MUMBAI: Rohen Bose inherited the musical trait by birth. Born in the family of legends, his fate brought him under magnanimous pillars of music. His father Pt. Debojyoti Bose; a hallmark of sarod himself from Senia Bangash Gharana is also a brilliant composer, lyricist, and a knowledgeable tabla player. He started his training under his father at a very initial stage of his life. His musical acumen had grown to its par when he started tutelage under his elder uncle Pt. Kumar Bose, the torchbearer of Banaras Gharana and one of the finest and most creative tabla maestros of all time. Pt. Bose has trained him to become his deserved legatee. He has also taken severe training on accompaniment from his younger uncle the legend Acharya Jayanta Bose.

Having played tabla with the family from early age Rohen has also witnessed the change over the years. Well, it was not the conscious move for him to play tabla at that age, as he says, “I think it’s same for all who are at a budding age. I’ve been listening and practicing this tradition from a very initial age. It was a sudden realization that I am already into the whole business. Now as I look back at that journey it’s really interesting because I didn’t realise how they actually trained me then and how the love for that musical instrument grew. There was no particular event where I was announced as a tabla player.”

Rohen’s father Pt. Debojyoti Bose played for film industry of Bengal. Rohen grew up getting the industry exposure. In fact, he wanted to be a filmmaker, but fate had other plans. However, he did make two documentaries, one on his father and on his uncle Kumar Bose. The documentaries received a lot of acclamation. “My family had certain protocols. They said you can do what you want to do. There was no pressure from their side. The only criteria they had was that I should have proper institutional training for that. By the time I completed grade 12, I was already in Rabindra Bharati University studying musicology. My results there kind of impressed my parents,” explains the musician.

He further states, “It was in the third year of my college when I got serious about life. Until then I was an occasional performer, I performed with family and did a few experimental music shows. In my third year, I was asked to decide for future. That’s when I decide to hold on to music, as I did not have any scope in films.” His introductory concert was held in Calcutta with his father and uncle in 2014.

Rohen has seen tabla change over the years. He says, “In every 20-30 years tabla has developed majorly. We can consider the generation of Pt. Kishan Maharaj Ji, Samta Prasad Ji and more. Their music was totally a different style at that point of time. We can also consider Ustad Zakir Hussain Ji, Anindo Chatterjee and my father brought new style again and the process is still going on. When I look back at the history of tabla it is the only instrument of the percussion world which has gone through so much modality.”

Rohen has been majoring in Indian classical music for last five years. He has also been into the commercial side with his father for film background score or album recording for the Bengali film industry. He comes from a family which follows a pluralistic culture. “I listen to everything because we have never categorized music. From Ustad Hamid Ali to Pink Floyd I have heard all. I am always opened to experimentation,” expresses the singer.

His study called ‘The Language of Tabla: A Linguistic Discourse’ has two aspects to it. He elaborates, “The first aspect is Tabla has a unique language to it. It is not the language we speak in. The primary motive is to record that composition. The aspect talks about aesthetic part of it. This happens when people actually talk about the beauty of it. There are so many people who are experimenting with Tabla but Banaras Gharana has something special about it. They have actually written a poem amalgamating two languages. It is made of structured and tabla language. These languages are very arbitrary and only through the contextual relationship we can make the meaning of the whole sentence.”

Rohen will soon tour the city of dream, Mumbai. Here he will be performing Dhrupad+Khyal style Sarod instrument. About his tour, he says, “I have a couple of performances at Pune and Mumbai; one with vocal accompaniment and other solos. I have performed in all the parts of Maharashtra before but never in Mumbai. I am really excited about Mumbai. We are also doing Dhrupad Sarod initiative where a renowned Sarod player from Kolkata Debanjan Bhattacharya has conceptualized the entire concert. He has amalgamated the two forms Dhrupad+Khyal style. Debanjan will be accompanied by tabla as well as Pakhawaj Players. His music will show the evolution of music from Dhrupad to Khyal styles. Since Sarod is the instrument played in both the styles it will explain modality in a better way.”

The performance will start off from 4 November at NCPA followed by Thane and Great Academy of Sangeet of Maharashtra on 5 November.

“The city (Mumbai) has some of the greatest musicians and to do my debut performance in Mumbai would be a dream come true. I am always open to collaborating with people. I’ve done so many collaborations before in classical arena. I just want to continue in the pure music form and then get into other collaboration. It’s not only about performing a classical music. I am a fresher to the industry. But over the year I have realized that Indian classical music is a form that can only be internalized by performing. It doesn’t matter how much you learn. You have good command over it after you perform that form innumerable time. The more experienced the artiste is, the more maturity he has. This is needed because the form is such. I believe collaborative music is very creative. We accumulate a lot of things from each other and contribute too.”