Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Subhasis Sabyasachi and his troupe from New Delhi promote classical music through bamboo-made musical instruments. The troupe, called Bamboo Melody, is the first and only musical group in India, which has been playing classical music using eco-friendly musical instruments for around 12 years.
Sabyasachi, who heads the group and teaches tabla at Delhi University, said, “Traditionally, teak, rosewood, red cedar and mahogany wood are used for making musical instruments. That means cutting down trees, which take years to mature. That is very harmful for earth’s future. But bamboo is fast-growing grass, which can be used as replacement for wood in musical instruments.”
Bamboo Melody has tabla, sitar, dholak, flute, violin and xylophone made from bamboo. Sabyasachi was inspired to experiment with bamboo musical instruments by his guru Brojan Biswas from Kolkata, who had designed a bamboo xylophone, which he called Brojo Tarang. “My guruji passed away in 2007. I promised him to take his mission forward,” Sabyasachi told Free Press.
The group was in the city on Saturday to perform at the ongoing Bhopal Literature & Art Festival at Bharat Bhavan. “Our group has eight members. Six of us are here today. This is our first concert in Bhopal,” he said. The group included Lavanya Kumar, a staffer at Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, who was on tabla, Subham Sarkar on violin, Jerome Calyster on flute, Sunny Kumar Saxena on sitar and Sabyasachi on xylophone.
“We did not choose folk, film or light music to promote bamboo instruments. We chose classical music - one of the highest arts in India. It was a challenge and we have successfully met it,” said Sabyasachi. Last year, the group performed at India International Centre in New Delhi, West Zone Cultural Centre in Udaipur and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Delhi.
