IT IS no surprise that Shankar Mahadevan is satisfied with his magnificent journey, and is determined to do a lot more.
The master musician and versatile singer has a brilliant body of work, which has encompassed all the major genres, including classical, fusion, folk and big commercial film songs, in various languages. One of his biggest passion projects has been joining legendary band Shakti and delivering work that has helped redefine fusion music.
He will be performing with Shakti in two London shows as part of their world tour. He will take to the stage with fellow band members John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Selvaganesh Vinayakram, and Ganesh Rajagopalan to present their finest work from across the decades.
Eastern Eye caught up with arguably the most versatile singer in India to discuss music, his time with Shakti, inspirations, powerful voice, secret to a great live performance and London shows.
Does the fact you are so versatile keep the music passion alive?
I don’t know whether I’m versatile, but I’m very interested in various genres of music, whether it’s Bollywood, classical, semi-classical, folk, fusion, world fusion, jazz music or others. I always feel like I’m a student. And I think that is what keeps the interest alive. Otherwise, if I would have been doing only one genre of music all my life, I guess I would have got bored by now.
What first connected you to Shakti?
Shakti has always been like an institution. When I was a school kid, I used to buy those cassettes and listen to the music of Shakti, and literaly study it, like a piece of work that needs research and better under - standing. The music of Shakti is responsible for making me a better mu - sician. It is like getting enlightened. I really feel that it is a very, very, important form of education for me, and that’s always been from my child - hood. Never did I ever imagine sitting with them on stage.
How would you explain your journey with Shakti?
This journey is probably one of the most important in my life. Where I’m on stage with, you know, Gods of music like John McLaughlin, Ustad Zakir Hussain, my dear friend U Shrinivas, whom I lost, who left this planet, Selvaganeshji (Vinayakram), and now Ganeshji (Rajagopalan). All the musicians have great depth, aesthetics, and musicality, and I get to sit with them. I think any musician in this country would love to be part of Shakti. I really feel I am one of those blessed people who got an opportunity.
How much are you looking forward to the London show and what can we expect from it?
You know, we’re always excited about performing in London because we know the crowd is so energetic, welcoming and loving. They pour out their energy onto us, which in turn makes us perform the way we do. So London is always special. The energy in London is something I always look forward to. Every concert that we’ve done here has been memorable.
Does your approach change as a live performer when you are with a collective like Shakti and when you are doing a Bollywood or solo show?
Yes, the approach completely changes. When I’m with Shakti, I’m a classical musician, who improvises, and has to take care of complex rhythm patterns, arrangements, nodes, scales, and time signatures. When it is Bollywood, it is more of a mass connection with audiences and interacting with them. It’s more a massy appeal and rendering a song with either high energy or soul. It’s like two different avatars.
(inset left) with (from left) Selvaganesh Vinayakram, JohnMcLaughlin, Ganesh Rajagopalan and Ustad ZakirHussain
How are you able to generate so much power in your voice on stage?
(Laughs) I don’t know how I’m able to generate so much power or anything like that. I never thought of it. I think it all depends on the piece of music I’m doing. If I’m doing a powerful song like from the film Lakshya, which is about our country, inspiring and patriotic, that needs a certain kind of power. But if you’re singing a very delicate song like Maa, which is soulful and emotional, you need a different kind of power. When you’re sitting with Shakti singing Giriraj Sudha or any other composition of theirs, that is a different kind of power and energy.
According to you, what is the secret of a great live performance?
The secret of a great live performance is good communication with the audience. I feel music is the highest form of communication and you need to reach out that energy to the audience. Sometimes many people perform for themselves, and that energy is never transmitted to the audience. When you transmit your energy to the audience, it reaches them and then you can make them laugh, cry, dance, get inspired and even make them behave like children, literally. So that is the power of music.
How do you feel being on stage with such world class musicians in Shakti?
Being on stage with such world class musicians is a matter of pride. It is a sense of achievement, and a dream coming true. I really feel that Shakti is the biggest blessing of my life.
Do the high expectations ever put pressure on you?
Well, I don’t know if high expectations put pressure, but you definitely need a little anxiety, or pressure before going on stage. You can’t be totally comfortable and need it. That is the adrenaline, energy, and hormones inside you, which get secreted, with that kind of anxious feeling, when you’re going on stage, and it is what makes you perform.
