MUMBAI: Renowned classical flautist Pt Ronu Majumdar revealed his new album ‘Breathless Flute’ under the World Wide Records on 28 January 2010. The album was launched by jazz pianist Louis Banks, Jackie Shroff, composer Shantanu Moitra and filmmaker Viveck Vaswani
Breathless Flute can be considered as one of the most contemporary offering by the classical musician till date. Is that to break the conventional norms of classical music?
Majumdar told radioandmusic.com, “I can’t deny the younger generation – they are all into trendy sound. I thought, what am I doing? What is my duty? I should not let them forget the Bansuri. So I have reworked some of the folk melodies with a modern sound designer.”
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Breathles Flute has an interesting pan of genres and Pt. Ronu Majumdar has also given a tribute to pop icon Michael Jackson by playing Michael Jackson’s popular hit ‘We are the World’ Interestingly, Majumdar had recorded the song long before the pop star passed away. “I love Michael Jackson, and when we were recording this track, we were in tears – he sings from the belly,” recalled the ace flautist who has worked with the likes of Pt. Ravi Shankar, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Pt. Jasraj and Kishori Amonkar. He was also nominated for a Grammy with Bela Fleck for his album Tabula Rasa in 1996
This new album is arranged by Jatin Sharma, who had also worked earlier with DJ Nasha to remix one of Pt. Ronu Majumdar’s popular theme pieces from the Jackie Shroff starrer Hero. “One of my pieces that DJ Nasha has remixed was a record seller, we thought why not make a whole album in which we’ll rework on some of the popular folk tunes,” Majumdar said. Apparently, the flute theme from Hero is one of the widely recognized theme songs that bollywood has ever produced
In this album the ace musician also gives a taste of his virtuosity, and how? “There is a composition that I have played in the album in which I hardly take any breaths. I just steal breaths. I am very inspired by Kenny G – he has a longer breath than me, but I practice Yoga,” says the humble musician
While Pt. Ronu Majumdar has also composed for the Hollywood movie ‘Primary Colours’ and collaborated with top artists like George Harrison, Ry Cooder, John Hassels and Lary Coryell he is now looking forward to compose for bollywood. “I would like to give music to bollywood now, I have enjoyed playing with these masters, but I would also like to
give my melodies to bollywood. Our’s is a very rich tradition, and our folk music has a song for every occasion. In hollywood, its just about soundtrack,” says the flautist adding that there is more scope in Bollywood when it comes to composing
For those interested in the album, the two CD pack is available for Rs 495/-
