Tradition, shaken & stirred

Two percussion greats—Bickram Ghosh and Taufiq Qureshi—come together for an album that blends the classical with the contemporary

- BY POOJA BIRAIA

They say only magicians and musicians can levitate-one with their bodies, the other with their souls.

But when two of India's most gifted Pied Pipers come together, their music becomes magic, elevating you to a realm of beauty and wonder.

Percussionists Bickram Ghosh and Taufiq Qureshi believe that there should be something organic, even inevitable, about creating music. There should be a “bond, a dialogue and a story told through rhythm”, they say. That story now has a name—RamTa—their first collaborative album. They will perform it at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) on September 13.

The performance is not just about music. It is the culmination of a friendship that stretches across generations. “Bickram da and I have known each other for many years now,” says Qureshi. “His father Shankar ji and my father were very close. So this is not just a professional collaboration. It’s almost like two families coming together.”

The duo has performed together in various countries, concerts and festivals. “We had been collaborating for a while and every time we met, we would plan to do something together,” says Qureshi. “One day, when I was in Kolkata for a concert, Bickram da said, ‘We always talk, but don’t do anything’. So I suggested we start right then. I was at the studio, so I laid down some ideas. He added his own, and over two days we worked on our music. Later, I took the files back to Mumbai and [fine-tuned them]. And that’s how RamTa was born.” According to Ghosh, it is an album born out of their shared love for rhythm, melody and “the sheer joy of making music together”.