Shankar Mahadevan
You are perhaps the most versatile singer, but is there a genre or style of music you love most?
Well, it’s very difficult for me to choose one genre of music, which is a favourite. I kind of get involved in that genre of music because I’m interested in it and love it. That’s why I kind of attempt it. But if I have to choose one genre of music, I think it’s Carnatic classical.
Why should we all come to the concerts in London?
I think you guys should come to the London concert because very rarely you get to see musicality of this calibre coming together. John McLaughlin is an artist who has performed with probably every major artist in the world and founded Shakti 50 years back. It’s a 50-year-old band. Very rarely do we get an opportunity to come face to face with musicians of this calibre. When you think of the world tabla, it’s full stop after Zakir Hussain. There are many great tabla players in the world, there’s no doubt about that, but what he has done to the instrument, nobody else has ever done and can ever do. So, these are the kinds of people who are coming together.
What inspires you?
My family inspires me. My wife and her love towards me inspire me a lot. Positive energy, good people, peace, and a joyful, clean mind inspire me. Great musicians and more inspire me. Yeah, many things inspire me.
Why do you love music?
I don’t love music. I think music is me. It’s just an extension of me. It’s like breathing, sleeping, eating. It’s a way of life for me. So, it’s not like I love music, I am music.
Shakti at Eventim Apollo, 45 Queen Caroline Street, London W6 9QH is on next Tuesday (27) and Wednesday (28). www.eventim apollo.com and www.shakti50.com.
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A seated Jain enlightened teacherAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ganesha from JavaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Chinese silk painting depicting the BuddhaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
ArdhanarishvaraAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Head of a grimacing yakshaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
NagaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Bimaran casketAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Hunia Chawla
A still from rehearsal
Them performing liveNajmuddin Saifuddin Qawwal Group
The cast of Marriage Material in key moments from the play, including Avita Jay, Kiran Landa, Omar Malik, Irfan Shamji and Anoushka Deshmukh
Sathnam Sanghera’s 'Marriage Material' adapted into bold new play on conformity
The play Marriage Material at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre is Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s adaptation of Sathnam Sanghera’s novel of the same name, which first came out in 2013.
She is lucky to have Iqbal Khan direct Marriage Material. The play, a co-production with the Birmingham Rep, is set in the late 1960s. Mr and Mrs Bains (played by Jaz Singh Deol and Avita Jay) run a corner shop in Wolverhampton. Their younger daughter, Surinder (Anoushka Deshmukh), is 16, her sister Kamaljit (Kiran Landa) is just a bit older.
They have a neighbour, Patwant Dhanda (Irfan Shamji), who, as we shall soon see, is not a very pleasant man. In fact, he comes across just as racist as Enoch Powell, who represented Wolverhampton South West for the Tories from 1950 to 1974.
It will be recalled this was a time when Sikhs working on the buses were told they couldn’t wear a turban. That was a hard-fought battle that had to be won.
The Bains, meanwhile, simply want to get their girls married off.
Nothing new here, I thought.
What makes the tale different is that the plot twists and turns down the generations. Mr Dhanda, who has the makings of a paedophile, makes a pitch for one of the girls when Mr Bains dies early in the play. “A life with no man in the house is no life,” he informs the newly widowed Mrs Bains.
Mr Dhanda has a wife but she has returned to India so he considers himself to be a free man.
Surinder’s English teacher from school, Miss Flanagan (Celeste Dodwell), who is also head of the fifth form, tells Mrs Bains about her daughter: “I don’t want to embarrass you, but she is bright. Ridiculously bright.”
She adds: “Mrs Bains, I think it would be a pity if Surinder didn’t stay on at school.” The initial response from Mrs Bains is not encouraging: “Too much education makes people’s brains get mixed up, they don’t sleep at night…”
But she is finally persuaded that Surinder should be allowed to stay on for a while longer before being married off.
Mr Bains was very old school. When Surinder confides she would one day like to be “a somebody”, he is amused that “my daughter wants to be a somebody”.
“Like you,” she tells her father.
