Thirty year-old Ratan Bharti’s story is real; it’s regular; so is his life, career and his aspirations.
Not many people know about slide guitars and the instrument itself has fresh history of only 50 years or so. Slide guitar is a style of playing the string instrument in which a glissando effect is produced by moving bottleneck or a similar device over the strings. The instrument heavily features in blues music.
Duane Allman, Sonny Landreth, and Ry Cooder are one of the popular slide suitarists. Ratan Bharati of Kolkata could soon join the list of legends.
Contestant on #LifeIsMusic, Ratan Bharati was not a child prodigy. He started playing the instrument some 20 odd years ago. He did not receive any professional training. In his simple words, 'I didn’t know what professional musicians were like or what music really meant. I would just learn and play, because I was asked to.'
#LifeIsMusic is a quest to discover the musicians that are most skilled at their art form. From amateurs to professionals, #LifeIsMusic is a combination of reality show and web-based platform whose primary aim is to enable artistes to showcase their work.
Yoshita Sengupta chat with Rantan Bharati, contestant on #LifeIsMusic, about his journey. Thirty year-old Ratan Bharti’s story is real; it’s regular; so is his life, career and his aspirations.
How did you start playing the slide guitar? Was it a calling like a lot of contestants on the show?
I started playing the Hawaiian Guitar that was handed to me about 20 odd years back by my father. I didn’t know what professional musicians were like or what music really meant. I would just learn and play, because I was asked to. Over time, I started to develop a bond with the instrument and started to love the sound that came out of it.
How and why did you switch to the slide guitar?
When I was about 14 or 15 years-old, I heard Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya (Grammy award nominee, disciple of Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra), play the slide guitar. I just wanted to play like him, get an instrument like he had and learn from him. I just wanted to learn from him.
At what age did you decide to take up music as a profession?
It was around the same time I discovered the slide guitar and started to learn from Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya.
Were there any musical influences at home? What did you grow up listening to?
My grandfather played the tabla. Music was appreciated a lot in the household and what would play at home would mostly be classical music. So yes, there was a string that pulled me when I growing up listening to classical music at home.
For a full interview with slide guitarist Ratan Bharati click here
Watch a glimpse of Ratan Bharati's interview:
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 "Ratan Bharati")
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