Hailing from the Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana, Ashwini started learning music when she was very young and it has been a smooth ride for her. “I was born in a family where music was seeped into the roots. As a kid, I learned music and did daily riyaaz.“ But it was only later in life, when she did her PhD in Biochemistry, that Ashwini realised she wanted to take up music full-time. “I learned music while I was doing PhD. It was manageable to a certain point, but after that, I realised I had to take a call on what I want to do with my life." “I had to do something full-time. So, in 1990, I decided to give myself a test and take a break from science for one year to see if I was happy doing music. It's been 24 years since then, and that one year is still not over," she laughs.
Ashwini has been going strong. Like every artist draws inspiration from somewhere, for Ashwini it is her tanpura. “My tanpura is my inspiration. It gives a continuous drone that suggests so many things to me. It talks to me and I go with the flow."
A supporter for change that has come into classical music in all these years, Ashwini feels that it has a better reach now, thanks to the Internet. “Earlier, people had to go to concerts to listen to music, but now, everything is just a click away . The Internet has played a major role in the prachaar and prasaar of music in general, and it is a phenomenal thing. These days, there's a lot of music out there and since people are open to listening to different kinds of music, there are more takers for classical music too," she says.
Performing in concerts for more than two decades, have the audiences too undergone a change? “Of course," she says with a smile. “Few years ago, one would find a lot of connoisseurs in the audience, who already knew the music. But now, more and more young people come for it just because they are plainly curious and interested in the music. They come with an open mind."
Though you don't have to know it to enjoy it, Ashwini believes that classical music is still serious business compared to other forms. “Unlike popular music where you relate through beats, classical music requires concentration on the part of the audience. First, it appeals to the ears, then to the intellect and then to your soul. So, unless audiences have their antennas up, they won't be able to enjoy it to the fullest," she explains.
After performing in the country and abroad, Ashwini feels Europeans are the best audience when it comes to classical music. “If I perform in Europe, 95% of the audience is European. They are the best audience in the world. Language is not a barrier for them. They always do their homework and come."
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Picking an anecdote from a performance at the Salzburg Music Festival, she says, “My concert was pitched for 5 am and I was like, `Who will come to listen to it?'. But to my surprise, it was houseful and out of more than 300 people, only three were Indians. It was overwhelming."
Ashwini, who comes to Hyderabad once or twice every year, is also happy about how the music scene in the city is growing. She says, “Hyderabad has a strong connect with Carnatic music, so people here are cultured and used to going to concerts and listening to music. They know the difference between good and bad. However, for Hindustani music, it has started coming up as a centre only in the last few years."
Though a lot has changed for music in all these years, Ashwini feels more needs to be done. “We have to look beyond professionalism in the music and focus on the long-lasting effect it has. I feel there's no other medium that is as powerful as music for the expression of oneself. Inside a framework of rules and regulation, there's immense room for experimentation and we have to tap all that," she signs off.
Ashwini Bhide Deshpande music concert