In love with the soul

Tonight we had a beautiful concert by Alexei Stroganov who is now Alokesh Chandra and a student of Pandit Ravi Shankar. He was accompanied by Gerhard Rosner who recently made his masters degree for Tabla at the University of Pune. It was special because 10 years back Alokesh was playing his first concert in my studio. While I was listening to the music I remembered all the 10 years back and all what has happened in my life. Even much before those 10 years. The very beginning of classical Indian concerts in Vienna. The very beginning of non Indians learning Indian arts. The many prejudices we all where facing. It was indeed a long journey with many fights against those narrow minded people who thought Indian art is for Indians only. The same people were listening to opera singers and musicians of western classical music who were not from the west but from the east, Japan, China, India. It was that kind of "eurozentristisches Denken" which is so strange to me. I still remember a Sitar concert of a great American musician who was accompanied by an Indian Tabla player and after the concert a question from audience came if there would be a difference in the music if it is played by an Indian or non Indian. I still remember the embarrassing situation as it was almost like an attack to the non Indian Sitar player.
Today I listened to a wonderful concert and none of the musicians were Indians. Not even the question came up. Everybody in the audience was spellbound by the music and I felt happy to see that progress. Classical Indian music as well as classical Indian dance got liberated. It is only the capacity and dedication of the artist which  makes the impact and the difference. No matter if Indian or not. The artist must be capable to bring the audience to that higher level of aesthetic experience and enjoyment through his/her complete involvement in the art of music or dance .....meaning of life might be different for each one but some seek the fulfillment through music and dance.