English हिन्दी
Connect with us

Latest Art & Culture

Killing one softly with the Mohan Veena, meet Poly Varghese

With films ubiquitous in India, Varghese has scored background music for several Bengali films, and Malayalam works such as Jeevan Massai (2001) and Kalavarkey (2003).

Published

on

Poly Varghese

By Shruti Kaushal

“Music is the literature of the heart, it commences where speech ends.”- Alphonse de Lamartine

When asked to interview Poly Varghese, the world’s finest Mohan Veena player, I knew nothing about him. Mohan Veena? Yes, a veena fashioned out of the slide guitar? Research is an integral part of every writer’s work and now it was time to look up Mr Varghese. The very first thing I did was look him up on all social media platforms. Facebook? Check! Instagram? Check! Spotify? Check! Twitter? Check! Little did I know that in researching the musician, I’ll fall in love with an instrument I had never heard of before.

While I was preparing the questions for this disciple of Grammy Award winner Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, I got Zsa Zsa Zsu. If music is food for the soul, I was ravenous. Poly Varghese, the long-haired musician, with glasses on (saw his pictures and videos on Instagram) shared his wealth of knowledge with APN.

“Music is an emotional interpretation of our soul. All things belong to silence and sounds are the translation of silence. So, music is a combination of sound and silence. The continuous sound will be noise, but between two sounds and two noises, if there is a gap, that beauty is music. For me, music is the interpretations of my inner God and my inner silence,” Varghese said.

Read Also: Loan EMIs to go up? RBI hikes interest rate by 40 basis points, everything you need to know

What is a musician without a guru? When it comes to an Indian musician, it is said that a disciple should abide every moment by the guru’s guidance/ do whatever the guru wishes. The guru-shishya parampara is a centuries-old tradition of teaching that demands complete surrender to the guru, and a lonely meditation and practice of the music form.

On his guru Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and how he inspired him to pursue Mohan Veena full time, Varghese said, “Guruji treats me like his son and I am the luckiest person to be his senior disciple. He is a highly dedicated and lovable person. When he plays Mohan Veena, it feels someone is talking and he is continuously talking to me through his music.”

“I remember, he heard me while I was practising. He said I can be better and preach my destiny without him. He converses with me through his music and I met my destiny,” he said.

Reminiscing the time when he first discovered the Mohan Veena, Varghese said, “I heard the instrument in a TV show for the very first time and I was stunned. I saw Vishwa Mohan Bhatt performing and I wondered who is this man. At that moment, I felt Mohan Veena is my instrument and I want to learn this instrument.”

“Mohan Veena made me more lovable and understanding. It has taught me the language of love and how to become a good lover of humanity and mankind,” he said.

With films ubiquitous in India, Varghese has scored background music for several Bengali films, and Malayalam works such as Jeevan Massai (2001) and Kalavarkey (2003). And we cannot deny that Indian Pop culture is overpowering regional music industries and Indian classical music for that matter. Varghese explained Indian pop music and said, “Pop music does not have any identity without any kind of raga system. Whether it is pop or jazz, these music forms are inspired by folk tradition.”

“When it comes to classical music, it has extraordinary energy and no other form of music can beat that. Indian or Hindustani classical is enriched as it has all kinds of traditional music like folk, nomadic, and Sufi,” he said.

With the rising trend of music meeting technology, promoting songs and putting them out for a larger audience has become hassle-free. Apps such as Spotify, Amazon Music, and others have provided a platform for musicians across the world to earn revenue, however a pittance it is, and have also influenced the Gen Z and Millennials to discover music, irrespective of geographical barriers.

Varghese believes the internet is the innovation of science that has given us such platforms to understand, listen to, and sell ourselves. “Spotify and Amazon are such platforms that give artistes an opportunity to sell their products. People who may not know but can listen and appreciate your work. We don’t know if we will get any chance to travel and collaborate. However, these applications have opened the gates for such things,” he said.

