How Covid playing a different tune for musicians

Having performed the world over with the greatest names in classical music, especially Pandit Ravi Shankar, with whom he played for over a decade, popular Indian classical tabla player Bickram Ghosh, son of Pandit Shankar Ghosh, made a name for himself in the world of music and film. Known globally for his dexterity on the tabla and also for being one of the pioneers of an experimental fusion music, he has scored for more than 40 feature films, one of which got him an Oscar nomination. He played on four albums that were nominated for Grammies including George Harrison's Brainwashed. He played on 'Full Circle' with Pandit Ravi Shankar and that won Ravi Shankar Ji a Grammy. He plays on stage with equal elan.

The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown of many countries has meant the temporary closure of many of the world's music venues and the cessation of live performances in the presence of audiences. There are obvious economic ramifications to such a situation, particularly in less mainstream genres in which artists depend much more on concert revenue for their income. Speaking to Bizz Buzz exclusively, Bickram Ghosh, shares his experience of staying active even during the lockdown and pandemic and shares his thoughts or the survival mantra during these challenging times

How badly has live performing industry been affected in the last one year in terms of revenue, thanks to the global pandemic?

The live performing industry has definitely been badly affected because of the pandemic situation. There have been hardly any live shows worldwide – in any genre, any field…everything is just quite dismal now. On a personal note, I have done a fair amount of shows, digitally – as in abroad and couple of home shows. I did a show for an American company called Play Good Music and for other companies. But for Play Good Music, I did around 15 shows, which were all recorded in all large auditoriums - of course without audience, sometimes in Chroma, using high-end equipment, shooting like in normal auditoriums, without an audience. When the lockdown situation and pandemic situation was relaxed a bit during the last year, I did couple of shows with my band Rhythmscape primarily and did some classical concerts also, which were pretty well attended and encouraging, pretty much full house everywhere. But it was difficult for the audience to put on masks and maintain protocols and all that. Now again it's all locked down. So, yes the live performing industry has definitely been badly affected and we are all waiting for things to open up.

Do you see corporate patronage coming back soon to support music industry? Corporate patronage coming back?

Well, once everything opens up and gets normalised, of course this corporate patronage will come back. Because entertainment is a hugely important part of our lives. So of course, people are waiting to watch live shows, I mean, if you look at just the stuff that I streamed on my own social media, they are so incredibly seen and in high numbers. I mean, I just share a one-minute small clip three days back and it has got almost three lakh views which is just on Facebook.

What are the alternate modes of earning that live performers have discovered in this pandemic phase?

Alternate modes of earning…well people are of course exploring the digital medium, which has definitely helped lot of people to survive not just through concert, but through teaching as well. On my part, I have done several shows online over the last year and besides, I am continuing to work in my studio, scrolling for some films. I have done such albums amongst which Ishq, of course….Ishq with Hariharan ji, all done during the pandemic and even the video was shot during the pandemic.

I scored for a film, a Hindi film, Sanjay Dutt's film - Torbaaz, directed by Girish Malik, which was released on Netflix and did well. So that's what I did. Besides, I did some Bengali films, which are still continuing, for instance, Golondaaz, directed by Dhrubo Banerjee, with whom I did some big hits like Guptodhoner Sandhane and Durgeshgorer Guptadha, then a gorgeous film- Abhijatrik, which has been doing well across film festivals circles, this is the fourth part of Apu's trilogy, which Shubhrojit Mitra has directed……all these have continued and are continuing for me, personally. I have also been doing my classes for my academy - Bickram Ghosh Academy of Performing Arts- online.

How much positive impact do you see music has had during the lockdown on the mental health of people?

I have been told by many people that it is only music which has helped them move through this lockdown. They have of course watched a lot of films on the OTT platforms. But music has played a very healing role and the every time I shared something, the response was overwhelming. The albums that I did last year, Ishq and of course the singularly, Genda Phool…my version of it, and people have really loved the work and they really encouraged me to work more. They have written to me extensively that music has really helped them retain the positivity, which is very important.

After the stupendous success of Ishq, what are the next set of plans commercially for you?

Well, I am very happy and grateful the Ishq has done so well and has been held it across different strata of people. Young, old aged people, middle aged people- everybody love it. Film industry people, music industry people in this country- all loved it. So yes, I am very very happy. It has got millions of views on Youtube and thanks to the Sufiscore, the company which launched it. Now, I am almost ready with a puja album, Durga puja album, a bilingual one…first it will be released in Bangla and then in Hindi.

This is for the new company called Art Ventures and it is spearheaded by Partha Pratim Banerjee and I am the creative director of that company. So under this, we are releasing this album, not yet titled. So, the puja album stars lot of top singers like Amit Kumar ji, Shaan, Zubeen Garg and Sona Mohapatra, Mahalaxmi Iyer and so several people are on that album. Hariharanji is of course there with Kaushiki Chakraborty. This album will be released in Hindi, I think, towards the end of the year. That's on the cards. Abhijatrik, the film that I just spoke about - the music release of Abhijatrik is on the cards, then there are music scores for Golodaaz, Arindam Sil's Shabar sequel, Arindam Sil's Mayakumari, which will be released. Besides, I am also working on the next album from Rhythmscape.