On a promising note

Vocalist Mahesh Kale is based in California, but visits India every other month, crisscrossing the country, giving concerts, teaching and recording for his show on Colors Marathi. An icon for the younger generation, it is a common sight to see Mahesh being mobbed after a concert in Maharashtra. In 2015, he received the National Film Award for his hit song in the Marathi movie ‘Katyar Kaljat Ghusli’, but as he looks forward to his December 4 concert in Delhi at the annual Parampara festival, he admits that he wants to sing more outside of Maharashtra.

How Mahesh arrived on the music scene makes for an interesting story. Despite having trained in classical music under Pt Jitendra Abhisheki for years, he had gone to the US for his Masters in engineering. “I was in my second year at the University of California when I had to fill in for a colleague who couldn’t make it to the class. It went so well that students started approaching me to teach them singing! It all happened so organically — two students catapulted into 10 and then 20. This was in 2004.” Today, Mahesh is a star in the US, a Maharashtrian who follows the North Indian classical repertoire.

Twenty years on, the 48-year-old gives all the leverage to teaching. “For me, teaching is very important. It’s like lighting a candle — it burns far longer than the time it takes to light it. I have divided my time into 20 per cent teaching and 80 per cent concerts. Whenever I go for a concert, I also try to conduct workshops. I have a brigade of students all over the world and I try to take them with me so that they get exposure. Of course, a bulk of my teaching is conducted online. Since I am a technology guy, I know how to use the medium,” smiles Mahesh, who has around 1,000 students in his school in the US.

His non-profit organisation, Indian Classical Music and Arts (ICMA) Foundation, also works towards spreading music. “I put a large share of my earnings into the institution where we financially support students and artists.”

Mahesh shares how once on his TV show, he met a young boy, Prahlad Jadhav. He had to move to Kolhapur, which brought his singing career to a halt. “His father was a watchman and could not afford to sustain him as a trainee singer. We inducted him into the ICMA scholarship scheme and today, he teaches at the Foundation!”

His own journey, even if seemingly easy, wasn’t a cakewalk. Riyaaz went alongside engineering. “I gave myself a year to succeed as a professional singer. All this while, my wife Purva was working. Ulhas Bopat, the santoor player, gave me my first concert in Chicago. After that, my career took off and I became a full-time singer in the US,” he shares. It was the movie ‘Katyar Kaljat Ghusli’, however, that propelled him to a different level. “I have so many youngsters following my music because they have been charmed into classical music by the film. The soundscape of a movie is, of course, bigger, but I don’t want kids to be disappointed by a live classical concert. For this reason, I increased the number of accompanists to mimic the soundscape of a film, even for a ‘khayal’. Obviously, ‘abhangas’ appeal easily, but I don’t want to be stereotyped as just a popular ‘abhanga’ singer.”

Despite all the success in the US and the stalwarts who have taken Indian music abroad, he feels our vocal music tradition hasn’t reached the western world the way instrumental music has. “I hope this changes. I feel good intentions always percolate. If one’s experience of music is intense, it translates into a personal connection, and I love that.” He also points out that teaching music in Indian universities is dominated by academicians, not performers. That should change. “When I die, I want to have enough of a body of work and students who can make a mark.”

Moving ahead, Mahesh wants to sing in Gujarati and Rajasthani. “I would love to sing on a cruise — embark on a journey of music for a few days! I would love to sing verses of Maharashtrian saints — Gyaneshwari, for example — to non-Maharashtrian audiences. I would love to curate concerts, too, as I feel that music presentations should not solely be in the hands of non-musical people. It leads to a skewed presentation!”