Read Also: After heavy rain and thunderstorms in Hyderabad, it is pouring memes and jokes on Twitter; best ones here

“I jammed and collaborated with several music maestros and everyone has reverence for not only the traditional Indian music but for the Indian music industry as a whole which includes Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, Telugu, Hindi, and others. This is the power of applications like Spotify and Amazon,” he further added.

The 52-year-old Varghese has also performed in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu in theatres. According to him, in theatre, there is only one possibility unlike performing on the screen. There is only one frame in a film but in theatre, one’s expressions are loud and need improvisation, he said.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Poly Varghese suffered a heart attack. He remembers he was about to fly to the United States for a concert when the coronavirus was rampant across the world. Unfortunately, Varghese had to cancel the trip and went a few notches down mentally. The trauma was real. “I was in Chennai that time and jammed on Zoom calls with Grammy musicians. Confined inside the four walls of the house, my health deteriorated. I moved to Wayanad in Kerala for a couple of months and suffered a heart attack one night,” he said.

“I was taken to the hospital but refused to go through any surgery because I wanted a natural death. After I recovered, I felt I got a new life. I played 72 Carnatic ragas on the Mohan Veena and also finished a novel after recovery,” Varghese added.

Poly Varghese has led a nomadic life and celebrated music. He collaborated with Salsa musicians from Cuba, a group of Iranian and Moroccan musicians for a Moroccan radio station project, and musicians from the Amazon. A poet, a musician, and an actor.

Look him up on Spotify or Amazon or elsewhere, thank me later!

Uttar Pradesh horror: 13-year-old girl went to file rape case, allegedly raped again by cop

Two tribal men killed on suspicion of alleged cow slaughter in Madhya Pradesh

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Yashraj Mukhate collaborates with Amit Trivedi for Mann Dhaaga song

In a post circulating on Instagram Yashraj Mukhate talks about his experience of listening to Amit Trivedi’s music and recalls how he had always dreamt of collaborating with Amit Trivedi. He said his dream came true 2 years later in 2024 where he collaborated with Trivedi on the song Mann Dhaaga.

Published

on

Amit Trivedi is known for his soulful compositions which weave profound lyrics, captivating music lovers. His songs spark a deep desire in aspiring artists to collaborate with him. Music producer and You Tuber Yashraj Mukhate had immense admiration for Trivedi’s artistry. In a post circulating on Instagram Yashraj Mukhate talks about his experience of listening to Amit Trivedi’s music and recalls how he had always dreamt of collaborating with Amit Trivedi.

He said his dream came true 2 years later in 2024 where he collaborated with Trivedi on the song Mann Dhaaga. He wrote that he had been listening to the entire Dev D Album carefully in 2012. And he kept listening to it on loop for 3 weeks. He continued to listen to Amit Trivedi compositions in Aisha, Kai Po Che, Udaan, Lootera, Queen, Fitoor continuously. He said he could not stop himself and became a big fan of the music director. He said he started dreaming of meeting his idol one day and collaborating with him.

He recalled that he had to download songs from songs.pk and listen to them. He said the songs kept running inside his mind all through the day. He added that he even remembered Amit Trivedi’s ad jingles word for Fanta, Frooti, Dish TV and all of them.

Mukhate said he always dreamed of meeting Amit Trivedi and wanted to thank him for giving this experience. The post has gone viral on social media with 96,445 likes till now. Large number of social media user commented on the social media post where one user Parth said the Yashraj Mukhate was truly an inspiration. One user said his dedication had brought him to level. One user said a man should make all his dreams come true by going through one hustle at a time.

Continue Reading

Book reviews

The Sattvik Kitchen review: Relook at ancient food practices in modern times

If you are the one looking to embrace healthy food habits without compromising on modern delicacies, then this book is a must read!

Published

on

The cacophony of bizarre food combinations across the streets of India has almost taken over the concept of healthy food practices. Amid this, yoga guru Dr Hansaji Yogendra’s The Sattvik Kitchen, published by Rupa, is a forthright work that takes you back to ancient food practices and Ayurveda.

