CHENNAI: Hindustani music is something she was encouraged to imbibe from a very young age. For the past 25 years, Ila Paliwal has been doing exactly that. Ila has worked hard to spread the ancient form of classical music even after she relocated to USA.Ila, who was recently in the city to perform at a concert organised by the K M Music Conservatory, says that she has been working towards making classical music as something that is not performed at just restaurants or somebody’s home. “I sit on the advisory board of an organisation that tries to promote Indian classical music in a way that it is brought forward to wider audiences,” she says, refusing to reveal the organisation’s name. Her efforts go not in favour of just “top-notch artistes”, as she calls them, but even towards those who are more unknown. “I bring them home and let them perform for my friends and other music lovers,” says the music aficionado. In her performance here in the city, she stunned the audience with a ragamala, which was an unconventional performance with18 different ragas. She topped the concert off with bhajans, which she thought would appeal to a larger audience. “If you don’t connect with the audience, there is no way that you can sing well,” she explains. “I think the interaction has to be constant. Even if the audience doesn’t understand each nitty-gritty, if they are responding to you, you get a different energy and you sing better than what you’re singing if it’s for a cold audience with a blank expression on their faces,” she admits. But Ila knows better than to have unreasonable expectations. “It’s hard to expect everyone to understand the music, unless they’ve grown with it. But if you are singing something, a melody maybe, and they’re enjoying it and it touches their heart, they’ll respond to it and for an artiste, that’s what is important,” she says, but doesn’t think before adding, “But a knowledgeable listener is even better.” For someone who has spent a chunk of her time living in China and now lives near New York City, Ila comes clean that fusion music is just not for. “No music is bad, as long as it’s done right,” she is quick to clarify. “But there is a lot of music that I don’t understand and it doesn’t appeal to me. I guess I’m ignorant,” she says and adds, “But music is any way is a wonderful thing, it connects you to your soul and spirits and if you are doing it right, I think any kind of music is good.”
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