Anriban Dasgupta and Supreet Deshpande conversed like two old friends on Sunday night, but their conversation used no words.
Dasgupta and Deshpande only met back in March of this year, when the two well-regarded performers of Indian classical music played together for the very first time in Phoenix, Arizona. Reunited in the Eisenhower Chapel at Penn State on Saturday, the depth of their music connection belied the fact this was only their second performance together.
Both men come from opposite sides of their home country, trained in musical families that have produce some India’s most notable classical musicians of the modern day. Deshpande – who plays a pair of hand drums known as the tabla – recalls that their fathers had played together on several occasions, and marvels at the chances of their meeting like this – at Penn State, no less.
So were they nervous about performing for the crowd in the chapel, given their limited experience together?
“That’s the novelty of Indian classical music,” says Dasgupta, who plays a stringed instrument called the sarod. “It’s like speaking with an acquaintance whose company you enjoy. You can instantly understand each other and gel like a conversation, and the relationship of the music builds on that.”
Indian classical music differs from western classical, Deshpande explains. In western classical, “the creativity happens beforehand,” during the composing process.
In Indian classical, musicians are trained in a structural framework that dates back thousands of years. There are no set compositions, only guidelines for how to use progressions of notes and expressions. Everything else is completely improvised.
“When we are performing, we simply forget that we’re performing,” Deshpande says. “It’s a journey inward, a process of self-exploration through a medium we have chosen for ourselves.”
Deshpande and Dasgupta’s performance was one in a series of concerts on campus as part of the Happy Valley Festival of Indian Music, organized by the Society for Indian Music and Arts.
Abhinav Kandala, a Penn State grad student in physics originally from India, says he “feels blessed” to have the opportunity to experience his native culture explored so thoroughly while at Penn State.
“Some of these artists and co-performers have visited in the past for other events, which is great,” Kandala says. “Their teachers come from legends, and a legendary lineage of Indian classical music.”
Despite this high praise, both Deshpande and Dasgupta remain humble. Dasgupta even began the performance by telling the crowd that he knows he can’t replace his father, who was originally supposed to play on Saturday.
Neither musician is a professional, strictly speaking, despite their intermittent touring across India and other countries. Dasgupta works as a software developer, while Deshpande runs a pharmaceutical research lab.
“For both of us, music is more than a profession,” Dasgupta says. “Music is a passion.”
The Happy Valley Festival of Indian Music enters its final night on Sunday, with two performances in the Freeman Auditorium at the HUB at 6:30 and 8 p.m. You can click here for more information.
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