Adds the young musician, “We also decided to use modern grooves in the programming and that also took a while because it was important that they do not disturb the music and its healing effects but help enhance the mood. The idea was that the album would be easy listening, whether with concentration or while at work and that both people who understand raags and those who do not enjoy equally.”

He contests the idea that adding grooves to Indian classical music dilutes the impact or spoils its purity. “When I composed my album Inner Peace, I got some interesting feedback from London. I was told that when they listened to my album while driving the tabla would actually make them accelerate but they would also get bored of the loops of the tanpura that was used for the base. For them that was disturbing the relaxing process. So by using a keyboard instead of the tanpura and light drums instead of the tabla, I could attract more listeners who might get bored.”

The trick, says Rakesh, is to first attract listeners to Indian music. “If they like it, they get familiar with your name as someone whose work they enjoy. So if they love my album or a fusion concert where we have used electronics, they will come the next time even to my pure classical concerts because they know of Rakesh Chaurasia and are aware that they will enjoy his music!” He smiles, “So we have to go a bit out of the way to make them taste something they feel they will not like, but end up loving!”

Rakesh admits that he has not gone deep enough into why Indian music lists certain raags in specific parts of the 24-hour cycle. “Woh sab to shaastron mein likhaa hai!” he smiles. “I have tried to recreate the right atmosphere though. For the early morning music recordings, I would start work at 8 a.m. whenever possible, for the afternoon and evening ambiences I would try and have apt lighting in the recording studios.”
Does the time cycle of the raags affect the artiste as much it does the listener? “Of course, it does!” he answers simply.

The burden of being his uncle’s musical inheritor sits lightly but firmly on the young musician’s shoulders. “I was four and a half years old when I began calling him “Babuji” (a term for father). But my uncle had this habit of never forcing anything on anyone. He began to train me only when I watched him play and told him that I wanted to learn the flute. He first got a small bansuri made especially for me.”
Learning under the legendary Pandit was not restricted to music and technicalities. “On his shows, I learnt how quickly he gauged the audience’s psyche and modified or changed his music with the very next piece,” he says. “He taught me to be a good entertainer and yet be grounded.”

Like his uncle, Rakesh regularly plays on film songs. “Working in films helps a lot in my classical performances and my skills,” he observes. “You understand a lot about how to integrate your pieces into a composition by someone else that is mass-oriented. I was very lucky to start out in 1989 with Laxmikant-Pyarelal and also play a bit with Kalyanji-Anandji and R.D.Burman. In those days my uncle as well as Pandit Shivkumarji and classical luminaries like Ustad Sultan Khansaab were a part of L-P’s orchestra and I could learn a lot from them too besides from Pyarebhai. Later, working with Ismail Darbar and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy was also a learning process.”

What does Babuji think about his latest album and fusion experiments? “He’s such a superman that he barely has time to do that!” he laughs. “At his age, his energy is incredible. He is always open to every kind of experimentation and experiences. But whenever he listens to what I have made, he loves it and gives generous praise.”
Rakesh believes in spontaneity. “If you think a lot, you end up composing something with a lot of calculation,” he believes. “There are albums that I have completed composing in five hours!”

But he admits that the value of Indian music is much more abroad than here today. “It’s a ghar ki murgi daal baraabar situation,” he says. “We are trying to imitate them. Indians often come to classical concerts only because they get free passes or are critics who only want to notice slips and criticise! But when you have to pay for everything, including parking your car and hanging your coat outside the auditorium, it filters in only lovers of Indian classical music - and that too mostly foreigners - in the Indian classical concerts abroad!”

He is also surprised at the interest and knowledge levels of foreigners about Indian music. “The ‘Net has made them even more knowledgeable!” he says. “They are also very receptive. At a show in Israel, we even showed them how to sit on the ground in the specific traditional to enjoy our music the best. And they in turn requested us for a spontaneous joint performance with an Israeli troupe of tribal dancers!”
Does he have any specific musical ambitions? “Bas, Babuji ke nazdik kahin jaana hai,” he smiles.