Drum roll for India: 2 tabla artistes grab Grammy glory

Mumbai/Kolkata: The 59th

Grammy

Awards held in

Los Angeles

on Sunday warranted a special drum roll for India, with two Indian tabla artistes featuring in the list of final honours.

Leading tabla exponent

Sandeep Das

snapped up a stunning solo trophy in the World Music category for his collaboration with acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble.

The second Indian connect came with the album ‘White Sun II’ winning an award in the New Age Music category, in which Hyderabad-born

Abhiman Kaushal

is the featured percussionist.

Winning the Grammy puts Das, the disciple of Pandit Kishan Maharaj, in the elite company of Indian classical maestros Ravi Shankar, Zakir Hussain and mohan veena virtuoso Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.

Kaushal is now a California resident and faculty at the University of California Los Angeles’ department of ethnomusicology. The album in which he lent his tabla talents—by California-based group White Sun—is a blend of mystical Gurmukhi verse fused with tabla, modern violin and silken vocals by Gurujas, herself a devout Kundalini Yoga practitioner.

A Billboard and iTunes topper in the New Age category, the album warded off hefty new-age contenders Vangelis, the Greek musician best known for his Oscar-winning score for the film ‘Chariots of Fire’ (1981), and acclaimed Irish songstress Enya.

Das’s joy at winning the trophy was evident when he explained to a news agency that it was a proud moment for India on the world stage. Echoing his sentiment that “nothing grows in isolation”, Kaushal, too, believes that this is the age for collaborative efforts in music. “Sandeep’s win reiterates that this is the time for tabla on the global stage. Instruments in Indian music are now no longer confined to classical concert spheres but have branched out on to the world stage,” Kaushal told TOI.

Minutes after he came out of the post-Grammy party, Das said he felt happy that he had learnt traditional music “properly”. It was his Serampore-based uncle who had first spotted his interest in music, he said. Serious music lessons began after his father received a complaint from his school teacher, saying Sandeep was disturbing the class by starting to tap his feet when he was asked to stop tapping the desk.

Das, who was born in Patna and shifted to Delhi before moving to Boston, where he is currently based, was a disciple of Pt Kishen Maharaj for 12 years after taking lessons for two years from his first guru, Pt Shiv Kumar Singh. At 15, he debuted with none other than Pt Ravi Shankar. “I’ve also accompanied the likes of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pt Viswa Mohan Bhatt and Ustad Shujaat Khan. Solid training and the desire to give 500% on stage is what helps a good tabla player,” said Das, who holds a first class degree in English literature and gave up a course at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences to pursue music as a career. Now, more than two decades into his musical career, Das has played with The New York Philharmonic, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and The Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Das is extremely moved by the gesture of Yo-Yo Ma for including his name in the nomination list. “There is a huge difference between a tabla player just playing in a nominated album and something like what I have got,” he explained. “The important point is whether the person’s name is listed in the nominations list. A letter came from Grammy saying I had been nominated. That’s why I was allowed to go up on stage and all six of us collected the Grammy. Otherwise, no matter how big an artist he or she is, a person can’t do that. Yo-Yo Ma has 18 Grammies and is still so humble. If you give love and respect, you get respect too.”

By the way, Das has also received compliments for his sartorial choice on the glittering

awards

night. On a stage dominated by tuxes and formal suits, he stood out in a red kurta. Why? “It’s my Bengali blood. It doesn’t let me sit quiet,” he confessed.