Chennai: While the whole of Chennai is swimming in Carnatic music, there is a small island of Hindustani music created by renowned sitar maestro Janardan Mitta. A resident of T Nagar in Chennai, he has imbibed Tamil culture so much that he has been running a sabha called Vishwa Kala Sangama from 2000.
“As I had spent over 50 years in the film industry, I decided to give some more time for classical music,” he recalls. “So, for the past 18 years, I have been bringing north Indian musicians to perform here.”
Janardan feels that this must have awakened interest in Hindustani music among Chennaiites in a small way.
The sitarist who has composed music for several films, has performed across the globe and worked along with talented musicians in a career spanning 60 years.
Janardan learned from legendary composer Pandit Ravi Shankar. He pursued his love for the art even while he was studying engineering. He is famous for performing Hindustani music for the first time at the Thyagaraja Aradhana in Tiruvaiyaru way back in 1976.
Janardan also performed at the UN headquarters in 1971.
He has received various honours over the years. Recently, he bagged the lifetime achievement award in Hyderabad 29 November in the presence of several acclaimed artistes like S P Balasubrahmanyam, S Janaki, P Susheela.
Speaking to News Today, Janardan says he has a tight schedule for this year’s Margazhi season as he is performing in various sabhas across Chennai. “I will also be attending some good programmes,” he smiles.
He observed that there are many sabhas and many events take place at the same time. “It becomes very difficult to choose,” says Janardan. “I also feel that the number of audiences is going down a bit. Nevertheless, I am happy to see that there are many Hindustani music programmes taking place.”
He also shares his thoughts on how technology has evolved over the years. “I use Skype to teach some of my students,” he says. “I have a student based in Hyderabad. With Skype, I am able to watch her perform and correct her when she makes mistakes.”
“I never compromise on quality,” he adds.
Janardan feels that nowadays, youngsters are quite energetic to learn new things and are very intelligent. He says aspiring artistes should make some commitment if they wish to pursue a career in music. “They should also remember that nothing lasts forever in life,” says Janardan cryptically.