Pandit piper

Grammy winner Rakesh Chaurasia and his flute are teaching the world many a new tune

- POOJA BIRAIA JAISWAL

Rakesh Chaurasia was not expecting the Grammy. In fact, with just minutes left for the ceremony, the virtuoso flautist was not even sure if his troupe had reached the venue. Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain had just flown in after a concert and, fighting jet lag, reached just in time. “My family was expecting it, but not me,” said Chaurasia, who won two Grammys on the night—one for the track ‘Pashto’ (Best Global Music Performance) and As We Speak (Contemporary Instrumental Album). “I was wondering how I would face my family if I lost. Until the moment I got it, I did not know the Grammys were so huge.”

He had flown from Mumbai to Los Angeles alone to “play it safe”. “I did not want to make a mockery of myself in front of my family,” the 53-year-old said with a laugh. A few minutes after winning, Chaurasia had called one of his disciples, Bharat Raj B., and asked him how his practice was going. “There he was, at the biggest stage in the world for music, and yet, there was no over-the-top excitement in his voice,” said Bharat. “It was as if, in a fraction of a second, he had already moved on, and was thinking about getting on with more practice to polish himself further.”

Listening to As We Speak, it feels as if the quartet—Chaurasia on flute, Hussain on tabla, the Americans Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer on the banjo and the double bass—is talking to each other through their instruments. Across a dozen songs, they take the listener on an immersive journey that shifts between the complexities of Indian ragas and the high-octave beats of bluesy bass lines.