How Mozart got a desi twist

Mozart composed Symphony No 40 in 1788

Irrespective of whether you're familiar with Western classical music, chances are that you've hummed along to Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No 40 at some point. Cue: Sunil Dutt and Asha Parekh's melody of love and longing, Itna na mujhse tu pyaar badha, in Chhaya (1961). Composed by Salil Chowdhury and sung by Talat Mahmood and Lata Mangeshkar, it was inspired by Mozart's 'great G minor symphony' and went on to become a romantic anthem for generations.

Over two centuries since Mozart's creation, and nearly 60 years since Chhaya, a 22-year-old from Kolkata has given it a new twist by singing part of it using Hindustani classical sargam on World Music Day. In a two-minute video that has since gone viral, Samadipta Mukherjee's effortless sargam wowed netizens, earning her the blessings of Mangeshkar, who also shared the clip on social media. "It felt like a dream when Lata ji praised my efforts. It's every singer's wish," says Mukherjee, who's currently pursuing a Masters degree in Hindustani classical music as well as English Literature. "Like all other musicians, I had been thinking of what I could do for World Music Day. While rehearsing, I thought, 'I can put out a song, but it has to truly resonate with my Indian classical upbringing and world music.' Itna na mujhse tu pyaar badha is a song we've all heard, and I knew Chowdhury had been inspired by Mozart's symphony. So, I felt that everyone would connect to it," the singer tells us. She then worked on the notations for a day and recorded the sargam with the original symphony playing alongside. And the rest, as they say, is history.

But this isn't her first brush with Western classical music. Like any other child in a Bengali household, Mukherjee, too, grew up dabbling with different co-curricular activities, but realised over time that music was her calling. "I come from a background of ghazals, Hindustani classical, semi-classical and Bengali music. My initiation into Western classical music happened a few years ago, through a workshop with composer Debojyoti Mishra who had assisted Chowdhury," she shares, adding that this sparked off her interest in the relationship between Indian and Western classical music.
A link that particularly fascinates her is how the scales and chords that form the base of Western classical music are all part of Hindustani classical ragas. "If someone is playing a piece on a particular chord or scale, it will always be a combination of one or more ragas. Maybe, the two were created separately, but this bond is very strong," she illustrates.

The young artiste tells us that while she is still overwhelmed by the love she received, she doesn't want to limit herself to working on covers. "I was speechless after all the reactions since no one in my family is remotely linked to the music industry. I plan to finish the other movements of the symphony. But, currently, I plan to focus on my riyaaz [under Subhamita Bandopadhyay], as this incident reinforced my belief in my father's words that hard work is the final goal," she concludes.

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