Piano, ghatam, tabla - three to tango for Bollywood music

Bollywood music composers have long been fascinated by piano music. But now a Franco American composer is combining piano with ghatam and tabla to make what she calls "niche new age music for Hindi films".

"In the Hindi movies, there is a strong attraction for Piano... Whether it is the old movies
of the '60s or the recent classics like Parineeta. A R Rahman has used it very beautifully in Yuva... All this shows that there is lot of scope for experimentation with the piano," says Ariane Gray Hubert, a Franco-American concernt painist, singer and composer.

Hubert, who recently gave a live Piano concert here titled "Piano Rag(a) Time" accompanied by Ustad Akram Khan on Tabla and S.Karthick on Ghatam, feels such experimentation can produce the new age music for Hindi movies.

Using Sanskrit and vedic chants that are inspired by Raag Kafi and Bhiravi blended in a modern way, Hubert says "my music has strong classical roots with western style." Justifying her blending of the various instruments, Hubert, who speaks Hindi, says "
a different kind of music in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Black" could appeal to both Indian
and international audiences."

Her blending of western and Indian sacred music appears in the compositions in her album "Beyond Classical World(s)". In the album, she has also evolved a new vocal rap technique which joins raga compositions like "Tamil Nadu" and "Khilona... Tillana" for piano, voice and south Indian percussions.

"Piano is western in origin and has for long been used for comedy music in Hollywood films and in French melodies. This makes me realise that combining it with Indian classical instruments like ghatam and table can create music which will gel very well with live stories in Bollywood movies," says Hubert, who is already talking to various music directors.

Press Trust India (April 2006)

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