“Music is my love, my life, my passion, and my profession.” – Ra0
Celebrated flautist Sameer Rao visited the LPU campus today and mesmerized the students through his soul stirring melodies at the densely packed Shrimati Shantidevi Mittal auditorium. A devoted disciple of the world famous Pandit Hari Parsad Chaurasia, and a much loved flautist of All India Radio (AIR), Rao has been honoured with many national and international awards for his talent. Rao was accompanied by famous Tabla player Adarsh Shinoy and the great musician Lakshmi Raga Rao.
When the trio arrived at LPU Campus, LPU Pro Chancellor Mrs Rashmi Mittal greeted them. Rao introduced the students to the beauty of classical indian music through a rendition of the Raag Madhuvanti, Marva, Miyan Kee Malhar, Durgaa, and Mishr to the accompaniment of the sitaar and the tabla.
Interacting with LPU students, Rao asked students to “keep on practicing hard on your subjects as we do “Riyaaz” in music, and also follow the great Indian tradition of Guru (teacher) and Shishya (Pupil) to be successful in life.” In this regard, he shared his experiences as a disciple of Pandit Chaurasia Jee. He also told students about classical, fusion, solo music and jugal-bandi. He spoke of his instrument of choice, the flute, with passion. He said that the flute is a natural musical instrument that needs no tuning and oozes natural emotions. He shared: “Music is my love, my life, my passion, and my profession. It is a simple language through which I express all those things which I can never express in words.”
When an LPU student from the program of Performing Arts, Shivangi asked Rao about the devotion of foreigners towards classical music, Rao expounded upon the differences between the two types of music. For him, Indian classical music has freedom to express emotions whereas western music is pre-determined and therefore restrictive to expression. But he upheld the oneness of all music and the freedom of choice by saying that just as it is “Rosogula” for someone and “Gulab Jamun” so it is with music too, some like indian classical and some prefer western music. He has himself performed with renowned international musicians of America, the UK, Norway, Australia, South Korea and many other countries.
