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One escaped ethnic killings in Sri Lanka as a child to become the Paganini of Indian violin; the other became a synonym of jazz saxophone from his humble beginnings in Delaware. Dr L Subramaniam and Ernie Watts in a free-wheeling conversation with Gulf News on the story of their lives, what does it take to become a world-class artist and how music brought them together across continents for a special concert in Dubai.
#music #Dubai #LSubramaniam
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
One escaped ethnic killings in Sri Lanka as a child to become the Paganini of Indian violin; the other became a synonym of jazz saxophone from his humble beginnings in Delaware. Dr L Subramaniam and Ernie Watts in a free-wheeling conversation with Gulf News on the story of their lives, what does it take to become a world-class artist and how music brought them together across continents for a special concert in Dubai.
#music #Dubai #LSubramaniam
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NewsTranscript
00:35Hello and welcome to a very special Music Majlis with Gulf News.
00:48Today, we are joined by two of the music world's biggest names.
00:51I don't think Dr L. Subramanian and Ernie Watts need any further introduction.
00:56Thank you, sirs, both of us, for joining us here today,
00:58taking time off from your busy schedule here in Dubai.
01:01Pleasure.
01:02It's a pleasure to be here.
01:03Just wanted to start with music, that you
01:06are from very two different schools of music,
01:10yet you're here together and performing.
01:12What does music mean to you?
01:16Music is life.
01:18Music is the way we feel.
01:21It's the way we think.
01:23It's the way we relate to the things
01:27that we see in the world.
01:29It's how we communicate.
01:31I can't even imagine my life without music.
01:34Because from the younger days, looking at my father,
01:38hearing my father, and then the other great artists,
01:41legends.
01:43So seeing everybody, you know, music
01:45has become almost a part of your life.
01:47And I can't imagine my life without music or without
01:51in my case, particularly.
01:52I can't imagine my life without music or without in my case,
01:57particularly.
01:58I can't imagine my life without music or without in my case,
02:03particularly.
02:04I can't imagine my life without music or without in my case,
02:07particularly.
02:08I can't imagine my life without music or without in my case,
02:13particularly.
02:14I can't imagine my life without music or without in my case,
02:18particularly.
02:19I can't imagine my life without music or without in my case,
02:23particularly.
02:24I can't imagine my life without music or without in my case,
02:28particularly.
02:29I can't imagine my life without music or without in my case,
02:33particularly.
02:34I can't imagine my life without music or without in my case,
02:38particularly.
02:39I can't imagine my life without music or without in my case,
02:43particularly.
02:44I can't imagine my life without music or without in my case,
02:48particularly.
02:49I can't imagine my life without music or without in my case,
02:53particularly.
02:54I can't imagine my life without music or without in my case,
02:58particularly.
02:59I can't imagine my life without music or without in my case,
03:03particularly.
03:04I can't imagine my life without music or without in my case,
03:08particularly.
03:09I can't imagine my life without music or without in my case,
03:13particularly.
03:14I can't imagine my life without music or without in my case,
03:18particularly.
03:19I was always self-motivated because my family was not in music
03:22I was always self-motivated because my family was not in music
03:30at all.
03:31at all.
03:32So it was something that I felt in my heart.
03:38It was from desire.
03:40I just really wanted to learn to play the music.
03:45Talking about your very diverse, you know, backgrounds.
03:50But then you said you met in L.A. So, just tell us how did that happen and, you know, what brought you together?
03:56The first time we met was on a film. Dr. Subramanian was writing a film called Salambam A.
04:06And he called me to play on that. And we did sessions and performing and playing.
04:12And playing on that music. And that's where we met. And that was in the 70s, right?
04:19I don't know.
04:22I think there's both Mississippi Masala and Salambam A.
04:25Yeah, the first film was Salambam A.
04:29Right.
04:30Then the next film I did was Mississippi Masala and Prince of Washington. That's the next film.
04:36Right. And then we started playing together from time to time and working on different things together.
04:44He started with that Salambam A.
04:46That's right.
04:47But I'm not into too much of film writing. My elder brother was very much involved in India.
04:54Right.
04:55So I, then I used to do a lot of concerts, fusion concerts, like what I'm doing here for Amit.
05:02Where, you know, we have projects with other people. And there was one, Mr. Richard Bach.
05:09He had World Pacific Cricket.
05:12That's right.
05:14He was interested both in Indian classical music and also in jazz. His interest was both.
05:21So he used to record, you know, Shankara, Lekha Prakhan, all great artists, legendary people from classical side.
05:30And also I think he was working with Crusaders, John Du Ponti.
05:37Yes.
05:38And different people.
05:39I was also with the Pacific Jazz Company too because I had been with Buddy Rich's band for two years before that.
05:50So it was all, all of that was sort of working together.
05:54All the same.
05:55Yeah.
05:56Right. Yeah.
05:57So with Richard Bach, it was, he was the one who said, you know, why don't you do a fusion project?
06:04But, you know, those were the time when you're a classical musician in India.
06:10Anything other than classical music you did, there was certain kind of imagination among certain people that, you know, it's not good.
