Breaking walls through music

While for a majority of musicians across the world, their expertise is reduced to only one instrument, but for globally renowned musician, composer, songwriter and DJ, Karsh Kale, the list of instruments he has mastered is endless. From playing the piano to tabla, drums and cello, this multi-faceted musician has been bringing the west and the east together in the process of making music, thereby breaking the conventional genres in music. During his recent visit to Chennai to perform the DJ Tabla Set, he spoke to us about how he thinks the city is a music hub in India with a mix of contemporary and classic, how music transcends borders and more.

“It’s been a long time since I did a DJ tour in India. The performance in Chennai was like a throwback to where I came from. The aim was to take people back to the space where it all started for me. There’s over 20 years of music history that I draw upon. And, Chennai has always been a music hub in India. There’s a lot of new music that’s coming out from the city. On the other hand, there have also been some of the biggest classical music festivals happening in Chennai.

There are also many incredible artistes who I have worked with from Chennai —who have a globally conscious take on music,” the Indian-American artiste, Karsh, who recently gave a performance at The Park Hotel’s The Leather Bar, shares.

Known for bringing multiple styles from all over the world together, Karsh believes that music is one of the few artforms that can transcend all the borders, at a time when walls between nations are being built. “One can put up a wall, but music can seep right through it as well. Music is something that makes us all human and unifies, as there cannot be Republican music, or right wing music. It has the power to unify opposing political parties as well, like how Bob Marley’s music could. Music helps us all disarm ourselves — to make us the most pure selves. Whether one is a Muslim, Hindu or anything else — which are all just labels at the end of the day — music in its most ideal sense can erase these labels.”

Having collaborated with musicians from all over the world like Sting, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Anoushka Shankar, Zakir Hussain, Lenny Kravitz among many others, each of the associations add to his music style — “These collaborations are all about telling old stories in new ways. To have an artiste like Zakir Hussain be a part of the story that I’m telling, brings authenticity to my story. Music is a constant learning process and when I get to work with someone else, I absorb a lot. I never had a guru for myself, these opportunities help me learn,” Karsh says.
His albums chronicle what he goes through in his life, he says. “When you’re writing or composing, you can choose to tell someone else’s story or your own, and for me it’s mostly looking into myself. My last album ‘Up’ was about the time when I was travelling back and forth between the US and India. There was a kind of schizophrenia that I was developing and I wanted to be able to stop the universe and the chaos for a moment and be able to levitate — the thoughts which reflect in the album,” the UK-born musician says. Karsh also says that he is working on another album, which will be released by the end of this year.