HYDERABAD: Born into a musically dedicated family, Shubha Mudgal has been trained by some of the finest musicians and musicologists in India and her repertoire includes the genres of khyal, thumri, dadra, and Indian pop.
In addition to being a performer, Shubha has also won recognition as a composer. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Padma Shri from the Government of India in the year 2000, the Gold Plaque Award for Special Achievement in Music at the 34th Chicago International Film Festival, in 1998, and the Yash Bharati Samman from the Government of Uttar Pradesh in 2015.
She has also been closely involved with several projects related to music education in India. So, when she decided to be a mentor for a Hindustani Classical Music course at the online music education platform Artium Academy, we got in touch for a tete-a-tete.
Tell us about your collaboration with Artium Academy.
I met Ashish Joshi, founder, of Artium Academy briefly long ago. Then again during the pandemic, we got reintroduced and learned his plans for the online music academy. We’ve already experienced teaching and learning of music and the guru-shisha system in institutionalised training and now with the online format, I wanted to give it a try.
How did you create the curriculum?
What was on my mind was the fact that I have myself gone through training in the traditional one on one guru-shisha style. Also, I have been introduced to the institutionalised training format, associated with various institutions as a visiting professor and therefore I did have experience in these two formats over the course of the pandemic we all of us had to meet our students online. No format is ideal, so you work around the challenges posed by each one and curate a course that works for all.
What are the challenges you faced?
Every new beginning has its challenges. Without trying to overcome those challenges, you’ll never be able to create a vibrant curriculum. So, yes there were challenges regarding how much one can remember if they learn one raga after another. So we planned to overlap each class in such a way there’s a revision of the last class. We have technology on our side, so there’s no time wasted in tuning any instruments which normally takes 10-15 mins physically. One of the things that I’m learning is that it’s always good to be aware of changes in technology.
You have been in the music industry for decades. What would you say is your greatest learning?
There’s always more to learn. No one can ever be perfect.
Going back to your initial days, is there anything you would like to change regarding music?
A matter of concern for me is the fact that while all of us aren’t very eloquent — practitioners of the art and also listeners, the entire ecosystem. Patrons, presenters everybody goes gaga about the ancient system of the study of music and yet on the ground at the grassroots level there is not much support for traditional arts and in general arts across the world face a very huge challenge.
But in India, the traditionalists in particular face a very grave situation. I would like to request people that if you truly believe that the arts mean something to you, show us, young artists in particular.
There are different types of apps available now in the market. Do you think anyone can become a singer now?
I think to a large extent people can learn and of course platforms like Instagram and other social media platforms allow one to share their talent. Anybody can do that, there’s no holds barred. But I think it’s quite easy to see who has put in time and effort, who has immense talent. I’m delighted actually that anybody can try and sing and share their work with people. I think that’s very sweet.
You have performed across various cities, where do you think Hyderabad stands in terms of music?
Each city has different kinds of audiences, so, depending on who has invited you and what amount of effort they have put in you will get an audience. There are certain music circles that may not have the money to have super production values with wonderful stage lights and sound but the audience is very knowledgeable about music.
We have seen you singing so many independent numbers but not playback for movies. Why?
There are so many people who are great at playback singing, I am just not one of them. Why should I not be a good listener and listen to them when they are doing something that they’re so good at.
Future plans.
I don’t have these commercial goals like I am going on a world tour. I continue to sing, continue to read about music, and teach music myself and it naturally keeps me going, keeps me happy and I hope that I’m granted that for the rest of my life.