06:24So that was the situation.
06:27So when Mr. Richard Bach told me, you know, he heard me in one of the Indian classical concerts.
06:33He wanted to release a classical CD, which I said, no problem.
06:38Then he said, why don't you do a fusion thing?
06:41Because I was writing my own music and I was doing my master's in western classical music.
06:46He said, why don't you create your own thing and do a recording?
06:50Then I said, you know, if I do the recording, I may not be able to go back to India.
06:54So, whereas, you know, I was doing a lot with Indian classical music.
06:59Then he said, he was also a great devotee of Sathya Sai Baba.
07:04He used to come to India and he used to make all the video for Sathya Sai Baba.
07:09So he was, in a way, you know, he was not only, he loved music also, connected with spirituality and Indianness and everything.
07:19So he made an offer saying that, you know, you make an album and I will make a contract so that it won't be released in India.
07:29So we will give you the rights, you keep it.
07:31If you feel like it, whenever you feel like it, you can release it in India.
07:36But meanwhile, it will be only here.
07:38So why don't you do that? I didn't have any group as such at that time.
07:43So he said, I'll, whatever you want, we'll put together a group.
07:46So I said, okay, I'll write for a keyboard, piano, and then, you know, bass, drums, guitar and violin.
07:54There used to be an excellent percussion player called Emil Richards.
07:59And he used to play with, you know, Frank Zappa, George Harrison, John Williams, all the movie recordings.
08:06He was part of it and everything.
08:08So I met him, we traveled with George Harrison, Ravi Shankar, that tour we did in 70s.
08:15Emil Richards was part of it, part of George Harrison group.
08:18So I said, I'd like to have a vibraphone, Emil playing there, drums.
08:23So I just put together a group and two days before I sat and wrote an ad, some music, whatever we want to record.
08:31Because we had to record for 40, 41 minutes.
08:35The LPs were basically 20 minutes inside.
08:38So minimum was, you needed 40, 41 minutes.
08:41So I sat and wrote and we went to the studio, recorded and forgot.
08:46I informed my father that I've done this.
08:49He said, okay.
08:51So then left everything and forgot.
08:54Then I went, almost six, seven months later, I was touring, doing Indian classical tour in France.
09:02He called me and said, you know, it's good news.
09:05I said, what has happened?
09:06Your album has been selected as one of the 10 best jazz albums in Los Angeles time by Leonard Feather.
09:13He said, you are along with Aloha V. Hancock and Carmen McRae and all the big names.
09:18See what you have done, what your potential.
09:20I said, I don't know what it is.
09:21But I said, I didn't play jazz.
09:32When you were evolving as a musician, what do you think was the most difficult part?
09:55Not getting distracted.
09:58In the music business, there's so many distractions.
10:02There's so many other things going on besides music.
10:06So the most important thing for me was staying on the path.
10:12I always believe that if you stay on the path of the music and study and practice and focus, then everything works.
10:27Yeah, yeah.
10:29Because that's why we're there.
10:32We're there because of this incredible music energy.
10:36When you say distractions, are you talking about the lure of commercial success?
10:42Yeah, you know, how about that car?
10:45How about that house?
10:46I think I'll build a pool.
10:48You know, those kind of things.
10:52The distractions of this world, this physical world.
10:59This is the third dimensional plane.
11:02We live in the world of stuff.
11:06We have things.
11:08We're surrounded by things and we are surrounded by what we think is this need of things.
11:16And so sometimes we get distracted from our original path by the pursuit of things.
11:26Just quickly talking a little bit about fusion, because the collaboration is unique.
11:32Do you think that everything that works or that is labeled as fusion is successful?
11:37Does everything work?
11:39No.
11:40It depends on the artist, basically.
11:42So what separates fusion from confusion in that sense?
11:46Confusion is confusion for people who are confused and doing those kinds of things.
11:52If you are very sure of what you're doing and if it has a scientific background, absolutely no confusion.
11:59Because, you know, there are different genres.
12:02Even at that time, there are great jazz artists.
12:05They were crossing over.
12:07There was a genre, jazz-rock-pop, jazz-rock, jazz-pop.
12:12What was basically happening was people were trying to reach to bigger and mass audiences.
12:19Because pop and rock and roll had a huge, massive audience.
12:24Because also it had vocals and things like that.
12:27And whereas jazz artists, you have to learn a lot more and play a lot more.
12:32It's an instrumental example.
12:34So many people tried to do crossover, jazz-rock or jazz-pop.
12:38But some of them had vocalists as a guest artist in the album.
12:41Which definitely did better than just an instrumental album.
12:46On the other side, people like us who are classically trained in other traditions, not just Indian tradition.
12:54Fortunately, I had a classical music tradition.
12:57I learned masters, I did my masters.
12:59So that whatever I want to create with Indian tonality, I could write and improvise with jazz artists.
13:06Because with western artists, you write and every note has to be written.
13:11So whatever I did, like what I did with New York Philharmonic or London Philharmonic, every note is written.
13:18You cannot say, no, I'll play eight bars, you also play eight bars.
13:21They won't play a single note.
13:23Because the tradition is...
