HINDUSTANI classical flautist Pt Ronu Majumdar has been in the news for two reasons. First, he set a world record by performing with 546 musicians at the Gwalior Fort in December. The piece Samvet, which uses raags Miyan Ki Malhar, Miyan Ki Todi and Darbari, has entered the Gunness Book for being played by the largest Hindustani classical band.
While Samvet entirely consists of Indian music, Majumdar blended Indian and western classical melodies at his show Flute Symphony: A Tribute To Mozart at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) on January 17. On the one hand, the flautist had percussion accompaniment by Aditya Kalyanpur on tabla and Shikhar Naad Qureshi on drums and djembe. On the other, he was backed by the 12-member Bombay String Orchestra conducted by Abhijit Majumdar, with keyboardist Amit Bhavar providing other flavours.
At NMACC, Majumdar began with the opening movement of Mozart’s 40th Symphony, once adapted by Salil Chowdhury in the Chhaya song Itna Na Mujhse Tu. He later played tunes from his 2015 album Flute Symphony, marking their first live performance in Mumbai. Using raags Kaafi, Saraswati and Bhairavi, he had the right mix of Hindustani melody and western harmony. The piece All Minors was dedicated to Ustad Zakir Hussain.
Over the years, there have been some attempts to blend Hindustani and western classical music, though not as many as those fusing Hindustani classical and jazz. With the 1967 album West Meets East, sitar legend Pt Ravi Shankar successfully partnered with American-British violinist Yehudi Menuhin, creating compositions based on raags Gunkali and Tilang. He later composed two sitar concertos. The first, featuring the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andre Previn, used raags Khamaj, Sindhi Bhairavi, Adana and Maanj Khamaj. The second, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta, used Lalit, Bairagi, Yaman Kalyan and Miyan Ki Malhar.
Shankar also teamed up with American composer-pianist Philip Glass, French flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal and Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. His disciple, flautist Pt Vijay Raghav Rao, took forward the journey with his studio album Destiny: A Symphonic Fable. Though composer Vanraj Bhatia wasn’t a Hindustani classical musician in the actual sense, he understood the possibilities of playing raags with a western classical orchestra. From the south, violinist L. Subramaniam worked with many orchestras to blend Carnatic and western music, whereas composer Ilaiyaraaja’s first symphony is due soon.
Among Hindustani musicians, sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan composed Samaagam: A Concerto For Sarod, Concertante Group and String Orchestra in 2008. Drawing from 10 raags, it featured the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by David Murphy. Later, Khan and his sons Amaan and Ayaan worked with American classical guitarist Sharon Isbin on the album Strings For Peace: Premieres For Sarod And Guitar. The compositions are based on raags Bihag, Mishra Bhairav, Pilu and Yaman.
The interaction moved from melody instruments to percussion too. In 2015, tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain was commissioned by the Symphony Orchestra Of India (SOI) to compose a concerto for tabla. The result was Peshkar, which was premiered in Mumbai under conductor Zane Dalal’s baton. In 2023, Hussain composed a Triple Concerto, featuring him, sitar player Niladri Kumar and flautist Rakesh Chaurasia. The show was premiered in Mumbai with the SOI conducted by Alpesh Chauhan. “Composing a piece with a western classical orchestra in mind requires a completely different mindset. One has to adapt to the rules of their playing, their dos and don’ts, while maintaining the Indian classical form,” Hussain had told this writer.
Other notable tie-ups include santoor player Rahul Sharma’s Symphony Of Santoor, premiered with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Brandon Phillips. Sitar player Anoushka Shankar and Austrian percussionist Manu Delago were joined by the Metropole Orkest Strings on the album Between Us, which also featured on successful live shows. Tabla exponent Ojas Adhiya and composer Alap Desai worked on the piece Tabla Symphony. With younger musicians more open to experimentation, one should see more such interactions over the next few years.
