08 July,2011 09:24 AM IST | | Sheena Thomas
He might rever several music gurus, but you'll be surprised to know that one of them is Youtube. And he doesn't know where he'd be without it. Shankar Mahadevan, who also happens to be a computer engineer, has never shied away from taking assistance from technology -- be it for his music compositions or for learning various forms. Gearing up to perform at the Bolava Vithal concert on July 11, he talks to CS about his guru, the Internet:u00a0
Who: Shankar Mahadevan
What: Talks about taking lessons from the Internet
A class apart
The guru-shishya phenomenon isn't too popular anymore, so I'm happy to call Youtube one of my gurus. I think that a healthy reliance on technology is a sign of progress. After all, how else could you have a chance to watch some of the biggest singing maestros who are no more, and learn from their performances? I'm a big Bhimsen Joshi fan and I know that I can only watch him on Youtube now. I've learnt a lot from his performances by just watching his videos, and I'm going to try to recreate his magic in my upcoming concert. That wouldn't have been possible without the Internet.
Oh my God!
Like Bhimsen Joshiji, I too am big on devotional music. In fact, when I'm not performing Bollywood songs, I'm singing at these spiritual concerts. I think you can't ignore the fact that our profession has a divine touch. Just being able to sing is nothing short of a miracle. At some level you wonder where this voice comes from and how it manages to communicate with people in making them laugh or cry. And if you think that it's you making it all happen, well you're sadly mistaken my friend.
Three good
Ehsaan and Loy share the same love for music, but we're all drawn to different forms. They enjoy performing at gigs, while I'm more interested in the spiritual concerts. But we respect our individuality, and that's what keeps us going. I don't think our trio would not have survived these 15 years if we didn't have our own identities. We make it a point to do our own thing, which is why, when we get together, we don't take each other for granted. It's almost refreshing.