As the subtitle reads, The Art and Science of Healthy Living, the book endows a holistic approach to ayurvedic diet along with modern evidence based nutrition. From Basil-Broccoli Soup to Sprouted Green Gram Salad and Strawberry Oats Smoothie to Mixed Dal Parathas, the book not only provides you with the recipes but also stresses on healthy cooking tips together with nutritional benefits. 

Besides, Dr Hansaji Yogendra’s book emphasizes on the traditional methods of food preparation and the advantages of using traditional cookwares like iron and copper vessels. The narrative portrays a balanced approach, knitting traditional wisdom with contemporary scientific understanding.

The author, through her book, sheds light on the principles of Ayurveda and highlights the metamorphic potential of adopting ancient food practices. She explains how our body reacts to food in terms of timing, quantity, manner of consumption and seasonal considerations. The book adeptly reintroduces ancient home remedies tailored to address various contemporary health issues. 

Dr Yogendra, in her book, decodes the importance of nutritional knowledge to optimize both immediate and long-term health outcomes. It provides deep insights to understanding the intricate relationship between food choices and overall well-being, weaving Ayurveda with practical perception. 

The book not only celebrates food philosophy but also offers a practical view into weight loss, well-being, and the profound impact of dietary choices on both physical and emotional aspects of our lives.

If you are the one looking to embrace healthy food habits without compromising on modern delicacies, then this book is a must read! The book is a roadmap to navigate the challenges of the modern day kitchens. 

Continue Reading

Book reviews

The Deccan Powerplay review: Bashing Chandrababu Naidu and his legacy

Amar Devulapalli’s book The Deccan Powerplay cornersthe TDP strongman with every petty incident exaggerated a la Baahubali 

Published

on

Mike Marqusee’s War Minus The Shooting is a seminal book on cricket and its influence on culture and politics in the Indian sub-continent during the 1996 Cricket World Cup. Amar Devulapalli’s book The Deccan Powerplay, published by Rupa, sounds like a similar exercise with its clear subtitle, “Reddy, Naidu and the Realpolitik of Andhra Pradesh“. The ambitious sounding subtitle crumbles under the weight of belied expectations of a scholarly treatise on the political interplay between the Reddys, the Kammas and the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh. One can blame it on one’s own hopes and excuse the author of the lapse since the book has just three people to discuss: YS Rajsekhara Reddy, N. Chandrababu Naidu and Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The chief protagonists here are YSR and his son, the incumbent Chief Minister of bifurcated Andhra Pradesh, Jagan Mohan Reddy. The lone villain, and one crafty as a fox if ever there was one, is Chandrababu Naidu. The book devotes a chapter to the corruption cases against Naidu, for which he was arrested in September 2023.

In crafting the narrative, the other heavyweights of Telugu country are discussed in passing, as peripheral players. N.T. Rama Rao does get the starring role, as befits the Telugu star of yesteryear and the founder of the Telugu Desam Party. But even this is fleeting. The Congress, which ruled the state till bifurcation, is portrayed as a faction-infested animal — so what if YSR stayed in the party both as loyal soldier as well as a seasoned yet dynamic general?

The book sets out to demolish the halo surrounding Naidu as the man who brought Information Technology majors to Hyderabad, nay Cyberabad, by beating Bengaluru. His breaking with NTR is depicted as a shrewd, calculated gambit to displace the TDP founder, who was also his father-in-law. 

The book is replete with this and more Naidu nitpicking. Naidu took no bullshit from politicians or journalists. He gave it back to the scribes when needed, apart from his favourite media groups, one of the reasons they were not very happy kowtowing to him, 

as the book suggests. Instead they would make ostentatious bows to any political alternative merely for being less brusque than the now-out-on-bail former CM. 

The book picks apart every claim Naidu ever made and portrays him as an opportunist. The problem with this is possibly because Naidu preceded Jagan Mohan as the rump AP’s last CM and had presumably used every trick in his arsenal to discredit the younger contender.

With Assembly elections due this year, this book reads like a party pamphlet and comes across as a political weapon among the undiscerning. An Instagram handle could have been more useful to this end. But for such a grandly-titled book: the anticlimax is swift and painful.

Continue Reading

Trending

-->

© Copyright 2022 APNLIVE.com