Miguel Quotes

When I began competing with the other artists in New York, I discovered classical North Indian music.

I love to simplify the ragas and use them in my music as much as possible.

I am a trained singer in Hindustani and classical music.

One single raga can be performed for two hours, three hours.

I had been interested in Indian music and I actually started studying Tableaus before I met him.

Indian classical music was born when time barely existed. It developed further within the structures of royal courts and a system of patronage where the ruler or the feudal master determined all.

The origins of Indian classical music, not unlike their western counterparts, lie in the Vedas, the ancient Hindu scriptures of 2,000 years ago.

Indian classical music is charming and currently there are a wide range of musicians who bring great classical tunes to the Bollywood industry.

I know what tablas sound like, because my father played a lot of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.

There are thousands of ragas, and they are all connected with different times of the day, like sunrise or night or sunset. It is all based on 72 of what we call 'mela' or scales. And we have principally nine moods, ranging from peacefulness to praying, or the feeling of emptiness you get by sitting by the ocean.

I appreciate very much Vilayat Khan, the sitar player, and Bismillah Khan, the shehnai player; and among the tabla players, of course, Alla Rakha, Kishan Maharaja, and all these people.

Many people, especially young people, have started listening to sitar since George Harrison, one of the Beatles, became my disciple.

There is a conception about me that I am a playback singer and I sing for albums or for films only, but my roots are in bhajans. Even when I was in school, I used to win competitions for ghazals and bhajans.

In the U.K., classical music is composed by individuals and written down. Indian music is based on certain sequences called ragas. When I perform live, 95% of the music is improvised: it never sounds the same twice.

From childhood, I had been instructed in the tablaa by my father, along with the astaais and antaraas specific to our Gharana.

My father taught me to play the sitar when I was seven years old. He and his elder disciples oversaw my teaching from the beginning, looking after my scale work, the poor things.

My basic grammar is in Indian classical music, Carnatic music, and Hindustani music, but I don't believe that that is the only form of music I will learn. I don't believe in that, because I am a very open minded person.

When K. Vishwanath made the film 'Shankarabharanam,' he wanted to bring back Carnatic classical music to mainstream. It's popularity was waning in those days.

From when I first started listening to music, M. S. Subbulakshmi has been one of my biggest influences. She poured her heart and life into everything she sang.

I can't escape crooning the 'Mitwa... Kahe Dhadkan Tujhse Kya' number wherever I perform. Basically, I am a classically rooted musician.

Lataji defines the sound of Indian music, and I always had a secret desire of recording with her at least once.

I owe so much of my musical growth to my exploration and performance of Carnatic music.

I am really very fond of Indian classical music though I have spent my teenage years in Bahrain.

I wish to contribute more to south Indian music, especially Tamil music.

I have been singing since I was a child, and I am a trained Hindustani classical singer.