Suddenly, there was pin drop silence, and I could feel 50 pairs of eyes on me as the entire orchestra stared in disbelief. I had no idea what that meant, and I was a bit annoyed it was blocking my view! Before I could enquire further, another woman came up and put some sheets of paper on the stand. “What are those?” I looked at it curiously and asked, “What is this?” As I’m getting ready to tune, a woman comes up in front of me and sets up a strange metal object.
If I had to pick one, one moment that still stands out is the concert I was just talking about, my first concert with Silkroad. There I was, walking onstage at the Lincoln Center for the first rehearsal. That’s a tough question! There are so, so, so, many happy memories. What is one of your favorite memories while working with Silkroad? I believe that was around 2001, so it’s been two decades now since I joined Silkroad!
GOODTIMES SILKROAD SERIES
I remember it very vividly - it was a series of four world premiere concerts at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Kurt Masur. My first concert with the ensemble was for the world premiere of his piece, Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur. When he was asked by Silkroad to write a piece that included tabla, he insisted on my recommendation. Kayhan and I had been playing together for the past seven or eight years, and we had a trio called Ghazal, a very successful Indian/Persian music collaboration which had been nominated twice for a Grammy. I was first introduced to Silkroad by our Iranian Kamancheh player, Maestro Kayhan Kalhor. When did you first work with Silkroad? And if you remember, what was the project? There’s a saying in India that you don’t choose the instrument - the instrument chooses you. “Those are Tabla, and your lessons start tonight!” That very evening, I was taken to my first Guru, Shri Sheo Kr Singh. “Dad, what are those?” I pointed at the strange pair of drums.
And just behind him, I noticed something sitting on the coffee table… My father was told I should be taken to a doctor, and I feared the worst - doctors, needles, injections… who knows what else! To my surprise, when I got home, my father greeted me at the door with a big smile on his face. I had been tapping on my desk in class and when asked to stop, unbeknownst to me, I would start tapping with my feet. How did you decide to become a musician? What drew you to your instrument?īelieve it or not, my journey started with a complaint from school.
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