Musician AR Rahman thinks that Indians should stop talking about their traditions and start contributing to its greatness. In an interview with CNN-IBN, he talked about his music conservatory, where he will groom the next breed of composers.
"We only celebrate what is tradition which is great, which is fantastic. But what have you contributed?" demanded Rahman. Rahman founded the K M Conservatory to churn out students with musical excellence matching International standards. "Composers from here like me and Ilayaraja sir, anybody, who wants to work with an orchestra with full symphony orchestra - we had to go abroad and spend thousands of dollars," explained Rahman. However, today students from India and abroad can come to the K M Conservatory and learn both Indian and Western classical music, including a range of musical instruments from the cello to the drums. There is a preparatory course for beginners, a foundation one for serious pursuers, apart from this there is also a three year degree course in collaboration with the Middlesex University. Most importantly, the conservatory also aims at reviving dying musical traditions. "Though we want to concentrate on instruments that are dying like violin and brass and woodwinds and everything, people are more interested in piano and composition and voice and all that stuff. We are also looking at areas where we don't have players like brass and woodwinds and so many instruments for which we used to have players before, in the older generation but not anymore," he said. http://www.planetradiocity.com/musicreporter/gossip.php?gossipid=1117
