Every genre of music has its own place: Shashwat Sachdev

The composer says that classical music may not be used in commercial music anymore, but it has its own place in the industry.

Music composer Shashwat Sachdev has been in Jaipur for the last one month, and he says he is really enjoying the downtime with his parents there. Sachdev has also been working on a number of new tracks for upcoming films which is keeping him busy. But something that is close to Sachdev’s heart and has caught his attention lately is the importance of classical music among the young musicians of the country.

Composer Shashwat Sachdev wants the young musicians of the country to realise the importance of classical music.

He says, “A lot of young kids message me asking for an opportunity to work with me or assist me, and I have realised that for a lot of these people, everything comes down to producing music rather than making it from scratch. And, the understanding of a raag or a melody was missing in 99% of them. We come from a third-world country so parents cannot afford expensive gurus for kids which is a huge reason for this lack of knowledge in youngsters. A lot of families are also not educated enough about what to teach the
child if he wants to become a musician.”

Sachdev adds that even though he doesn’t make classical music for his projects, he learned the art form for a major part of his life. “I remember my guruji refused to teach me any other raag apart from Raag Yaman for 11 years until I perfected it and could sing it without any ornamentation,” says Sachdev.

The National Award Winning composer has therefore, made it a point to use his Instagram handle as a
means of educating the youth about the importance of classical music. “I started a five-part series where I shared the five classical standards that my guru taught me. I want
to spread the word that classical music has to be the foundation of your music no matter what,” concludes Sachdev.