Renowned 26-year-old sitar player Rishab Rikhiram Sharma blends classical and modern music. Trained under Ravi Shankar, he performs globally, including at the White House. Known for his mehendi-adorned hands, he also creates music for mental health.
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00:00Right then. Good afternoon everyone. Our session is called A Sitar is Born and on the face
00:08of it, it does seem like a very creative, innovative way of introducing our session
00:12because it's got the two words that we'll be discussing today, a star and the sitar.
00:18But deep down, it also has another meaning which we'll try and wrestle with that big
00:22question. It's the question between the art and the artist. Is it the artist that makes
00:28the art or is it the art that defines the artist? That is something that we're going
00:32to dwell on. But before we wrestle with that question, let me introduce the guest this
00:37afternoon. Rishabh Sharma is next to me. He started playing the sitar at a tender age
00:44of 10. From there on, went on to become the youngest disciple of the legendary Ravi Shankarji.
00:52And since then, everything that he does with the sitar goes viral and it doesn't go viral
00:57because of his darn good looks. It goes viral because of the magic in his hands. His concept
01:06of sitar for mental health is a global rage. But most importantly, I think the one thing
01:14that really defines Rishabh is the fact that at such a young age, he's just 26, he's thrown
01:21a question to the music world that, is it the sitar that has popularized Rishabh or
01:28is Rishabh popularizing the sitar? So let's have a big round of applause for Rishabh Rikiram
01:34Sharma. I mean, I had a few questions that I thought of starting with, but then while
01:42I was coming here in the guest lounge, I must tell you, I can't tell you the number of women
01:46that have come up to me and said that, why is it that you get to do this session? It
01:51should have been us. So I thought for all those women who came and asked me, well, you
01:55know, eat your heart out, ladies. Okay, let's start with it. You know, looking at you, you
02:01look like a rock star. Do you feel like one too? Do you feel like a rock star? Do you
02:07get mobbed?
02:08I don't know how to answer that, but I think it's all in the headspace. You know, I, if
02:18I start thinking that I'm a rock star, then I'll stop becoming one. So it's always good
02:23to just keep your head down and do good work and then universe will provide.
02:28But you do get mobbed.
02:29Yeah, I do get mobbed.
02:30You have girls swooning over you.
02:31Yeah, not gonna lie, I do get mobbed.
02:33Okay, let's try and answer that question. How do you answer that question, which I said
02:37that the music world is grappling with? Has the sitar made Rishabh popular or is Rishabh
02:44popularizing the sitar? And I'm very well aware that, you know, the first exponent of
02:48this instrument, there have been many greats before this, of course, like your guru as
02:52well. But you know, the Western world has taken to it. So how do you look at which comes
02:58first?
03:00I think, I think it's vice versa. Like there's both. I used to play the guitar and move to
03:10the sitar, you know, and I was just so drawn by the sound of it. The natural reverberation
03:18of the instrument, like, we have six top strings, but we have 13 sympathetic strings,
03:22which are tuned to a particular raag. So if you play one note, there are four other strings
03:27that resonate along with it. So that just whole idea was so intriguing to me, even though
03:33these instruments were around, because my dad, you know, makes these wonderful instruments.
03:39I was naturally drawn to it. And funnily enough, my parents didn't, you know, even put me into
03:46sitar, it just like happened organically. Actually, they would actually not let me come
03:52in the room where my brother used to learn sitar. So they were more keen on teaching
03:56my brother, but and I wasn't allowed in that room. So I think like when someone tells you
04:01not to do something, you want to do it even more. So I think they were playing some reverse
04:06psychology on me, I guess, which worked out. And, and yeah, I know, being a disciple of
04:13Pandit Ravi Shankarji, and coming from a family of musical instrument makers who represent
04:17these instruments worldwide, I have just been very true to ambassadoring the music in the
04:24right manner, and not budging. Like, I also said, I even said no to the White House, because
04:31they didn't have a proper stage for me to perform.
04:33You said no to the White House, but you performed there.
