‘Himesh is the blessed child of god’

Aadesh Shrivastava (TOI photo)In the melee of music directors and composers, Aadesh Shrivastava holds his own.
The talented music composer and director was in the city to perform at a musical concert. In a tete-a-tete with NT, the composer talks about his passion for music, his soon to be launched music company and his favourite music director.
The singer, who was in Nagpur to perform at a charity event, says, "This is the first time that I have performed in Nagpur.The programme was organised for a charitable cause, so I gave my consent. In fact, my wife Vijeta and I are going to adopt 10 street children and will train them in different streams of music."
Expressing his feelings on his favourite subject, he says, "No form of music can be richer than the Hindustani classical genre. But it is sad that it is not being fully utilised by the music directors. Table thok ke gana bana dete hain composers aaj kal. Today music is all about beats. Even the producers ask us to make a song, which has the raciness of a remixed number. But some gradual change is coming about. My song Baawari Piya ki from Baabul, which is based on pure Raag Darbari, went on to become very popular."
But in spite of his expertise in classical music, Aadesh has done a crossover album along with Wyclef Jean and Shakira. Ask him about this and he says, "That was a fusion album in which I arranged the music for four songs and sang one in Punjabi. I think fusion is a good thing because it is an amalgamation of different genres and the younger generation can learn about various styles of music from it."
Talking about the present scenario in the music industry, he says, "Not even one per cent of the music being composed today is original. The latest technology has made it possible for composers to copy loops and pass off a number as their own. They are doing straight lifts of hip-hop numbers."
One look at the fit and trim Aadesh, with his flowing mane, would make you think that the composer is set to appear on the silver screen. Ask him whether he plans to take up acting and he says, "There is only one Himesh Reshammiya, who can do all these things so well. He is the blessed child of God. Everybody can't get this lucky.���
Talking about his future plans, he says, ���At the moment I am busy with my music company. I have noticed that in western countries it is the grocery stores in Indian-dominated areas, which stack up and sell the Indian film music. None of the big, swanky stores sell our music. My company plans to change this and sell our music through big shops. I am also bringing out a devotional album. It is Hanuman Chalisa, rendered by Amitabh Bachchan."