Zubin Mehta Quotes

There is so much talent in the country, and not all of that necessarily is confined to Bollywood. There are some great musicians from the independent music scenario in India making some great music.

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.

I enjoy seeing other Indian musicians - old and young - coming to Europe and America and having some success. I'm happy to have contributed to that.

Though music transcends language, culture and time, and though notes are the same, Indian music is unique because it is evolved, sophisticated and melodies are defined.

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

I like African music, and I'm a huge Ravi Shankar fan.

Unfortunately, we have very few female composers in our country, but Sneha Khanwalkar, Alokananda Dasgupta, and Jasleen Royal are forces to reckon with.

I'd love to perform in India, but I don't book the gigs. It's one of the few places I haven't played. One of the Indian instruments that I love is the sitar. I played it on some of my songs, including 'Pyramid of Cheops' and 'Crucify.'

There are not many musicians from India who are working internationally in pop. My aim is to change that and show the world that we have so much more to offer.

As far as Indian artists are concerned, I really like Mohammad Rafi and Sonu Nigam.

I love all kinds of Indian music, and Indian food as well. If the chance arises for me to play in India, I'm there.

'Maruvarthai' was an exciting song for me because it showcased my Carnatic roots.

I woud definitely want to collaborate with Indian musicians.

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

I think it was John who really urged me to play sitar on 'Norwegian Wood,' which was the first time we used it. Now, Paul has just asked me recently whether I'd written any more of those 'Indian type of tunes.' He suddenly likes them now. But at the time, he wouldn't play on them.

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

I listen to Ustad Vilayat Khan's 'Raga Khamaj' and 'Raga Jaijaiwanti' virtually every morning, a lot of Abdullah Ibrahim, Michael Kiwanuka, Savages, and contemporary Ugandan pop.

I was listening to a lot of bebop. And to Miles Davis. Everyone thinks I was just in the folk world in 1966, but in 1963 and 1964, I was absorbing enormous amounts of music, from baroque to jazz to blues to Indian music.

I am huge fan of Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Mohammad Rafi, Ghulam Ali and Mehdi Hassan. Listening to these people inspired me to become a singer.

I grew up listening to Hindi and Marathi songs of Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosale.

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 personal favourites include J. J. Cale, R. D. Burman, Mehdi Hassan, and Ghulam Ali.

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.

I have been exposed to different kinds of Marathi and Hindi music, classical music, and English songs since childhood.