It’s showtime, classical folks!

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Recently a collaboration between Doordashan and Spic Macay was announced for a reality talent show called Naad Bhed: The Mystery of Sound which will focus strictly on Hindustani classical and carnatic music. Judges like T.N. Krishnan, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Begum Parween Sultana, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and Ustad Amjad Ali Khan will pick the final two winners, who will go on to win Rs 10 lakh each.

The show is going to be hosted by Shabana Azmi, while talks about getting Amitabh Bachchan as co-host are also underway. While popular music has found great resonance among the young singers right from the onset of the reality music shows, will the use of the format be suitable for promoting classical art?
“Classical music has a very strong appeal among the younger generation in the country and abroad. One can go on popular online channels like YouTube and check the kind of hits the performances of maestros like Vishwamohan Bhatt, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia get. Many young learners actually use these channels to enhance their knowledge. In such a scenario, a talent show in a popular media like television can be a big boon for modern-age enthusiasts,” says Krishna N, a city-based Hindustani classical vocalist and IIM alumni, who has his own classical band called Mohan ki Leela.
Television is an important means to connect to a larger audience and the reach of Doordarshan is immense. “A reality show focusing on classical music is a novel concept and with stalwarts as judges, there is immense credibility involved. However my only contention is regarding its setting and format. It should be made a little contemporary so that it appeals to youngsters. At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, it shouldn’t be boring,” says singer and Indian Idol 1 winner, Abhijit Sawant.
The show would have particularly more appeal in the tier-2 and tier-3 cities that have many youngsters training in classical forms of music, he adds.
However, Spic Macay director Kiran Seth is planning to keep a low profile for the show and leave out all the ‘drama’ from the affair. “We know that television has its own compulsions, but we will make it suit our ideology,” he said at a press briefing.
Agrees Amaan Ali Khan, sarod player and son of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, “Classical music has its own stature. A show meant to promote young talent in the arena need not be made fancy. If the best in the area are scrutinising them, what else do they need.”
Arijit Singh, a popular playback singer and winner of a music reality show Fame Gurukul feels, “A classical musician is much more flexible and equipped to sing any kind of composition. There is a widespread notion in the country that popular classical musicians belong to a certain age-bracket and can’t be young and stylish. Aren’t Anoushka Shankar or the Bangash brothers complete anti-thesis of such assumptions? A platform like this might just work wonders in changing pre-conceived ideas.”
But not everybody feels there is any point in a show like this. “Classical music is not popular music. It is an art form. If you really want to promote it among the younger lot, why not start by taking workshops in schools and colleges. Reality shows would only lead to momentary competition. Classical music requires strict dedication, riyaz and meditation,” says Tarun Balani, who runs Global Music Institute, that runs a full-fledged programme on Indian classical music.