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Rahul was drawn to this "stream of
consciousness" about six years ago when he did a course on Zen at
the Osho Ashram in Pune. "I liked the complete philosophy," he
narrates. "It is cosmic, futuristic and profound. Zen tells you
that the root of all problems is the human mind. We need to move to the
centre of our being and that is when the mind disappears."
Significantly, Rahul tells
us how to make the "mind disappear" through the eight
inspirational tracks of his album, which are based on the eight steps of
meditation practised by ancient Zen gurus. The idea is to clearly
reach a state of "inner quiet and peace" by listening to the
music.
"The first piece is
titled Gibberish where you write all your thoughts on a piece of
paper and empty your mind," explains Rahul. "Then you have
compositions named Let Go where you detach yourself from material
things, No Mind which is like an out-of-body experience, Psychedelia,
which is a deeper state of meditation and the concluding piece, Back
to Life, which marks the rebirth of the soul."
All eight pieces play
continuously so that there is no interruption in the meditation process.
"This is done deliberately in order to avoid a break in the
consciousness as one moves up through each meditative stage. At the end,
you experience peace, relief and relaxation. That’s the aim of Zen —
happiness."
Rahul, however, insists
that it not a spiritual or meditative album: "The music is simple
and meant to appeal to anybody who can feel music. It is unpretentious.
If a common man walks into a music shop and listens to the album,I am
sure he will buy it. It’s new-age character should appeal to the new
generation."
Rahul claims that he
started experimenting with music ever since he started composing as a
13-year-old. Over the years, he was produced 12 solo albums, besides a
number of duets with other musicians and countless recordings as an
accompanist to his famous father.
There was also a phase
when he was fascinated with so-called Indo-western fusion music. "I
played with the band Shakti, which is known for its rocking, hi-energy
music. Then I did an album with the renowned pianist Richard Clayderman,
which got a good response in India. Now it has been released in the USA
and there too, it has aroused a lot of curiosity."
There was yet another
phase when he found himself composing for Hindi films, the latest being
Kunal Kohli’s Mujhse Dosti Karoge. The film did not do well at
the box-office, but its songs — particularly Jaane dil mein kab se
hai tu are being played on all the FM channels these days.
"Recently, Yash
Chopra offered me his next film, Hum Tum which is again being
directed by Kunal Kohli. But I could not take it up because I am touring
for my concerts and working on my album. There’s the Edinburgh Music
Festival and Teheran Santoor Festival also coming up. After that, I’d
be heading to the USA where I have nine concerts lined up." — MF
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