13:25Whereas jazz artists were very, very creative and they had that very strong tradition of improvisation right from the beginning.
13:49This year, the UAE is basically celebrating this year as the year of tolerance.
13:54Oh!
13:55And so, I wanted to ask you that, you know, how do you think that music can promote peace and coexistence and tolerance?
14:03How can music become the ambassador of tolerance?
14:05They cannot create peace without music.
14:08Because if you see, all the diplomatic talks and whatever happens politically,
14:15everybody have a preconceived notion.
14:18And I'm not saying this is right, that is wrong.
14:21But everybody has a preconceived notion.
14:25But with their own priority, of their own preferences, with their own things.
14:31But what happens when...
14:34A typical example, when we played in the UN with Menuhin,
14:38at the time, our Indian ambassador and also some of the countries where, you know, we are not very friendly with,
14:45some of the ambassadors from different countries where they are not talking to us.
14:50They were all sitting there.
14:52All of a sudden, that period of time, they forgot the whole thing.
14:56They gave an ovation, laughed and smiled, looked at each other.
14:59But they completely forgot.
15:01I should not do this, you know, I'm from this country, I should not smile at that person.
15:05I should not look at that person.
15:06So, this is true.
15:07So, like that, the same thing.
15:09When we went to Russia at that time, I was living in US.
15:13At that time, they asked me to do some major festival that was happening in Bolshoi Theatre and also in Tchaikovsky Auditorium.
15:21So, they wanted me to come with a group.
15:23So, I said, I have my musicians who were in Los Angeles at that time.
15:27I have to travel, plus some Indian musicians from India.
15:30And they wanted me to use some Russian musicians.
15:32I said, I'll go and listen, we will select some great artists.
15:36Initially, the objection was,
15:38I said, why do you need American musicians to come to Russia?
15:42The same, it could have happened the other way also.
15:44If you say, I want Russian musicians to come and play at that time.
15:47Why do you need, we have everybody.
15:49I said, then they said, why do you need American musicians at all?
15:53Or why do you just, why don't you take Indian musicians to do things?
15:57But I said, you know, this is not about that musician or this musician.
16:01The music which we are playing, these are the people who are familiar with this.
16:05So, we can do a better job.
16:07It will become a better creativity, a better understanding.
16:11We are not going to talk politics.
16:13In fact, when we all landed there, none of us knew the language.
16:17And there was always a translator.
16:19So, some of the musicians, Russian musicians,
16:22they were also so happy to play because they didn't get that opportunity
16:26to interact with other world.
16:28So, the end of the show, literally some of them were envious,
16:31both from American side and Russian side,
16:34because we played music.
16:36Music breaks down all these barriers, brings in peace, understanding.
16:41Ani, so, there are, you know, like close to 180 plus nationalities here
16:46who live in Dubai. So, do you think that this is sort of what you are going to do
16:51with Dr. Subramaniam, reflects that kind of diversity in music?
16:55We all come from one energy.
16:58There is all these people and there is all of these,
17:04you know, sources, concepts, ideas,
17:11but we all come from the same place.
17:14There is only one universal energy.
17:17If somebody sings, you know, if somebody sings the blues,
17:20oh baby, oh baby, I feel so bad, this is the worst day I've ever had, right?
17:26Then everybody is going to hear that and they are going to take on that story.
17:32But when we play together and we create a sound together,
17:37then one person is going to hear the sky,
17:41another person is going to hear the ocean,
17:44another person is going to hear the movement of the universe.
17:49Just a quick question about, you know, budding musicians here,
17:53maybe in India, in the US, around the world,
17:55what would be your message to them?
17:57A lot of people think that, you know, once you become a very successful musician,
18:01that's it, you don't practice. So, how long do you practice?
18:05So, it's very important for me to practice.
18:08It's very important spiritually in that way as a meditation.
18:13Then it's very important to keep your physical rapport with your instrument.
18:21As you get older, it's very necessary to stay in touch with your instrument
18:28so that you stay flexible.
18:30Plus, it's a beautiful way to communicate with yourself,
18:40communicate with the spirit.
18:42It's a beautiful way to find peace because when you're playing music
18:47and you're concentrating on playing music,
18:50whatever it is, you can't do anything else.
18:54When you play music, we don't play music.
18:59We become music.
19:02Music plays us.
19:05Somebody, if they say, oh, you have been eating for, you know, 15, 16 years,
19:09so you don't need to eat anymore.
19:11You have been sleeping for 15 years.
19:13You don't have to sleep anymore.
19:15It doesn't work out like that.
19:17As long as you live, you eat and you sleep.
19:21So, it is not, you cannot say this much of practice is enough for the rest of your life.
19:26It's like saying, we've eaten this much of food,
19:29so you don't have to eat the rest of your life.
19:32So that practice is something which becomes part of your routine thing.
19:36For a musician who really enjoys playing,
19:40we don't think it as a practice, actually.
19:43It is almost like we are enjoying ourselves doing something which we love to do.
19:47If you don't play four or five days, you will know.
19:51If you don't play 10 days, others will know.
19:56© BF-WATCH TV 2021