they play in an orchestra, they do other music related things – they edit music, they freelance and are not dependent on any one source of income, as Rahman points out.

“We want our Hindustani and Carnatic musicians to be able to read Western notations and adapt to playing with other musicians,” says Rahman.

“So that they can learn to play with ten other sitarists at the same time. That’s the sound we’ve never heard before,” he says.

Symphony is not to be confused with Western Classical Music, he clarifies using his “Bombay” theme to explain. “That was essentially Indian but it played out through a Western sensibility.”

Rahman’s vision is to create an orchestra that not only sounds distinctly Indian but also blends various aspects of Indian culture and bhakti, which he believes, is at the heart of orchestral symphony.

“Devotion is the basic element in all the music. It’s an open thing, so many things can be done,” he says.

Spirituality plays a huge role in his life, so much that he’s chosen to call the conservatory KM as he believes that these initials are “spiritually close” to him and have brought him good luck.

But, necessity is the mother, of course. After frequent trips to Prague and Birmingham to record orchestral sound for his films, Rahman pondered over the need for our own orchestra. “Even Bahrain and Iraq have their own national orchestra,” he laments.

“We are a country of 1.4 billion people and we don’t have our own national symphony orchestra. Since then, it’s been a burning desire to have something like that of our own.”

The reason why music directors go abroad to record orchestral music is that what takes two months of effort in India can be completed with foreign orchestras in four days, he says. “There’s so much perfection in the way they approach music and translate notes. It used to be there in my dad’s generation but it’s not there any more.”

Rahman probably knows he’s responsible for more and more music directors slanting towards technology-based music. But there’s only so much you can do with technology and nothing can match the feel of listening to a live orchestra.

“Our source of entertainment has always been monopolised by films but there’s a different kind of entertainment too — Orchestral music which is on the other side of art. If we educate our people, we could get that into the mainstream,” he explains.

Orchestral sound is probably the future of film music, if we take a cue from original soundtracks from Hollywood. Trust Rahman to understand its importance!

As the founder Principal of KM Conservatory, Rahman has pulled all strings and created an advisory panel consisting of a repertoire of veteran musicians, both Indian and Western.

The conservatory received about 250 applications since the announcement on his birthday. Rahman’s says that he’s not even started calculating the cost of the project.

“We’re just putting everything we have into it. God willing, we will have our own campus in two years time. I have a place in mind that is about three to five acres, a quiet kind of environment where there will be music and not car horns,” he says.

Apart from visiting faculty from all around the world and guidance from veteran musicians, the students will have special classes from Rahman himself.

“I am doing just two films a year, so I guess I should have all the time,” he smiles.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail