All through the theatre round I hadn’t interacted with him much but I was already a fan of his talent of playing the guitar. It was only in Savoy that I learnt, how immensely he knew what he was playing…its history…all the small nuances…every minute detail of the piece he played...now that’s what I call dedication! And I love the way he passionately plays his guitar…I call it his baby…seriously! The way he holds it…no..holds her is like she is soo precious to him. I used to look forward every day to these little sessions we used to have in his room.
The first time we had a sing-along with him was I think the second day at Savoy. I could hear the strummings of guitars coming from the other end of the corridor. I knew it would either be Emon or Shan. And what more treat could my ears have asked for than to hear them both happily jamming! Bhavin, Richa, Harshi and I joined them with the vocals. Man!! That day was beautiful…we sang so many old Hindi numbers. It was a kind of a medly….so many songs… and I thank raimama (my very dear uncle) for having gifted me my Creative Zen last year!!!! I recorded that whole session (audio) in it!! I’ll surely find a way of making you people listen to it.
Shan really gave me a lot of knowledge about his style of playing. It was the classical guitar form. He told us that through Idol he wanted to bring this guitar form to notice to a lot of young budding guitarist in the country. Not many people are aware of this style…and mind you people….it involves the combined movement of all the fingers…your mind…and most importantly your soul to give it a never-felt-before feel!! (I have no idea what I just said…but I’m sure you guys must have guessed by now that I am in awe of this guy’s passion and dedication to what he does!hee!)
He played a lot of Spanish numbers for us and used to always tell us the story behind it before playing. Certain tunes evoked certain moods and he would ask me what I felt after the song…for example when he played Romanza I told him that the piece was so romantic and he went “Precisely!!! It’s meant to be!!”. There was this other tune…can’t recollect the name of the piece…he said that it was a tune that depicted war…and believe me…I could literally see people being shot and killed when I closed my eyes while listening to it!! Other pieces that he played made me choke…and I once even told him he was soo lucky to have something to emote himself…the mood he is in…at any time!!!
The minute his fingers go on that guitar…and the minute he starts strumming one can immediately tell what kind of a mood that song creates…beautiful…simply BEAUTIFUL!!
Shan….whatever you do in life yaar I hope…wish…and pray that a talented, true-to-his-heart, genuine, passionate and dedicated artist like you would go far…and reach all your goals! Love your attitude to life buddy! Rock on!!
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2 comments:
I totallllyyy Agree.. Shantanu was phenomenal with the guitar and he had a lovely voice.. I loved his humming of Yeh Haseen Vaadiyan, I wish he could have been there in galas.. but then again I also wish you and Vanita were there ! If I had it in me, I would have all 28 in the gala :) !!! Can't wait to hear his pieces..this tiem when I come to dubai, I am coming over to ur place for ur autograph ;) !
Shantanu was great with his guitar and his voice was very soothing
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