04:35Exactly. So initially, I said no, you know, because they wanted me to perform while the
04:39guests were coming in. And I was like, you know, that's not how our music is presented.
04:43And it's not their fault, either, because they don't, they didn't know how to present
04:46this music. There was there was the first ever Diwali at the White House. And so I tried
04:51to explain them and they were very welcoming. And they understood like where I was coming
04:56from. And me being a disciple of Ravi Shankar, I had to put my foot down and be like, you
05:01know, this is how we presented. And then at the end, I got the, you know, headline slot
05:08right before the president's speech. And I'm so grateful. And it was like a groundbreaking
05:13thing for especially my journey with music.
05:17Yes, I have. I have seen those visuals. You performing there. Joe Biden was the president.
05:21Correct. Yeah. Sorry, you were saying something.
05:24No, please go ahead.
05:26Lots of questions to ask Rishabh here. But before that, you know, I'll have him perform.
05:31There will be a few moments during our discussion where Rishabh will perform for us. And I know
05:36one thing that you do very well is, you know, that mix of classical as well as Western.
05:44So whichever place you perform, I see you bring a touch there. I saw a performance in
05:48Kolkata. You had Piku, the film you played there. When you're in the Western world, you're
05:53playing Game of Thrones. You're playing Harry Potter. Now you're in Delhi. Right. What would
05:58you want to play?
06:00So while we were coming down the lift, my mom is here. Hi mom.
06:05Now I know, that's where you get your good looks from.
06:07Yeah, yeah. Hundred percent. So she was saying, you know, tomorrow's Women's Day. So you should
06:12play something for the women. And so I want to play this song called Ori Chirayya to start
06:17off with. And then we'll see how it goes.
06:19Beautiful song.
06:35Ori Chirayya
07:05Ori Chirayya
07:35Beautiful, beautiful. You know, that's the contradiction that I see. Here is a young
07:5326 year old who's playing a classical instrument, a lot of panache with a lot of brilliance.
07:59And yet I also see a Rishabh who's got diamond stud earrings. I see him. He's got diamond
08:05in his teeth. Yeah, is that correct?
08:08So there's a bit of rapper in you as well. There is a bit of a rock star in you as well.
08:13Is that what you grew up? Because you're an urban boy. You went to a South Delhi school.
08:17So is there a rapper or a rock star in you?
08:22I would say so because I don't try to preserve that typical Indian classical image. And,
08:32and I just try to be myself. And also like my music is a reflection of who I am as a
08:36person. I listen to, you know, rap music, hip hop.
08:40Give us a few artists.
08:42I like, you know, Kanye, Playboi Carti. And I mean, it's very polarised. If you go through
08:48my Spotify likes, you'll just like pull your hair out. But I listen to everything. So I've
08:55never had a like a filter, even though like my gurus when I was growing up, they were
08:59like, you know, just listen to classical music, just, you know, have a vision like where you
09:03what do you want to do with the instrument, but I being a music producer.
09:08As my sitar training was going on, I was also training how to produce music. I was very
09:12intrigued on how these, you know, songs are produced and composed and all of that, you
09:20know, what goes behind in the studio. So I started working on FL Studio, I moved to Ableton.
09:27And then I learned Pro Tools, you know, recording big bands, string quartets, whole gamelan
09:35orchestras, jazz bands when I was in college. So I never had that filter that I'm just
09:41going to listen to classical music or just follow the typical culture. I don't, I didn't
09:46like how they dress. I was like, I want to, I'm going to start a fashion line where I'm
09:51going to just make cool clothes for, you know, classical musicians to wear. And that's like
09:56a, you know, short, short term goal of mine. But every bit everything with, you know, the
10:01mehendi on my hands with the whatever I wear, I just try to add a little bit of myself in
10:07it.
10:08That's incredible, actually. Great idea to have clothes for classical musicians. Maybe
10:12a collaboration can happen here itself in the room. Maybe, maybe a collaboration with
10:17Kanye West in the in the future. But talk to us about that. You don't always dress like
10:21a classical musician. I've seen your videos. You know, you've got a nice jazzy jacket on
10:26occasions that you're wearing the mehendi on your hand. Tell us a bit about that. Is
10:30it also part of this generation because you're catering to a generation that measures success
10:36not by the quality of music all the time, but because of how viral it gets. So is it
10:40all part of the packaging?
