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To sitar, with love
A 30-something’s return to his musical instrument of choice shows young India’s continuing love affair with Indian Classical
While I have been learning the sitar since I was in fifth grade, I’m far from being even technically okay, let alone proficient. I had to give it up at the end of 10th grade because of board exams, and it was only a year or so ago that I decided to go back to it. I’m 36 now, and somewhat of a joke in my hyper Punjabi clan where literally nobody is musical, unless you count perfectly-timed hadippas at family wedding parties.
The most delightful thing about learning the sitar at a time like this – when the global music world is producing wondrous work that listeners can lose themselves in – is the conversations it leads to. My friends were my first guinea pigs, of course. And of late, in enforced isolation due to the Coronavirus lockdown, I’ve started inflicting my followers on Instagram with live sessions where I twang my long-suffering instrument (it’s the same one Dad bought me all those years ago) to some random raga and then monologue about it. And – surprise – people are genuinely curious!
From requests to play Come as You Are by Nirvana (no, I can’t; ask Anoushka Shankar) to ‘what is a raga even?’ this desire to know more is more than simply encouraging to a beginner like me. It is also indicative of how young people on and off social media are engaging with classical music that was considered ‘boring’ just a decade or so ago.
So what changed? I think the we can attribute it mainly to social media where young musicians – a new generation that wanted to celebrate classical music but not be bogged down with its more traditional aspects – found a truly democratic platform. I mean, look at me writing about it in this amazing publication without even being decent enough to perform for my own teachers!
When we venerate anything too much, we put it on a pedestal: out of reach of those who need it the most, and accessible only to the privileged few. In the world of Indian Classical music – as in so many other creative fields – social media has broken this trope. The result is a resurgence of interest, engagement, and experimentation. And this – forgive me, traditionalists – is good.
Author bio: Varun Rana is a fashion commentator and Communications Director at the House of Angadi, a Bengaluru-based textile label. He pretends to learn the sitar at Sadhana School in Alaknanda, New Delhi.
Read: HT Brunch Cover Story: The life and travels of Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia
From HT Brunch, April 5, 2020
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