By Umer Nangiana
It was truly a blissful evening for young artistes and melody-makers. Showcasing their talent, young students from Music Lounge, a local training centre for music, art and language associated with Trinity College of London, came together to deliver a striking spectacle of music and art.
To further enthrall the jam-packed house at Birla Public School, Stephen Devassy, a popular musical prodigy from India, struck a chord with his piano renditions.
Engaging the audience with his life experiences as an artiste, the young musician then took up a key-tar (synthesizer), a special instrument that he has been identified with throughout his career, to set the stage alight.
Many were up on their feet dancing to his tunes at the The Night of the Rising Star, which at the Music Lounge they call a social movement, initiated with the vision to promote creativity and the mission to give opportunity to all.
Devassy, who is also the founder of Music Lounge, is himself trained from the Trinity College London and is a big believer in the institution’s ability to reach out to the talent for music and art wherever it may be.
“Somebody suggested to me when I started learning music that I should go to Trinity. But the best part is that you do not need to go there. Trinity comes to you. What it does is that if you are capable, it will come to you and this is something amazing,” Devassy tells Community in a special chat backstage at the event.
“If I am from a middle class family, I do not have huge sums to spend and stay for seven years in London to learn music. So for me it would be best if the college comes to me. I think it has cost me merely 10 rupees of daily bus fare to travel between school and home and in the process I have learnt piano and got a certification,” explained the founder of Music Lounge.
He learned from an institute affiliated with Trinity College back in India and is fully aware of the benefits of such an arrangement which is now following at his own institute where they encourage all the talent to take centre stage.
And the Music Lounge’s students indeed took the centre stage at the event. It started with Principal of Birla Public School A.K. Shrivastava opening the exhibition that showcased paintings from abstract to portraits, done by students and adults alike.
Besides the work of 85 artists, it contained a special painting created by eight students of Music Lounge called “Peace to the World.” It depicts multicultural acceptance and goodwill for all nations.
Music Lounge creative instructor and artist Jomon Jose displayed his “fusion of music,” an abstract piece that excites the viewer through the vibrancy of colour and the flow of mood by the cascading effect of the brush strokes.
“Trinity College has helped me to do much better things. I started practising my piano there and I believe whatever I am today is because of that place where I learnt my piano and that was Trinity College London’s centre,” says the founder of Music Lounge.
He says the Lounge is a purpose built facility for the development of world class artistes and musicians. It has grown over the years to bring together some of the brightest young artistes in Qatar. The centre provides a variety of training options to families and individuals of all ages on musical instruments, skilled arts, dance, yoga and language skills.
An affiliate centre for the Trinity College for Music in London, Music Lounge affords professional training on traditional and contemporary musical instruments such as piano, keyboard, guitar, violin, vocals and drums. It claims to bring forth certified young musicians comparable with international standards.
As the evening progressed, the gathering moved indoors towards the stage. Starting with the musical extravagance of the rendition piece of Jai Ho performed by the music instructors of the centre accompanied by children, it brought to the centre stage solo performances on piano, keyboard and drums, mixed with band and group performances by young artistes.
They displayed a depth of talent and creativity in a variety of genres from western classical to contemporary to eastern classical to modern fusion.
Tyler Smith, the special guest for the evening, from the Trinity College for Music in London, unveiled the “Music Lounge Award for Academic Excellence” presented by Santosh Kuruvilla, the MD of Music Lounge and, Shrivastava, the Birla Public School principal.
Organised and handled by the students of the centre, the show is directed by Jaisen George, the Director at Music Lounge.
This is what the Trinity College wants their students to do. “This is what makes Trinity different from so many other institutes that we are actually talking about performance and communication all the time whether it is music or drama or whether it is communicating in English language,” Smith from Trinity tells Community.
“Whatever we asses, it is all about how good somebody can communicate; getting the feeling from both sides, the input and the feedback,” he explains.
Smith says they give teachers and students at the institute a choice in different styles of music from Jazz to more popular songs of the 21 century music or rock n’ roll.
The second important thing is performance. While they do want to see how technically articulate a musician is, what they really want is for the people to take the stage and the audience feel what they are doing.
“All this comes through good teachers at the institutes you are learning from,” Devassy chips in. “It all depends on the teacher. He may not be a great pianist but he can be a good teacher. He should have the capacity to understand the student and communicate,” asserts Devassy, who has done multiple foreign tours with singers and musicians, including Hariharan and A. R. Rehman.
He got his first break at the age of 16 when Hariharan selected him for his UK music tour.
“One of the managers for Hariharan called at my home landline number back in my village because I did not have a cell phone back then. He told my father Hariharan wanted to see me. I went to him and he asked me to play something. I played one of his songs Tu Hee Re and he asked me to join him,” Devassy recalls of his affiliation with Hariharan that changed his life.
“I can say that was my real break. It took me to more than 17 countries and I did 400 concerts. I did so many tours with Hariharan and some other musicians. My next break came from A. R. Rehman, who is one of the greatest composers in India, and whom I have accompanied on more than 30 tours,” says Devassy.
He has also performed alongside the Tabla great Ustad Zakir Hussain and it was with him that Devassy realised the beauty of blending eastern and western style music which he likes to do regularly now.
“Indian music and Western musical cultural is an amazing combination. In the East, the combination of notes is different and in West, the arrangement and discipline is really amazing,” says the young music composer and pianist.
He enjoys a large fan base both inside and outside India and has a particularly large following in Qatar; one of his earlier concerts was attended by 25,000 people.
MAESTRO: Stephen Devassy was sensational with his Key-tar. Photo: Umer Nangiana
