Chaurasia Chaurasia with Zakir Hussain/Grammy Awards Image Credit: Getty
Indian arts are now emerging on the world stage. India won two awards in the 2023 Oscars. Now Indians have spread their magic in the Grammy Awards 2024 also. This year five Indians won the Grammy. Zakir Hussain got 3, Rakesh Chaurasia got 2, Shankar Mahadevan, V Selvaganesh and Ganesh Rajagopalan got 1 grammy each. For now, we are going to talk about the unique flautist of the music world, Rakesh Chaurasia.
There was a question in the school GK book, what is Hari Prasad Chaurasia famous for? Four options came with it. The right option was flute playing. That was the only relation I had with Hari Prasad Chaurasia. As age increased, it dawned on me that this person is a great artist. Something similar might have happened with his nephew Rakesh Chaurasia.
“I have not seen Krishna, Hari Prasad Chaurasia is my Krishna”
Rakesh was four years old at that time when he was attracted by the melodious sound coming from the flute. This sound was coming from the flute of his uncle (Hari Prasad Chaurasia). He calls his uncle Babuji. Rakesh took flute training through audio tradition only. What I mean to say is that Babu ji would play the flute and Rakesh would listen to it and try to learn from it.
Rakesh Chaurasia with Zakir Hussain on the Grammy stage (Credit – AFP)
He tells that he must have learned a lot by sitting face to face with Babuji. I learned mostly by listening to him while playing Sangat with him on Tanpura at home, in Gurukul or on stage. Rakesh considers Hari Prasad Chaurasia as his Krishna. In his words,
“I liked the sound of the flute since childhood. As years increased in age, I became aware of the spirituality hidden in it. If you look into Indian mythology, you will find the flute in the hand of Krishna. I have never seen Krishna playing the flute, Hari ji is my Krishna.”
People find flute very easy. Many people told Rakesh that you are lucky, there is no wire in it, it is just a piece of wood. Rakesh would say in response to this that no matter what you say, you have to accept this – even if someone is playing the flute on Juhu beach, people will definitely stop to listen for once. The reason for this is the unadulterated and innocent sound of the flute.
Rakesh started crying in front of Amitabh Bachchan
8 year old Rakesh once went to Yash Raj Studio to meet his father. Here Hari Prasad was recording the song 'Rang Barse' from 'Silsila' with Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma. Amitabh Bachchan was present in the studio to give voice to it. At the time of recording, Rakesh was listening and watching everything very attentively. Amitabh's attention got towards this. He asked, “Whose child is this?” Hari Prasad said, “It is ours.” Then he asked Rakesh to play the flute. Rakesh started crying. When she stopped crying, she gave a 10-minute performance. Everyone present in the studio started clapping.
Rakesh grew up and started his career as a solo flute player. After this the vehicle moved towards making the album. Also tried his hand in Ghazal, Jazz and other genres. Sanjay was also associated with Leela Bhansali and Ismail Darbar in Bollywood. Rakesh does not like to add 'Pandit' before his name. They say that there is no greater award than getting praise from seniors and gurus. However, now he has received the world's biggest music award, the name is Grammy.
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