Trilok Gurtu : Indians are ignorant about music

" Playing his first ticketed concert in India after a gap of four years, Trilok Gurtu is a disgruntled man."

He is unhappy that a section of the media has chosen to focus on why he has stayed away for so long. “Some people have written that I stay away because of the red-tapism and lack of planning here. If this were the case, why would I be constantly touring and promoting Indian music throughout the world?” asks Gurtu irritably.

The internationally renowned percussionist and composer, who has collaborated with some of the best Indian as well as world musicians, adds that such conjecture is often the result of “people having nothing to do and having this overwhelming need to create problems.”

Trilok Gurtu, son of famed khayyal and thumri queen Shobha Gurtu, played a couple of shows recently to packed houses at Blue Frog, Lower Parel, on September 6 and 8. Both shows had the audiences grooving along delightfully to Gurtu’s brand of music – a heady mix of Indian classical, jazz, Afro-jazz and Indian folk music played in unusual time signatures with complex rhythmic arrangements.

Commenting on the experience, he says, “I’m used to playing to much bigger audiences – 10,000 people, and sometimes more – and Indian audiences haven’t really seen that side of me. Playing in a club was an enjoyable experience, sure, but it was also a step down in a way. However, I have to bite the bullet sometimes and do these kinds of shows.”

“Indians are very ignorant when it comes to music,” declares Gurtu. “Not only are they largely unaware of their own musical heritage, but they don’t know much about African music and instruments. One shouldn’t be so ‘racist’ about music,” he adds, tongue-in-cheek. ”