10:42See, mehendi wasn't like, I wasn't thinking of breaking a stereotype when I was doing
10:48mehendi. My whole thing about the mehendi was that mehendi as in henna, for those of
10:55y'all who don't know. I have always thought how do I, how do I, you know, enhance the
11:02experience for other people of my playing. And often my hands are in the focus. So I
11:08was like, you know, what can we do? You know, can we design some cool gloves? Or I can have
11:12like a tattoo, but I don't like the permanence of the tattoos. So I was like researching
11:18on different things which are not harmful for you on your skin. And, you know, first
11:23I landed up on Jaguar juice, which is like a black ink, but it stains everywhere. So
11:28I got a little annoyed when I got it done a couple of times. And then I was just like
11:35also on the edge, should I do mehendi or not? Because, you know, you know, there is a stereotype,
11:39you know, only women wear mehendi and men, it's not like a masculine thing. But I was
11:43like, screw it, let's just do it. And you know, mehendi has so many health benefits
11:48also, you know, it's good for your skin. And it looks cool if you can design it a certain
11:52way. Then I sat down with some designers and designed, you know, my signature tattoo, but
11:57I also change it up for every show. So I just love the idea that before every show,
12:02you can do a different design. And yeah, just look cool on stage.
12:07Yeah, for those of you haven't seen do check out his videos, great designs, mehendi designs
12:11that he has on his hands, when he's performing. You know, I spoke to you about collaborations.
12:17Here's your chance here on a platform like the India Today Conclave for that Kanye West
12:21collaboration to happen. Give us a western tune on the sitar. I mean, you want to pick
12:28a rock J for anything that you want to pick. Okay, let me let me give it a shot.
12:40Can I have a little more gain on the sitar? And I want everyone to clap along if they
12:45can to this tune.
14:15Wow, this deserves a round of applause. One of the most incredible pieces of music that
14:20I've just heard live. Thank you very much for that, Rishabh. You know, my impression
14:26of classical musicians used to be based on films that we see. Yeah. Disciple is one film.
14:31I don't know if you've seen it. Kala was another film that just came. So it talks about, you
14:38know, tapasya, working really hard, a serious person, working towards that one goal. You
14:44shatter that that image, but is classical music like that?
14:48You know, I'm not the best person to comment on this, because even though I'm known by
14:54the sitar, but I wear many hats, you know, I produce my own music, I record, I engineer.
15:02I also compose whatever I've released, I've produced it, composed, sang on it also. So
15:08my time is divided between sitar production, compositions. And I'm recently also have been
15:14for the past two years designing outfits. So whatever I wear is I collaborate with different
15:19designers and, you know, come up with, you know, interesting designs. So I like to do
15:24a little bit of everything like jacks of all and master and none. You are a master. So
15:30but definitely, you know, when we were learning, especially from Guruji, we are talking about
15:35six hours of playing every day. So I still remember my parents used to, you know, get
15:39me from school during halftime. And it was a whole process to get your kid out of the
15:45school. And they would go through that whole process every day, drop me to Guruji. And
15:50with Guruji, we would sit for three hours. And this is a 90 year old man sitting with
15:55us for like, almost three hours, I would have lunch with him, go back to the store where
16:00we make these wonderful instruments in gold market. And then I would go back to Ravi Shankar
16:05Center again and review all the material that Guruji has taught that day with, you know,
16:10one of his senior disciples. So that was like a typical day in my life when I was growing
16:15up. And, you know, just focusing on learning when Guruji was around. So definitely, there's
16:22a lot of effort that goes into it. And nowadays, it's like, you know, whenever I get time,
16:26I would sit for like four or five hours, and sometimes I don't get to play. So, but
16:32you know, I averaged it out, whatever I can get like two or three hours of playing every
16:37single day.
