Junoon asks of people that they “play”, in every sense of the word. Perhaps few could embody that sentiment as poignantly as classical pianist and music educator Anil Srinivasan. His compositions and renditions are about, in his words, “marrying Indian music with the unmistakable influence of the West”. We asked him to briefly (since the conversation was over an India to Canada call!) explain how composing for children was different from composing for adults.
“Composing for children has several freedoms. They absorb sound and musicality more innately, and are not preconditioned to categorize. A Latin American samba rhythm could be used with Tamil lyrics to teach a song about combining numerical values, for instance! We even use polyrhythmic ideas from Africa to teach counting principles as well as listening and coordination exercises.
What’s more, languages are absorbed much quicker when taught as songs. We have had children in Chennai sing Marathi and Bengali songs alongside more familiar Tamil songs!”
And now, we invite all you musicians to play – Anil sent over the musical notations for a beautiful composition called Kamalasana, which perfectly illustrates the confluence of his Indian and Western classical musical styles. Listen to his rendition and then conjure up your own interpretation!
Interviewed by Tanvi Shah.
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