The Best of Both Worlds: Is Indian Classical Fusion the Future?
Sometimes I look back at the inner workings of my ten year old brain, reminiscing the days when I was obsessed with Hannah Montana. Her stickers were plastered all over the pink walls of my room, and the lyrics to her songs were plastered all over my heart. The line “you get the best of both worlds” was my favorite to belt out whenever the show started. At that point, I didn’t think too much of those words, but now, I feel like they define my personality completely.
I moved out of India, my home country, at a fairly young age to start life afresh in a different country. I, like Miley in her initial stages, only wanted to correspond with the more glamorous parts of life. She loved the glitz and glamor that came with being a celebrity, and I loved being away from India. When I left India, I also let go of the sentimental attachments I had with the place and its people. I lost a lot of touch with the things that gave me a sense of familiarity. I’m not too sure as to why it happened, but it did.
I realized in my first year of university, when I moved abroad yet again, that I know so little about the place that I proudly call home. “I’m from India, but I grew up elsewhere” is a statement that I used to say so often, as if to justify my lack of desi-ness. I felt embarrassed by it, I truly did. Not because other people made me feel bad about not knowing enough, but because I felt not in control. How can I proudly say I’m from somewhere that I know so little about?
One person that reminded me of all of these things and taught me about everything I feel like I missed out on was this one guy. He broke my heart, but gave me the biggest love and appreciation for India than anyone else could have. I was never really into Indian classical music, but for the want of getting to know him better, I pretended. And that kind of pretense made me genuinely fall in love with Indian classical music. I actively sought out new bands, artists, and talents, and put myself out there to discover new artists and go to their concerts.
I was initially quite reluctant to delve into this genre because I didn’t perpetually want to feel homesick. But the more I listened, the more at home I started to feel - especially in a country, city and continent that wasn’t mine to call home. I appreciated the nuances of the sitar and the tabla, coupled with the jazz-like drum snares and the saxophone or a synth piano. It felt otherworldly, experimental, and just beyond genius to me.
Listening to Indian classical music helped me feel closer to home than anything else has ever done. It transports me back to my childhood, and genuinely makes me feel more at home. So as to not keep my passions hidden away and to not gatekeep my favorite tunes, here are a 10 pieces that I love and appreciate oh so much:
Everybody Hurts - Sachal Studios Orchestra
Tum - Shadow and Light
Sakhi - John McLaughlin, Shankar Mahadevan, Zakir Hussain
Colors of Jhinjhoti - The Anirudh Varma Collective
Let’s Go Away / I Never Want to See You Again - Alex Heffes, Anoushka Shankar (from A Suitable Boy)
Si No Puedo Verla - Javier Limón, Anoushka Shankar
Toni - Zakir Hussain
Ragas in a Minor Scale - Philip Glass, Ravi Shankar
The Long Road - Eddie Vedder, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (from Eat Pray Love)
My Mind Is A Stranger Without You - A.R. Rahman, Solange Merdinian (from The Hundred Foot Journey)
In an era where a lot of Indian music, especially mainstream music, is influenced by western conceptions of what is deemed to be good, the implementation of Indian musical elements with western musical elements is refreshing to witness. It reminds me that though there may be things that divide us, it isn’t difficult to find a common group to simply jam or have a mutual understanding. Music has always been a bridge that helps us do that - it connects people, and transcends borders, languages, divisions, and differences.
I’m no Hannah Montana, but I feel like I truly do have the best of both worlds now that I’m finally able to understand and appreciate the nuances of where I really come from. Indian classical fusion music is the future. It pushes the boundaries, and helps me see that absolutely anything is possible