Come tomorrow, the cool and stylish Cafe Zoe will be filled with the strains of the sarod, the violin and tabla beats. Abhishek Borkar, Nandini Shankar and Ojas Adhiya will be the three musicians, who will play these musical instruments respectively, in ‘Come Together’, presented by First Edition Arts, a Mumbai-based performing arts company. The new musical series will offer a young and contemporary experience of Indian classical music presented as solos and duets in short sets in a nightclub environment. Teaming up with Cafe Zoe, the ‘Come Together’ series (named after a popular Beatles track by John Lennon from the album Abbey Road) will feature some of the finest contemporary Indian classical musicians on the sarod, sitar, violin, flute, and the tabla. It is a series of four concerts, each quarter with a different trio everytime. Abhishek, Nandini and Ojas tell us more about the performance:

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How do you think the ‘Come Together’ series is going to help in getting the youth interested in classical music?

Ojas: The series has an aim of gathering more young and urban listeners in a different way which has never happened before. While the setting is all new, we, the younger musicians are here to present our Indian classical music in an informal way and connect to people who can interact with us and give them a sense of how exciting Hindustani classical music is! In the last couple of years, I have seen more younger generations getting attracted towards Indian classical music, which is great. They are always looking forward for something new, so we can have some question and answer session with the audience. That way we can reach out to them and explain what classical music is all about.

Abhishek: This series focuses solely on presenting pure, classical music in an all different, contemporary setup — a setup which the youth of today connect with. It’s all about bridging the gaps, and doing away with a pre-conceived mindset that today’s youth have about classical music. We’d like to keep things informal and interactive.

Nandini: I think that this is a unique concept attempting to reach out to the youth in their language. We take our Indian Classical Music in all its purity to the places where the youth generally hangs out, in a format that makes it easier for them to discover the beauty in this genre.

You are all young musicians. What is the biggest challenge you face when it comes to promoting your style of music?

Ojas: This music is so exciting and interesting in its own that anyone can get attracted. So one has to experience it and we are here to present it in a very different and interesting way which will be easier for them to connect well.

Abhishek: A common challenge faced sometimes is the close-mindedness that people have towards Indian classical music. Even before experiencing it, it is tagged as serious, boring and sometimes even as elitist. As youngsters, we should strive to make people understand that there’s something for every listener in classical music. The music shouldn’t have to change to attract more audiences. Give it 10 minutes. It’s important to understand that things won’t change overnight. But just as a musical career is, one needs to keep at it and have patience.

Nandini: Every new genre, for a listener, is an acquired taste — other than the ones that he/she grew up listening to. Because a majority of the current generation hasn’t grown up listening to Indian Classical Music, they are yet to develop a liking for it. So the biggest challenge (which is also an opportunity) is to encourage people to be open minded about exploring our style of music.

Will there be solo pieces or jugalbandi between the three of you? Did you rehearse with each other?

Ojas: Classical music is all about improvisation and impromptu sessions. Whatever we rehearse is never going to happen on the stage again because Indian classical music is all about creativity and spontaneity. Yes, there will be solo pieces and some jugalbandi sessions too. We will decide what kind of raga and taal we will present looking at the atmosphere which will inspire us at the moment. 

Abhishek: Rehearsals and planning aren’t really a part of preparation for a classical concert. The beauty of Indian classical music lies in its spontaneity. The music is produced live, on the spot, feeding off the energy from the listeners as well as the energy on stage.

Nandini: The first set will be a sarod solo recital with the tabla (Abhishek and Ojas). After a short interval, I will join them both on stage for the second set. I perform regularly with Ojas, but this will be the first time that I’ll perform a duet with Abhishek. However, we do need to discuss things like the pitch, duration of the concert, and the broad content. The rest will be as new for us as it is for the audience. 

Abhishek Borkar, Nandini Shankar and Ojas Adhiya will perform tomorrow at 6.30 pm at Cafe Zoe, Lower Parel.