Mr Bains consoles his daughter: “We will find a somebody for you to marry.”
At the point of a possible marriage, however, Surinder is sweet-talked by chocolate salesman Jim Wilson (Tommy Belshaw) into running away with him. They share a love of literature, and he calls her “Sue Bains”. But the relationship does not end well.
Once she has left, Surinder is written off as “dead” by her family. The story that is circulated is that she was only 16 when she was killed in a car crash. That’s better than to let on that she ran off with a white man.
By the time she is reconciled with her sister towards the end of the play, a great deal has changed. Kamaljit married Tanvir Banga (Omar Malik), a young man who helped out in the Bains’ corner shop. When the two sisters meet again, Tanvir has also died. But he and Kamaljit had a son, Arjan Banga (Jaz Singh Deol doubles up for this role after the death of Mr Bains). He has come home after his father’s death to help his mother who is still running the family corner shop.
Meanwhile, Mr Dhanda’s business has prospered. He now has a son, Ranjit Dhanda (the role is taken by Omar Malik after Tanvir’s death), and he is nearly as unpleasant as his father.
Arjan has an English fiancée, Claire (Celeste Dodwell). In London, Arjan worked as a creative director. But after deciding to stay in Wolverhampton to help his mother, he decides he cannot marry Claire because she is white. In other words, Asians are not free of racism, either. Happily, at the end, the couple are reconciled.
As for Surinder, she parted company with Jim Wilson after realising he was all talk, depended on her for money and had failed to earn a penny from his literary pretensions. She had prospered, though, as a hotel owner and had been transformed in time into a well-groomed businesswoman. After being tracked down by Arjan, she decides to return to her roots in Wolverhampton and help Kamaljit run the family corner shop. Perhaps 50 years had passed during the passage of the play.
Being subjected to racism turned some Asians into racists themselves. The word goreh (white person) is repeatedly spat out with venom. Maybe it is worth remembering the play’s audience isn’t exclusively Asian – white folk are watching as well. And maybe some of the toilet humour ridiculing white people, which always makes me cringe, could be cut out.
In Sanghera’s novel, there is a quote from Enoch Powell’s speech in November 1968: “The West Indian or Asian does not, by being born in England, become an Englishman. In law he becomes a United Kingdom citizen by birth; in fact, he is a west Indian or an Asian still... he will by the very nature of things have lost one country without gaining another, lost one nationality without acquiring a new one. Time is running out against us and them. With the lapse of a generation or so we shall at last have succeeded – to the benefit of nobody – in reproducing ‘in England’s green and pleasant land’ the haunting tragedy of the US.”
In Marriage Material, where the acting is marvellous (apart from Mr Dhanda’s Indian mannerisms and accent being overdone) we do travel across a couple of generations.
There is a scene when Tanvir rejects Mr Dhanda’s vision of creating a little Punjab in Wolverhampton.
Mr Dhanda wants to take over the Bains’ corner shop and is putting pressure on Tanvir to sign the papers. He says: “In this country, money is the path to freedom.”
“Sign, please,” he instructs Tanvir. “We must make sure our children learn to behave nicely, according to our rules.”
He insists: “We maintain our identity so we can be ourselves.”
Tanvir disagrees: “We can be us here. With the goreh.”
Dhanda warns him: “Then we will be inviting chaos.”
Tanvir’s comment is telling: “You sound like Enoch.”
Kamaljit, who is expecting a baby with her husband Tanvir, says: “I would like my child to grow up knowing the history of the Gurus and to read the Granth Sahib. And to love their culture.”
Tanvir tells his wife: “I would like my child to go to the finest schools, to cheer for England in the World Cup and eat Yorkshire pudding on a Sunday.”
Kamaljit sets out a dream that has perhaps come to pass with many third and fourth generation British Asians: “Maybe our child can do both.” Much, much later, in a throwback to the past, we learn of Surinder’s O-level results: “Biology A, Chemistry A, English Language A, English Literature A, French A, History B, Latin A, Mathematics A, Physics A…”
Kamaljit tells her younger sister: “Never mind about the B.”
And that is quintessentially Asian. Their acting is outstanding.
Marriage Material is at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre until June 21, and at the Birmingham Rep from June 25-July 5