When did you realize
the international potential
of Indian classical music?
Was there any incident or
moment that sparked that?
I’ve always had that
sentiment in my mind, right
from my late teens. I’m
trained in Indian classical – I
know the heritage, richness,
depth and variety of the
culture. I’m not putting down
other genres of music, but
simply just the way other
genres have been received
with so much inclusiveness
- if you see reggae or R&B,
they’re fully respected in
ecosystems like iTunes or
Apple Music. It’s a proper
well-defined unit by itself but
there’s nothing for Indian
classical music.
It gets bundled up as folk
music, it’s been a pinpoint
in my heart for a long time.
When IndianRaga came
along, I thought, ‘This is it.
There’s no better way to take
Indian classical music to a
wider audience.’
It’s two-pronged – there’s
a younger generation that’s
being exposed to so many
genres that a classical
musician has to work twice or
three times harder to not be
ignored. It can be packaged
in a way that they find
interesting.
Some people might
say you’re diluting it, but
whatever artform you have,
unless you deliver it to the
audience you’re trying to
reach in a way that they’ll
appreciate it, there’s no way
the artform will grow and
gain wider acceptance. That’s
part of my mission. I want
more people to appreciate
what Indian classical music
has to offer. It’s in no way less
than what any other genre
has to offer.
Traditional music now
more than ever, is being
loved even when it’s
contemporized – by old and
young. Where do you think
that comes from?
Every genre of music has a
certain boundary that defines
it. If you sing a particular
melody in one style, it
becomes classical music.
If you sing it in a different
style, it becomes pop music.
It helps you define styles of
music, but you can afford to
bend the boundary a little bit
to see how much it mixes.
There’s no formula for it,
because sometimes it’s like
oil and water, and other
times, it’s like sugar and
water. It entirely lies at the
discretion of the artists who
are combining different
genres of music to see what is
pleasant to the ear.
Of course, with time, I
can’t predict how the tastes
of audiences will change, but
that’s the best part of being a
musician who’s trying to mix
two genres. You’re constantly
being forced to come up with
new ways of redefining the
aesthetic.
How do you deal with
purists?
It’s still a form of
criticism. If you go to any of
my YouTube videos, there’s
always a healthy mix of both
in terms of comments that
say, ‘Oh this is so wonderful’
and ‘This is nonsense, why
did you do this?’ I also see
who’s giving the feedback – if
it’s an established (classical)
musician, I get where they’re
coming from, because to
them this is blasphemy.
I don’t know what their
(purists) motivation is to
reach the next generation,
but for me, I see young kids’
variety of music interestand think, ‘There’s plenty
to distract them away from
Indian classical music.’ The
formula that was in place
when I was a kid was your
parents would drag you to
a class and say, ‘Nothing
doing. You’re doing this class.’
You have no say in it. The
difference today is that kids
will question you about it.
If you want the artform toflourish, you have to take it to
them (kids).
You have an interest in
multiple genres – where did
that come from?
I grew up listening to
A.R. Rahman growing up. I
somehow felt his aesthetic ofmixing different genres was
very appealing. Rightfully
so, because the majority
of his albums have been
phenomenal hits. Especially
when he got into movies
like Roja, Bombay and Dil
Se.., it was new sounds for
everybody. Once I came
to college in Chennai, my
seniors were training to
be professional musicians,introduced me to Illaiyaraaja,
another South Indian music
giant. My other friends from
college introduced me to
Bollywood giants like R.D.
Burman and I used to see
how those composers were
dealt with. Everyone wasbreaking ground at the time.
Another Tamil composer,
M.S. Viswanathan, is known
for bringing rock and pop,
rock and roll, swing... all of
those genres into film music.
When we went into all
that, it was strange that
it was all commercially
successful. You don’t find
this with musicians in other
countries, who’ve done this to
this extent. It’s an established
career path for so many in
India for decades. If you’re
good enough to become a
composer, people will expect
you to mix genres like this.
As an artist who is also an
entrepreneur, are there some
tough decisions you had to
make in the course of setting
up IndianRaga?
I wouldn’t say tug-of-war,
but it was more instances
of my irreverence being
put down. If someone is a
marketing specialist and they
tell me about how to label
my video or do something
for more traction and
engagement, I’m all for it.
The way YouTube and other
medias work and change
their algorithms, it drives
everybody nuts. It’s always
a learning curve for me,
because it’s a full-time job in
itself. That’s what I like about
IndianRaga as well – they’re
open to dialog. ANURAG TAGAT“The way YouTube
and other medias
work and change
their algorithms, it
drives everybody
nuts. It’s always a
learning curve for
me, because it’s a
full-time job in itself.”
18 | Rolling Stone | July 2019