The music trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy has more on their mind than just composing music for films. The Amar-Akbar-Anthony of Indian film music is already busy chalking an ambitious plan of setting up a music school in the city. What’s more, it will be one comprehensive school attempting to house all schools of Indian music. Shankar Mahadevan says, “Three of us (including Ehsaan and Loy) wanted to get into this for a long time. This is like our greatest dream. We have been composing music for many years and will continue to do so. But all of us want to do something which we can give to the next generation. Setting up a school which will teach music to the interested ones is probably the best thing anybody in love with music can do.”
In a diverse country like India, there are many schools of music and the music school intends to have all schools of music and lyrics under one roof. “The plans are on but it’s still in the nascent stage. I guess it’s a very long term project since it requires huge amount of funds too. The details are yet to be worked out properly.
We have so many genres of music that they are scattered in a vast geographical milieu. It is the need of the hour to get everything consolidated at one place,” he adds.
The trio is also saddened by the fact that the young generation is going further from the music of their own soil. “In a city like Mumbai, people are disconnected and busy making a living. In such a fast life, finding a place to stay is a big hassle. But somewhere down the line, the awareness about Indian music is lacking. We have many music classes where they teach ‘Casio’ without even realising that the instrument is called a keyboard and ‘Casio’ is just a company. In a way, it reflects our understanding about music is going down. So, an all-inclusive school is the need of the hour,” Shankar says.
The school will be free for the needy and the talented ones too. “The idea is to increase musical consciousness and not mint money. We will have free education for the gifted ones too. And if it’s received well, we will be spreading our wings in other cities as well,” he ends.
