G.S. Rajan in Milan

Mark Worden (Standard English accent):

The September issue of Speak Up features an interview with the Indian musician, G.S. Rajan. In this out-take we asked him whether, in his concerts, he played his own work, or that of India’s classical composers:

G.S. Rajan (Indian accent):

I do both. If I am playing a traditional concert in a place like Madras, which is the hub of south Indian classical music, the people who are sitting in the auditorium, they all know music. It’s like Zubin Mehta or somebody is conducting a symphony, the audience knows, if they are going to present a Mozart or a Beethoven, and they know about the composition, they heard it many times, presented by many orchestras. So I stick to traditional compositions of great composers like Tyagaraja and others, where I am afraid to do my own innovations, or my own compositions, and there’s no need for it because there is a rich culture and the audience comes to an auditorium buying tickets to hear that rich culture and to hear the compositions they know, how I interpret, or… and other artists interpret. So there I stick to traditional compositions by great composers. Other places, I do both, I do my own compositions, as well as traditional compositions. As far as I’m concerned, I look at the audience and, when I see the audience, I know how they are going to react, even in an Indian community, I know that 90 per cent of the Indian community, they are into Bollywood music, just having a look at the audience I know how they’re going to react, so accordingly I choose on the spot what to play and what not to play.

(G.S. Rajan was talking to Mark Worden)