A grand piano, a room filled with listeners, and a collection of compositions waiting to be heard set the stage for an evening of music at Taj Krishna. Inside the Garden Room, members of The Chambers, India’s foremost exclusive business club with a legacy of more than 50 years, gathered for its Rendezvous series, which brings together global achievers for intimate experiences, as pianist and composer Sahil Vasudeva presented a selection from his upcoming work. Guests mingled over cocktails and canapés in the open-air setting, while the Garden Room drew everyone’s attention to the music.
For Sahil, performing for the Hyderabad audience turned out to be an experience he had not quite anticipated. “I really enjoyed it. I didn’t expect the crowd to be so engaging. If I had done this in Delhi, people would have gone out to the bar within 10 minutes. (laughs) But what I really liked was that everyone was focused on the music. They didn’t distract me at all and fed me with good energy,” he said.
For a musician, the connection with listeners is an important part of a live performance. “Music is not something you can touch or feel. It’s not tangible. It has to be felt. It’s a transfer of energy from the artist to the audience and vice-versa. Only if you receive that energy, you give that kind of energy back. That further inspires the artist on stage,” he explains.
He also reflected on what it takes to continue performing when that connection does not come easily. “Part of being an artist is that you have to be completely vulnerable. The idea is that you’re not playing to be accepted or anything. Obviously, validation plays a role, but you have to be honest with the art. You have to play every piece as if a thousand people are watching. If you don’t feel it, nobody else will. You always have to put music on top of the artist,” Sahil shares.
The compositions presented at Rendezvous are part of his debut album, which he has been developing and recording over the past year. “Kinara is going to be my debut album. I’ve started previewing all the music over the last year to see how people are responding. I’m recording it right now, and I hope to release it with a label. Hopefully, early next year, it’ll be out,” Sahil narrates.
The title Kinara holds personal significance for Sahil and reflects his interest in nature. “Kinara is basically a pseudonym for my name, Sahil. Both my name and Kinara means ‘seashore’ in Hindi. I felt my first album should be named that,” Sahil expresses, smiling.
The same feeling comes through in his compositions, including Lighthouse, which was part of his set. He hopes listeners connect with his music on an emotional level, saying, “Music is really powerful and will make you feel something.”
Sahil sums up his music as ‘Cinematic, soulful and inward’. Alongside his solo album, he is also working on a fusion project with musicians from the Delhi gharana, bringing Western classical music together with piano, sitar, sarangi, percussion and upright bass. He is also continuing to build a body of work that leaves room for both experimentation and feeling.