For this maestro, music knows no bounds

Between international music festivals, his Sufi and world music associations, life is a slide raaga for Prakash Sontakke. From the time he wakes up to the sound of the alarm to the yawn and rhythmic snores at night, this slide guitarist celebrates the raaga of life.
As a slide guitarist and Hindustani musician par excellence , rhythm divine flows in your veins…
My father RB Sontakke was a double doctorate in vocal and violin and my mother Mani Sontakke a versatile musician who played more than 15 instruments.Some, including the slide guitar, are not found in the mainstream now. It was my only muse through my youth. Mom gave me the freedom to experiment with any technique.
You recently performed live to a German classic at the Indo-German Urban Mela. What are the challenges of letting music flow in public with no retakes, no rehearsals …
I had recently gone to Christoph Bertram, director , Max Mueller Bhavan to discuss the possibility of doing a fusion concert with a common friend Anupama. There, Christoph suggested I compose impromptu for Dr Caligari. When I got down to doing it, I found that it involved a lot of multi-tasking at the spur of the moment. For, in the film, by the time a door opens, complex facial expressions bordering on hate despair, love and ambition coupled with unfathomable joy to a shadow lurking in the background -- all erupt at the same time. I used middleeastern and African styles and a lot of strange sounding instruments too. So much so that once the film was over, an elderly gentleman from the audience asked: “The movie was really enjoyable. But why were you sitting at the wings of the stage when it was being screened?” This meant that we had taken care of every tiny detail!
Tell us about your collaborative projects in Copenhagen and London, the art of merging into the sounds of international jazz, yet standing out with your signature tune.
I grew up in a household where knowing more than 100 raagas at the tip of my tongue was nothing special . Simultaneously, my convent school background used to totally surprise me till the day I heard Pink Floyd – they had used the same instrument on which I played raagas to sound so totally different. That was the beginning of the hybrid process defining my music career. In November, I will be in Copenhagen collaborating for the first time with the Figura Ensemble at which we will play each other’s compositions. In August, I will participate in the London International Arts Festival in a jugalbandi with Vidushi Jyotsna Srikanth.
Tell us about the art of merging and the craft of keeping your connection with the slide guitar alive.
As part of MoonArra, I consciously look at music as the only force guiding all other expressions. We don’t jump around on stage, but our music moves people. We don’t scream, people listening to us do. We play music to express, not impress. My collaboration with Ehsaan and Loy in Coke Studio has been very special . Collaborations today should be about making the musician with you sound good maybe even better and should bring out his best and vice versa.
You also tie in to Sufi and the Newlife with Shivamani, Runa Rizvi arousing a new genre. What prompted you to start this initiative?
With the band Newlife, Shivamani, Runa -- gazal maestro Usatd Rajkumar Rizvi’s daughter --- and I are exploring traditional Sufi music merging with world sounds and jazz.
As a minstrel you explore terrains and arrive at American Kannada Koota Association (AKKA) this September. What’s special about AKKA?
Music has rarely stayed within boundaries. As I wander beyond these boundaries, through AKKA, I am excited to see where a culture is headed, rather than sticking to where it came from. For, AKKA is a forum to explore what Kannaddigas have contributed to the world of music outside Karnataka.