Indipop's Icon

Raghav is ubiquitous on the visual Mecca of the young - MTV, writes Pavan K Varma.

He walked into the Nehru Centre in fashionably torn jeans, an open shirt and a trendy coat, straight from a performance at Leicester square. He is-and looks-very young, a boyish face, easy smile, pale eyes and twin shaded hair, brown and coffee-cream. A horde of youngsters, probably at the Nehru Centre for the first time, greeted him with near hysteria. He met them as if they were long lost friends, although he had probably never met them before. His name is Raghav.

I did not realise how iconic Raghav is until then. Of course, my daughter knew much more about him than I do. She told me that he is 'big, dad', and from the reactions from the young we began to get in the lead up to his performance at the Centre, I knew she was right. Since my knowledge about him was limited I checked him out. Raghav trained in classical music to begin with, and then studied with Seth Riggs in Los Angeles. He won the top award for original song in 1988, and followed this up with a stint at the Paul McCartney Institute for the Performing Arts. In recent times he has worked with the Grammy award-winning duo Sly and Robbie. He is one of Indipop's greatest successes, and is ubiquitous on that visual Mecca of the young-MTV.

What surprised me was Raghav's down to earth approachability and friendliness. He did not have any of the airs of fame and success. He had agreed to perform at the inauguration of the Centre's new auditorium and art gallery without any fuss. He mingled with the crowd easily, and in a transparently relaxed manner, greeting any one who came up to him with warmth, and signing autographs for the innumerable people who asked. When there was a slight glitch with the sound system he didn't throw a tantrum. Instead he sang without accompaniment, and I was genuinely surprised at the range and quality of his voice. To me he came across as a well bred middle class boy from India who had done incredibly well but had not forgotten his upbringing-he comes from a Mathur family in Delhi which I know too.

theatre, films, books, discussions, exhibitions, and of course the classical arts. But while the reach and mix of our audience has been steadily increasing, there is a need to involve the young in greater measure. A new and young culture is in the making in India in the world of fashion and music, and its adherents are spread across the globe. Naturally, the young in the Indian Diaspora are a part of this culture, but so are a lot of foreigners. It is a successful, confident, and talented generation that should, I feel, have a say in any overall projection of Indian culture.

Along with Raghav, the other artists who we featured on that day were part too of the young Indian cultural creativity that is creating waves across the world. There was Pandit Dinesh, the nephew of Pandit Jasraj, who has played an important role in introducing Punjabi music in the UK. He has played with the Afro-Rock group Osibisa, and his percussion solo in the Brit-Asian style had the audience crying out for more. Angika, a dance company based in the UK, set the tone for the evening by a riveting presentation boldly reinterpreting the glorious heritage of Bharat Natyam in a modern context.

With the refurbishment of its auditorium and art gallery, the Nehru Centre is looking younger, and so it was entirely appropriate that the celebrations to mark this development were especially catered for the young. I think this would have pleased the man after whom the Centre is named. He was impatient with the dead wood of the past, open to the new, and had a special soft corner for the young, who continue to commemorate his birthday as Children's Day.

(A Stephanian, Pavan Kumar Varma is a senior Indian diplomat and presently Minister of Culture and Director of the Nehru Centre in London. Author of several widely acclaimed books likeGhalib: the Man, the Times and the recently released Being Indian, he will be writing the column Hyde Park Corner, exclusively for HindustanTimes.com)