Konstantinos Kalaitzis is in love with every little thing Indian
| Photo Credit: Special association
Greek researcher and Indophile Konstantinos Kalaitzis has visited India 45 instances within the final three many years.
He has visited each state and Union Territory searching for classical and folks music, and dance varieties to doc and be taught. He sings Carnatic music, bhajans, ghazals, qawwali, performs the tabla and has given live shows in India and different components of the world. He finally plans to arrange a museum in Greece to deal with his assortment of 180 Indian classical and folks musical devices.
Konstantinos Kalaitzis at Puttaparthi in 1994
| Photo Credit:
Special association
Kalaitzis was in Hyderabad not too long ago for his ongoing analysis on tribal traditions of music and their devices. He is ready to get his guide on Indian music in Greek printed in English.
Titled Indian Music, the practically 500-page espresso desk guide on Indian classical and folks music, composers, poets and devices has 700 uncommon images by Kalaitzis in addition to 181 sound samples of the devices embedded.
The cowl is {a photograph} of Tyagaraja that Kalaitzis discovered painted on a stone in Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh. “I visited the ashram in 1994 and stumbled on this painting on the stone. I don’t know who the painter is but I found it fascinating and clicked a photo and decided to use it on the cover of my book,” says Kalaitzis.
Early affect
Kalaitzis’ curiosity and love for Indian tradition began in his childhood. He first heard his mother and father play Indian songs with Greek lyrics at house in 1961. “These were popular folk songs sung by famous Greek singers of that time in Greece. Most people did not know about the Indian origin of the music… we just liked these songs and sang them,” says Kalaitzis.
At college, whereas all the opposite kids sang these easy rhymes, six-year-old Kalaitzis would sing Indian-Greek songs. “I started listening to the Beatles around 1970. I thought it was an interesting coincidence that although I had no connection to India at that time, I particularly liked George Harrison, who was Ravi Shankar’s disciple on the sitar and whose music had many Indian elements,” provides Kalaitzis.
He attended certainly one of Ravi Shankar’s live shows and was mesmerised by the accompanying tabla artiste Kumar Bose. “I was greatly inspired by the tabla and was determined to learn to play it, which, in a way, motivated me to visit India. I made my first trip in 1987.”
Classical pursuits
His musical pursuits went past studying the tabla — he taught himself to sing all of the genres of Indian music. His rendition of ‘Bhajagovindam’, as popularised by MS Subbulakshmi, was a commendable try the place he bought even the gamakas proper. “People ask me how I manage the pronunciation of Sanskrit words and sing without knowing the meaning. I connect to the emotion,” he smiles.
In 2018, Kalaitzis was invited by the Indian authorities to signify Greece amongst different 155 international locations to sing ‘Vaishnava Janatho’ on the event of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th delivery anniversary.
“I see an inherent cultural bonding between India and Greece. Both the countries are proud of their respective ancient heritage and keep alive their rich art forms.,” says Kalaitzis for whom consuming idli-sambar-vada is as important as holding forth on the sadhana of a Carnatic raga day by day.