Monday, 11 May 2015

A.R.Rahman – Asianet Interview Part – 2

PostCredits: Bhuvi Suresh

Interviewer : People complain that Indian musicians lack the dedication that classical musicians feel the rest have. What do you think about it?

ARR: I don't agree the generalization of dedicated/non- dedicated people. I think those who are dedicated are dedicated in a different way. You can't compare with them, they are unique in their own way, and they are unique in their own way. Because the infrastructure is built in such a way that it is organized, in the West. But here due to various different things...lack of unity…may be it suffered a bit. But now hopefully things will get better.

Interviewer: Will K M Music Conservatory be one step towards that?

ARR: True music conservatory is definitely a step towards that because we have it all in us and it just needs that one step of organizing, or, helping to give infrastructure where they can play any kind of music and they can, in one step, jump to go to international arena.

Interviewer: And focusing on bringing more Western song music to Indian music through this institution?

ARR: No, it's not that why it works actually. It's acquiring more perception, and…generating more jobs, generating more passion, generating more shows and…so many other things. I think once it happen I'll also be more convinced than at this stage…

Interviewer: You also have a school of musical tradition as part of the conservatory. So are you actually encouraging people to learn the instruments that are fairly old? Considering that you have been accused of bringing in technology to music, you know, is it sort of repentance for that?

ARR: It is not repentance. It is the way of life now. Because if somebody knows only one way, one little thing and they don't know the other thing, they cannot complain that this came in, like the video came and the radio starved (smiles). Let there be both and let them have a choice. If given an opportunity I'd have learned, that time, I would have gone to conservatory and all. But we all came up the hard way, so I think if they provided with the right sort of education, we can see much more music. We are only accusing "oh music is not like that those days", but nobody has ever thought of giving that to the people to educate them in the right way. Well, if somebody wants to get educated, the rich could go to Europe or America and learn, the poor could go nowhere.

Interviewer: Right

ARR: So...

Interviewer: So is it a paying back to the society today?

ARR: Also, it is also a selfish reason.

Interviewer: What is the selfish reason?

ARR: Selfish reason is that I'll be listening to the orchestra for five years and I'd be having an orchestra of our own, in five years or three years, or ten years, but the seed had to be sown, and it had to be done now.

Interviewer: How do you respond to that allegation you are clinging on, you are depending too much on technology? Do you feel…?

ARR: I don't think it is an allegation; it's just…sometimes ignorance, sometimes lack of understanding of what they say. If you say, now that you are carrying a camera, (pointing at the camera), if I say you should use a machine old camera…you are using the technology to capture me. So that is not a…that's a progress. So certain things are progress, certain things are… If I make good music with whatever it is, then it is… it's a progress for me. If I deteriorate from that, if I'm making noise, so you are going to technology and making something irritating which I shouldn't like...But doesn't that happen now too often in modern music? Don't you feel, see, hear… There is, there's good and there's bad. And we have to filter it, I think. That happens in every era I think. Mediocrity is in every era. That shortcut to creativity always happens..

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