For master sitarist Kumar, Deepavali is a celebration of gratitude

 Through music and a remarkable encounter with Anoushka Shankar, Kumar Karthigesu finds much to be thankful for.

Master sitarist Kumar Karthigesu has spent decades sharing his love of Indian classical music with generations of students.

KUALA LUMPUR:

For master sitarist Kumaresan Karthigesu, Deepavali is more than a festival of lights, colourful decorations and joyous gatherings. It is also a time to reflect on life’s blessings, appreciate the people around him, and celebrate the music that has shaped much of his life.

Speaking with FMT Lifestyle at his studio in the Temple of Fine Arts (TFA) in Brickfields, Kumar reflected on the festival’s deeper meaning, particularly its symbolism of light triumphing over darkness and good over evil.

For him, it is also about gratitude for having made it through another year, with all its joys and challenges. It means celebrating “the goodness of having family, the goodness of having a roof over our heads, food on the table, good friends and good education”, he said.

And naturally, for someone who has devoted much of his life to the sitar, music is an inseparable part of that celebration.

Indian classical music revolves around ragas, melodic frameworks that evoke different moods and emotions. During Deepavali, Kumar gravitates towards joyous, uplifting ragas that capture the festival’s celebratory spirit.

“Maybe every performance is a celebration anyway,” he mused.

After more than 35 years onstage, Kumar may not remember his first Deepavali performance, but the gratitude he feels whenever he shares his music has never faded.

His musical journey began at age four, encouraged by parents who, although not musicians themselves, surrounded their children with music.

He picked up the sitar at 10, gradually developing a fascination with the instrument. “I didn’t understand it at that time, but it was influencing me. I absorbed it.”

For Kumar, playing the sitar is as much about expressing emotions as it is about mastering the instrument.

Music, however, was not initially meant to be his career. He had planned to study engineering in Australia until a sitar performance in 1991 inspired him to follow his future teacher to India. What was meant to be a gap year became three, alongside an economics degree.

Today, Kumar continues to nurture young musicians at TFA, where he previously established sitar departments in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Singapore. He also served as its music department director from 2008 until June 2023.

His contributions earned him the Anugerah Karyawan Seni in 2009 and Living Heritage recognition in 2011.

Yet, beyond technical mastery, Kumar hopes his students understand that dedication matters just as much as natural ability. “You can do so much without talent but with hard work,” he said.

For Kumar, music also has the remarkable ability to bring people together, transcending language, race, religion and cultural differences.

He recalled performing in Korea with his band AkashA, where the musicians shared no common language with their audience. They simply decided to “play our hearts out”.

Before long, heads were bobbing and the audience was smiling and cheering.

“You can send a message out with the deepest of emotions and it gets translated,” he said.

That belief in music’s unifying power was beautifully demonstrated recently when renowned sitarist Anoushka Shankar’s Kuala Lumpur concert was cancelled on the eve of the show.

Kumar was among the disappointed ticket holders, with some of his students having travelled from Penang, Johor Bahru and Singapore for the performance.

The Temple of Fine Arts in Brickfields has long been a home for artists and students dedicated to preserving and sharing cultural traditions.

The multiple Grammy-nominated musician is the daughter and former student of legendary sitarist Ravi Shankar, who helped introduce Indian classical music to audiences worldwide.

Troubled by the cancellation, Kumar reached out through Shankar’s Instagram page the following morning, offering TFA’s assistance.

Her manager responded and, within hours, its 650-seat auditorium was being prepared for a free, first-come, first-served performance.

For Kumar, the decision reflected TFA’s enduring mission. “At the Temple of Fine Arts, our mission is arts for art’s sake. It is to promote the arts,” he explained.

After the performance, as Kumar drove Shankar back to her hotel, she expressed her disbelief at how the evening had unfolded.

“She was saying, ‘I still feel it’s a dream, because just a short while ago we were completely in our hotel rooms thinking we’re not going to do anything here. And now we’ve had a fantastic show.'”

It was an unforgettable reminder of how generosity, goodwill and a shared love of music could turn disappointment into something beautiful.

And as Kumar celebrates Deepavali, these are perhaps the very blessings worth cherishing: the joy of giving, the warmth of human connection and the opportunity to bring a little light into someone else’s life.

“I see the world through the lens of music,” he concluded. - FMT