16:38We're running out of time. But I will squeeze in a couple of questions. One, the bigger
16:43question, as you said, probably you're not the right guy. But you've had training in
16:46classical music.
16:47Correct. Yeah.
16:48You trained under the legendary Ravi Shankarji. What do you make of the opinion by the classical
16:53music world? Do they frown upon somebody who can, you know, blend both worlds of modern
17:01music and that? Does that, if there is criticism, does that bother you? Or do you want to charter
17:05your own path?
17:07It does bother me a little bit, because if you come to my show…
17:12Do you get the criticism?
17:13Yes, definitely. You know, because purists always will have a problem with a classical
17:19musicians doing non-classical music. But I've sort of made my peace with it. But my music
17:25is very deeply rooted in tradition. And if you come to a sitar for mental health show,
17:30the first half is completely classical. And now we are trying to bring back Surbahar,
17:35which is, you know, even the father of the sitar. So this is still like a smaller version
17:40of the sitar that my dad has created. It's called a studio sitar, which some people call
17:44it sitar, and, you know, other electronic sitar. But this is like our patented design.
17:51We are trying to bring back Surbahar, which is, I would say, thrice the size of this instrument,
17:57and which is basically turning into a dinosaur, because people aren't playing it anymore.
18:01So first half is completely classical. Second half is when we experiment and show the application
18:06of the sitar and how versatile it is to marry different genres. And if someone gets offended
18:12in that, I don't know what to say. But at the end of the day, as long as the culture
18:17is moving forward, kids are getting inspired and picking up a sitar rather than a guitar.
18:22I think that's a win for us.
18:24Great. Since you talk about sitar for mental health, I know that you have plenty of shows,
18:30even abroad. I've seen some of those clips. I want you to tell us what is the best compliment
18:35you may have gotten from someone who may be dealing with mental health issues. They've
18:40narrated a story or have told you that you've really made a difference by those session
18:44of yours.
18:45I've received lots of emails, DMs, saying how, you know, my music has been healing for
18:52them. They've lost their mother, grandfather, father. But I will tell you like a very fun
18:59story that happened at one of my shows. It was in Bangalore, and I finished the show,
19:08packed up everything. But there was like this one couple, there was a guy and a girl who
19:12wouldn't leave without meeting me. And they waited at least like an hour and a half after
19:17the show was done to just come say hi to me. And I was like, okay, who are these people?
19:23Let's meet them, you know, because they won't leave. And when I spoke to them, so they introduced
19:30themselves, and they were like, you know, Rishabh, you came to Bangalore last year,
19:33and then you did a little exercise. So at my shows, during halftime, we do a little
19:37exercise where I would ask to ask a stranger some three deep and very thoughtful questions
19:47like what do you regret? Like, what are you grateful for? You know, questions like these
19:50that really open you up and give you space to talk. So we create that safe space where
19:56people can be vulnerable and talk about, you know, their struggles or something that they
20:01are proud of. So they must have done that exercise. And, you know, things hit it off,
20:08they went on a date. And they came to tell me that, you know, because of you, we met
20:12and now we're getting married. So Satha for Mental Health is also acting like a matchmaking
20:18event.
20:19Siddharth Gupta Yeah, it did. I would have loved to have spoken
20:25to you, but we're completely out of time. All I can tell you on behalf of everyone that
20:29is here, keep rocking, keep inspiring people. And thank you so much. There's a connection
20:34by the way, between Rishabh's family and India Today. You're at the Conclave, but I believe
20:39that at one time your grandfather was also featured in the magazine. So I've come to
20:44full circle.
20:45Rishabh So three generations, India Today has covered
20:47of my family. And actually, my dad was featured for this very instrument because he made this
20:52for Pandit Ravi Shankar and which allowed him to play for, you know, six more years
20:58because he made like a smaller version of a sitar so he could play because of his frozen
21:03shoulder. So shout out to my dad, Sanjay Rikhiram. And I hope my children also get interviewed
21:09by you.
21:10Siddharth I hope I continue to work till then. But thank
21:13you very much.