Foreigners are good listeners: Bhimsen
Foreigners are good listeners: Bhimsen
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
HYDERABAD: “Indian audiences lack discipline”, said noted vocalist Pandit Bhimsen Joshi here Friday. Joshi was in Hyderabad connection with a performance the Falaknuma Palace as part of The Taj Heritage Series.’
At a press conference organised Virgin Records India and The Group of Hotels which is organising the concerts, Bhimsen Joshi said Indian classical music had its share of listeners, like those pop and rock music. “Only those who are genuinely interested music listen to Indian classical music,” said Bhimsen Joshi.About fusion music, he said classical music and light music should not be clubbed, as each had its own flavour.
Recalling an incident where he was playing for an audience of about 400 westerners, he said, Unko shayad zyada kuchh na samajh aaya ho, par un logon ne sara concert suna bina ek bhi aawaz kiye (they may not have understood much of my music, but they listened to the entire concert in disciplined silence)”. He pointed out that this kind of discipline was lacking in the Indian audience. Asked if fewer people were listening to Indian classical music, he said it was true, but this was what was happening to Western classical music too.
“In spite of this, classical music does have its dedicated share of listeners. Indian classical music will never go out of fashion,” he said.
Bhimsen Joshi said training in classical music required immense concentration, discipline, and dedication. Eighty-year-old Bhimsen Joshi was trained in Indian classical music since he was 10 years old. Joshi was here in Hyderabad after a gap of nearly eight years, to give a performance at the Falaknuma Palace on Friday evening.
Marketing manager of Virgin Records India Private Limited (VRIPL), Shammer Tandon said VRIPL had tied up with the Taj Group of Hotels for a series of classical concerts by music maestros across the Taj Heritage properties in the country.
(Source :FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2001, THE TIMES OF INDIA CITIES: HYDERABAD)