Music is a school of life

Lelo Niko, who hails from Sweden, has enthralled the audience with his electric performance world over. His distinctive styles include Jazz, Balkan and Romanian music. Lelo has collaborated with world musicians and mesmerised music aficionados with his tunes.

About his stint with accordion, he says, “I come from a family of musicians. Initially, I learnt accordion from my father and the folklore music from Lonel Corneanu. Later, I trained under Branimir Dokic in Belgrade (Serbia) before finally heading to Denmark to study under Mogens Ellegaard.

This was the time when my approach to music changed. Mogens wrote music, especially for the accordion. I could now understand what special nuances could really be presented on the accordion. Subsequently, I took advanced lessons from Lars Holm in Sweden.

Speaking about his phase of collaboration with world musicians, he shares: “Collaboration with other musicians is something very special and spiritual. I can’t define these moments in words.”“When I play with other musicians, I always think of how to make the musical journey more exciting, it’s like a story; it’s what happens in life. Do what you feel,” the musician adds.

Lelo says that Indian music is very colourful and also states that he connects to the music very well. “Indian music is full of ‘colours’. I like the colours of Indian music. It is very close to my culture. I try to feel Indian music as I cannot learn it. But there is something which connects me with Indian music instantly.

Maybe there would have been a link of our forefathers as a wandering gypsy community in India,” he shares. Lelo feels that youngsters need to put their soul into music and not play what is commercial or what people listen to.

“Everyone would more or less play the same i.e. popular music. The knowledge of folk style is disappearing. What one plays for the gallery, it is not art. It is all business, much away from tradition. I choose not to take out time to teach.

I don’t find a reason to teach. If someone is willing to put that required effort to imbibe the true art form, then I can definitely take out time,” Lelo says. About music and what it means to Lelo, he says, “There is something that happens beyond the physical presence.

I want to be better than myself. Many people think only about the route to impress an audience or fellow musicians. We must think bigger. Be more honest. No one has a right to say what is right or wrong. We are not gods. Someone is bigger than us. It is not about what we learn in school only. There is ‘after school’ also. Respect everything and try to learn more. Music in a broader sense is nothing but a ‘School of life’.”