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Lezima Gomes
Doha
Annada Prasanna Pattanaik, one of India's foremost flautists of North Indian style (Hindustani gharana), recently visited the IAID institute, where he enthralled the audience with his lilting melodies.
Pattanaik left the audience in awe with an hour-long performance that included classical music as well as rhythmic phrases, some his own compositions, others borrowed from evergreen Bollywood tunes. The ease with which he played and showcased his skills was actually a demonstration of a mastery honed over years and hours of practice.
Born into a musically inclined family, he recalled that as a toddler, he was presented with a bamboo flute as a toy by his mother. And the very next day after receiving the gift, he played Chal chal chal mere haathi from the Rajesh Khanna hit Haathi Mere Saathi. Since then, the flute has continued to play an integral role in his life. As a child, he staged his first solo stage performance when he was just seven.
"Luckily for me, it was noticed, and from then on, I grew up with the flute. If my father took me to the market with him, he would sit me down in one place, and I would be playing the flute till he finished shopping and was ready to take me home."
Pattanaik, is largely, a self-taught musician. Growing up, he experimented with different aspects of flute-playing. It was only around the time of his graduation with a Bachelor's in Commerce that he took a few lessons from M M Patnaik, who taught music at a university in Bhubaneswar, where he learned the fundamentals of ragas. Later, he learned the finer aspects of ragas, improvisation and creativity under the guidance of legendary Indian flautist late Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. He said,"Training under Pandit Chaurasia will always be one of the fondest memories of my musical journey."
He recalls the time when Chaurasia was just stepping back from Bollywood and would only agree to recordings when he felt his music was essential."I trained under with him for a year, for four hours every day. We would begin at 10 in the morning and go on till 2 in the afternoon. He would play a raga for 15 to 20 minutes, and then would ask me to play. If I played something different, with my own improvisation, he would feel happy."
With enough knowledge to back him, Pattanaik went on to pursue the Sangeet Visharada Purna - equivalent to a Bachelor's Degree in Music and then passed with a distinction from Pracheen Kala Kendra, Chandigarh, India."Usually people get a degree to become professional musicians. For me it was the opposite. I learned and became famous before I took a degree."
Pattanaik's music has taken him to different countries across the world, representing India at many cultural meets, playing solo concerts, and presiding over workshops on Indian music in the USA, Denmark, Italy, Holland, Germany, Belgium, to name just a few.
Speaking about his visit to Qatar and what he felt about the audience, which was a mixed crowd, he said,"I tried to create an hour-long programme that would appeal to all and I was happy to see the expressions on people's faces. They probably never realised that a small instrument like a flute could create such a range of melodies."
Pattanaik, who also teaches the flute, said it is probably one of the most challenging instruments to master. He said"When you look at the flute it seems like a simple instrument. But unlike other instruments you can't just press a key or string and produce a sound. It is quite challenging to produce a sound. What makes it more difficult is that one also has to master breathing techniques which are essential for learning the flute."
Over the years, Pattanaik has experimented with various types of flutes but he says his favourite will always be the Indian flute because of its simplicity and he feels there is a natural production of notes with it.
Pattanaik played the flute for Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Oriya, Bengali, Assamese and Tulu numbers, with Kannada topping the list. Currently, Pattanaik is working on a project called 'Unforgettable series' where he is recreating songs from many regional languages including Hindi.
He said that he created music for himself,"It doesn't matter whether people appreciate my compositions or not. I think it's something I have to do for a sense of fulfilment," he said. He wakes up each morning hoping to create a new tune."On most days, I am able to create something new, but on days that I can't create, I feel uneasy and unfulfilled."
Speaking about what inspires him he said,"Creativity in music is a never-ending story. I allow music to come through me. While listening to my music, if somewhere it touches your heart, I am fulfilled... more than me, music is fulfilled."
Advising students who want to learn the instrument, he said,"Mastering the flute can take years of learning and practice, so don't give up, and don't restrict yourself to one type of music. The flute has the ability to produce different sounds and rhythms. Try and explore all of them."
