Song of success: Rakesh Chaurasia on Grammies, guru and the night like no other

New Delhi: It was a night unlike any other. Sitting with some of the best known musicians from across the world and genres in Los Angeles’ Crypto.com arena, flautist Rakesh Chaurasia says he wasn’t really prepared to get a Grammy notwithstanding his two nominations. But he did - and in both categories. It was his first nomination at global music’s most celebrated award ceremony and just that was almost enough, the 52-year-old said. “I felt it was fine that I got the nomination but that’s it, because when I was sitting there, talking about other people who were there, they got their awards after six nominations, or nine nominations. But god is kind to me that the album came out in 2023 only, it got the nominations the same year, and now the awards,” Rakesh Chaurasia told PTI in a telephonic interview from the Los Angeles airport late Monday night. The first Grammy was as part of the ensemble of tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, American banjo player Bela Fleck and American bassist Edgar Meyer for the best global music performance for “Pashto” and the second for best contemporary instrumental album for “As We Speak”. “Pashto” is one of the 12 songs in the fusion album “As We Speak”. Talking with fellow musicians at the glittering event on Sunday night (LA time), Rakesh Chaurasia felt oddly assured it wasn’t his time yet.

Sitting at the airport, waiting for his flight back home to Mumbai, the flautist talked to PTI about receiving the award, his inspirations, and global music at large. Growing up under the tutelage of flautist and uncle Hariprasad Chaurasia and watching the likes of Zakir Hussain create magic with the tabla, Rakesh Chaurasia credited the two legends for inspiring him to follow the way of music. Hussain, who received three Grammys, continues to perform with the two generations of the Chaurasias - the uncle and the nephew, the guru and the shishya.

“There is always something to learn from him (Hussain). Since childhood I have admired him and watched him. He used to accompany babu ji, my guru Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, and when they both were performing together, it was an amazing experience, one had to be there to really witness the magic,” Rakesh Chaurasia said.

“It’s a blessing for me to be a witness when they are performing and realise that I have played with them. These are a bunch of musicians who are really gods in music,” he added. Carrying the legacy of a grand figure such as Hariprasad Chaurasia does come with some challenges but he said he has managed to use them to be better at his work.

“It’s like a coin, it has two sides - it feels very great, at the same time it’s worrying because you are carrying such a big name on your shoulders. Because people will always compare me with my uncle.

“So it’s good in a way that I am on my toes all the time, keep practising and try to do better and better. I cannot reach where he has taken the flute, but at least I have been keeping the family name going and keeping this instrument alive,” the musician said. Even though musicians such as sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, Hussain, and his own uncle made a mark in global music, Chaurasia believes there is still time before the country appreciates music that mixes Indian classical and different western styles.

“This kind of music has its own listeners. When I played with the ‘Pashto’ team in the US, there were 60-70,000 people. There were people as far as you could see. It has its own place, its own genre because they keep listening to it, they are used to it and know how to appreciate this kind of music. “Indians took a little time to get used to jazz, blues and rock and fusion also. So it will take time for people to understand and get used to this kind of music… When good musicians from different parts of the world come together, something good will definitely come out of it,” the musician noted. Five Indian musicians - Hussain, Rakesh Chaurasia, singer Shankar Mahadevan, violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan and percussionist Selvaganesh Vinayakram - bagged Grammys this year.