HYDERABAD: Kaushiki Chakraborty, who has mastered the art of performing live, is excited to perform in a place which has rich cultural heritage like Hyderabad again. An important factor that attracts the artiste to the city is the presence of the tomb of legendary Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, who took Patiala gharana to new heights.
She says, “The Hyderabad audience is attuned to Indian traditional music because of its heritage and history. For me, Hyderabad is very special because I hail from the Patiala gharana and the tomb of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan is here.” She further praised the Hyderabadi audience as they listen to good quality music.
Her audience has always comprised of people who are into music, who are ready to take the journey with her. Even though she has performed in the city before, this time it is different in terms of the audience. Performing in Kanha Shanti Vanam on the occasion of the 150 year birth anniversary of spiritual guide, Lalaji Maharaj whose disciples started many spiritual organisations, is a different experience.
“It is a spiritual organisation and the discipline that they follow is similar to the discipline I have grown up with. Having a guru, following the guru’s path not just for the sake of it, but to make the discipline a part of who you are,” she says. The commonalities between the spiritual and the musical tradition has motivated her to perform something that combines both the domains.
Referring to herself as spiritual and less religious and someone who doesn't follow any particular god or ritual she shares, “I don't believe in religions being the deciding factor for people to accept or not to accept each other. I'm against that as music is my only religion and connection,” she said as her spiritual and musical practices are intertwined. Connecting with the silence within and resonating with the vibrations in her has been Kaushiki’s spiritual journey. Talking about youngster’s choice of music nowadays, Kaushiki says, “My generation is in a beautiful space musically because we carry forward a legacy and we are connected to traditions.
We practice music as followed by our ancestors and we are also open to expanding ourselves.” Given many years to commit to musical tradition, she states the generation she belongs to can venture out and interpret and reinterpret music in the present scenario, including technology and interactions with other musicians. Blend of the new and old, she believes, can create something new.
Performing for 25 years now, a lot of factors had to come together for her to initially perform music. “Having learned from my father, Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty, primarily starting my life being identified as his daughter, to be identified as an individual person musically was a challenge.”
A lot of things worked for her to be where she is. She added, “When we start to learn music, we don't think where we professionally want to go. We just want to learn the craft.” As someone who views everyday as a new day, she prefers to start from scratch before every performance with grace. This is not a solo process as many people contributed to that journey.
“Starting from guru, collaborators, co-musicians, friends, your life teaches you a lot. How do you lead your life? What you get exposed to? All of this translates to your music,” she says. It was a lot later that she began to think about how to give a performance in front of an audience. “The verdict of the audience is the ultimate verdict in a person's life. If you are not loved by the audience, nothing you get matters,” she opines.