Swiss notes on Indian wealth

Swiss musician Rittener Olivier, who has been learning various Indian instruments since 1997, can't stop gushing over the vastness of Indian classical music...

Anjali Nauriyal Rajpur

Rittener Olivier is a Swiss national who visits India frequently to learn Sarangi from his Indian Guru in Varanasi. A compositor on piano, he lives in Lozana; composes his own music and can play almost all Indian musical instruments with ease, including the Vichitra Veena and the sitar.

While in India Olivier makes it a point to be in Doon for sometime, to be with his guru behen and because he finds the environmental appeal of the place most inspiring.

He informs that he began playing the piano at the age of six after learning from one of the greatest of teachers, Madame Mekula Mekulasuva. He first came to India in '97 after he attended a concert in '96 in Lozana by Dr Gopala Shankara Misra, a professor at Banaras University.

"I heard him play the Veena and was overwhelmed by his music. Later I wrote to him expressing my intension to visit India. He readily agreed and in that trip I stayed in the country for six months, just trying to learn the Vichitra Veena."

Before long Olivier began taking Drupad lessons from his Guru Ritwik Sanyal in the university in Varanasi and that got him hooked on to Indian music and instruments.

How easy or difficult was it to learn Indian Instruments? "One cannot say. When you learn Indian classical music, the guru plays and the disciple reproduces. Of course, it helps if you have an ear for music. One should have the capacity to catch and play. By attentively listening to the guru playing, one can learn a lot. Thereafter one needs to put in dedicated effort," he reveals. After the untimely demise of his guru, Olivier stopped learning the Vichitra Veena and concentrated instead on Indian classical music, and that's when he fell in love with Indian instruments. This accomplished player of many instruments asserts that he never tries to find concerts for himself, but does enjoy playing when people ask him to or on certain India related functions in his country. "For me it is very important to practice and learn and transmit," he quips. What appeals to him about the Vichitra Veena is its sound quality and the fact that it is an instrument with immense possibilities.

Olivier started learning the Sarangi in '98. "I found the sound of the Sarangi very beautiful and began learning from Pandit Santosh Kumar Misra. In the beginning I took one month's lesson from him. Thereafter as I had to finish university in Lozana for six years, I could not come back. In 2004, I returned and now will be in Varanasi for sometime just practising the Sarangi. In Switzerland it is never easy to practice," he says. In all the time that Olivier learnt and played the Indian instruments, he never stopped playing the piano. All along he has also been composing. "Actually I really started composing in '90. Composing is a gift. When you are composing, it's not something you decide you will compose. It is in actuality a response to a certain inner state. By composing one connects and goes deep into oneself," he adds on a philosophical note.

"Indian culture appeals to me," states Olivier, adding, "I have intellectual interest in the Hindu tradition. "