After this short performance, and a round of applause from his rapt audience, Dev explains that “the ragas express life” and that each raga has a different feeling. Despite its sorrowful tone, the Raga Darbari he has just sung brings him peace and calmness. With his quite manner and unassuming presence, Guru Dev certainly does seem to have an air of tranquility and his singing has an effortless quality.
For Guru Dev, known in Kathmandu as both a teacher and a performer, “music is life” and his strong passion for music has led him since he was a child. He says, “I may not have a lot of money, but I earn enough to provide for my family and I receive deep satisfaction from my singing.”
Trained in the Indian Classical tradition, he has been singing since the age of 8, has performed in many countries, including Germany and Switzerland, and has sung a variety of musical styles, from pop to classical and western jazz, including collaborating with the Nepali Jazz band Cadenza.
But his main passion lies in the classical tradition that he studied from a young age. Born to a musical family, Guru Dev’s first teacher and inspiration was his elder brother. His father and grandfather were also musicians, but despite their musical backgrounds, his family wanted Dev to study in school instead of focusing on music. With a strong desire to continue his passion, an 11–year-old Dev ran away from home in order to pursue his musical aspirations in India.
He first spent two years in Calcutta performing the mythological Ramayana with a theater troupe at night and studying voice by day. Later, he moved to Dharbhanga in Bihar where he spent 14 years living in the home of his Guru Ganesh Lal Thakur and learning to sing classically. To earn his board and pay for lessons, he performed odd jobs around the house.
When asked if this was a difficult time for him, Kamat insists that his love for music made the tasks easy. He says, “I had such passion for music… anyone who has that passion would not find music difficult.”
Eventually a good friend of his spotted Guru Dev wandering around, trying to make a living as a musician in India, and convinced him to come to Nepal in 1990. At this time, classical music in Nepal was not a big scene, but it was starting to grow, and there was a place for talented musicians like Guru Dev. In 1993, he was awarded first prize in a classical music performance, and second prize in pop performance in a Radio Nepal Contest.
Now Dev runs his own studio, Gurukul Music School, in Kathmandu and directs some of his passion towards instructing his students. He focuses on teaching classical voice both because it is his tradition, and because he believes, “if a student can master classical music, he can master any tradition.”
Guru Dev sees classical music as the most beautiful and the highest art form. For him, it is the “the mother of all music.” And he believes it is a shared language between India and Nepal. Although his training occurred in India, Guru Dev insists that, “You can’t distinguish between the two traditions. They belong to the old regions, from ancient times this was one region and they had one music.”
Guru Dev is not a frequent performer in Kathmandu, but there is a power in his performance. He is technically skilled and knowledgeable about music, and his appeal lies in the emotion he brings to the performance through subtle variations of both dynamics and the strength of his voice, which turn the most technically difficult passages into a gentle cascade of sound.
At his recent performance in Baber Mahal Revisited, in the intimate space of the upstairs venue, Guru Dev’s singing created a musical landscape. He led the audience up to high notes, down to lows, and over a range of louds and softs, sometimes becoming intertwined with the tabla’s easy beat. Layered with the reverberating hum of the string instruments, the dallying beat of the tabla, and the mellow tones of the lead instrument, Guru Dev’s voice weaved in and out of the instrumentation. The instruments created a rich harmony, a haunting sound echoing through the still hall. At times quieter and subdued, the voice blended into the drone of the strings. At other times, the vocal took charge, running away from the harmony with a light and rapid fluttering of notes in passages of vocal virtuosity.
The venue at Baber Mahal is well suited for the acoustic performance of classical music and the atmosphere coupled with the music creates a trancelike effect on the audience. You are drawn into the mystery that is created with a 20-minute-long raga that progresses slowly, without emphasizing one particular moment. Sitting submerged in the thick harmonies is a bit like meditating.
In this setting, it is easy to see why Guru Dev believes that playing music is like “facing god.”
Yet Guru Dev continues to perform songs he believes his audience will like, and he explains that while playing, he is “watching the audience to see how they respond. If they are enjoying the music, I’ll continue with the raga, if not I’ll move on to a lighter song.” This attitude results in an expensive concert of classical music at Baber Mahal and a more inexpensive concert at National Academy Hall, which is focused on Hindi and Nepali ghazals, including movie songs. If his message is to spread Classical Music, it seems unfair to reserve the full experience for those who can afford 1,000 Rupee tickets, and offer the National Academy Hall audience a brief glance.
Still, his students seem to hold a great appreciation for his skills and the music that he plays, and Kamat playing both classical and pop music is pleasant to listen to. For Kamat, music is “a natural thing. It’s real, it’s like religion.” And he performs so naturally that you can’t help but be drawn into his music.
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