Kartik Trivedi - A Rare Interview With The Classical Composer & Artist

Maestro Kartik Trivedi
Classical Composer and Artist
Photograph by Leticia Alaniz © 2013 All Rights Reserved

For many, classical Indian Raga music and visual art are two different things.  But for Maestro Kartik Trivedi they are inseparable, one and the same, as he has delicately explored with his very own unique sound and impressionist paintings all with the touch of his fingertips on the piano keys and with a paintbrush.

Kartik Trivedi is a living legend from the Northwestern state of Gujarat, in India.  He is considered one of the most fascinating contemporary artists of our time.  As an accomplished classical pianist, composer, and painter he has been honored with innumerable awards and accolades around the world. 

Few artists accomplish so much in their lifetime and his history is nothing short of incredible.  Maestro Trivedi granted me an afternoon for a very personal and rare interview.  I am honored to share with you a rare insight into his personal world, his art and his music.

Leticia Alaniz: Welcome Maestro Kartik Trivedi.  What was your childhood like and whom was your biggest influence?

Trivedi: I was born in a small village called Lunsar on December 10th, 1937.  I remember a quiet and peaceful childhood and as early as age five I began drawing.  My father named Shri Laxmishanker Nanjibhai Trivedi, was the head school master and a fine water color painter.  He nurtured in me my visual creativity.  My mother named Sharada, was a folk singer and she was my first and most important influence in music.  She taught me the fundamentals of folk and Raga music.  Here were the beginnings of my humble life and career in fine arts.  

When I was a child, my natural surroundings were also very encouraging.  There was a very beautiful and fine lake nearby and a shrine that my mother used to take me to called 'Shri Mataji Divine'.  I used to sketch there for hours and I used a newspaper in the beginning, because I didn't have drawing paper.

Oil on Canvas by Kartik Trivedi
Photograph by Leticia Alaniz © 2013 All Rights Reserved

When I was six years old I entered a statewide art competition and won first place.  I was the number one painter and that was a very big encouragement for me at the time.  And then as time goes by, my father got transferred from one place to another, and that in a way allowed me to learn different cultural aspects.  I was very happy that I had the opportunity to meet different types of people and learn about their customs and their music.   

Leticia Alaniz:  Did you have a piano at home?

Trivedi:  I did not have a piano at home.  I was introduced to a keyboard instrument when I was ten years old called a harmonium.  It has the same keyboard as a piano but it sounds like an organ.  So I was able to learn scales just like if it was a piano.

Leticia Alaniz:  You have lived in the US many years, what year did you come?

Trivedi:  I came to America in 1967.  I went to a school, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and there was a very beautiful student center, and on the second floor there was a Steinway grand piano.  At night I used to go there to practice and I found lots of students interested and they would all sit around the piano and listen to me play.  I was encouraged a lot and they said, "Why don't you give a concert?  We like your music very much".   After That I had learned how to sing north Indian classical music which I play known as Hindustani music.    

Leticia Alaniz:  How did you start incorporating the piano into Ragas and into that style of classical music?  

Trivedi:  When I was in India I used to play a flute called bansuri, and I had learned how to sing classical musicals and I learned how to play the sarod, an indian stringed instrument.  When I was experimenting I found out that it is possible that someone can play the complete form of Raga music on the piano.  In my days we had maybe three or four musicians interested that were experimenting with the sound of the piano.  

I use the second pedal to sustain the sound and the third pedal to elevate the sound so it almost sounds like the sound of the sarod.  It depends on how you strike the note. And after you strike the note, one is expected to create  some kind of appropriate environment so that the Raga can sound in a most appropriate way.  

Leticia Alaniz: You're one of the few artists that has been playing this type of music around the world. Maestro Ravi Shankar was one of the first whom introduced classical indian music to the western world and in particular to the US.  Are you in any way compared to him or are you asked questions?  

Trivedi: I have a lot of respect for the late Maestro Ravi Shankar.  He is a very great composer and a very great sitar player.  I used to listen to the great sarod composers as well and when I was living in Santa Clara, I decided to study a masters degree in world music at the San Jose State University.  I worked with many great music teachers which highly influenced me into learning more.  At that time my main instrument was the piano.  Today, I have my own piano which is a german piano made by Schulz Piano Company and it is already about 115 years old!  

Leticia Alaniz:  And it still sounds good!

Trivedi:  Oh, very beautiful!  It has a beautiful sound and I just love that sound!  In America for some time I played piano in Indian restaurants.  I would play somewhere in the corner and not disturb the patrons.  

Leticia Alaniz:  You went from playing in restaurants to playing at the world famous Carnegie Hall!  Tell us more about that.

Trivedi: I performed at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City.  I performed in the first half, I opened the concert.  And the second half, my teacher played with the sound of the sarod.  The sound of sarod is always there because the sarod always attracted me so much.  And then I also performed at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.  

Leticia Alaniz:  No small feat!  

Trivedi:  You may not believe this but when I gave a concert at The Lincoln Center, the New York Times printed my photograph on a music page and you know, I have a very old bow tie, I loved to wear that bow tie.  I have kept that bow tie as a memento.  But my friends tell me that I look very funky! 

Leticia Alaniz: An artist is an artist!  

Trivedi: I just love that funky look!  I have a three piece suit which is now like a four piece… but that's alright…

Oil on Canvas by Kartik Trivedi
Photograph by Leticia Alaniz © 2013 All Rights Reserved

Leticia Alaniz:  An artist dresses as he must dress…  (we laughed a lot)

Leticia Alaniz:  I want to ask you about your paintings… Your art is considered very impressionistic and beautiful.  What inspires you?

Trivedi:  When I was in high school in Gujarat, at that time I had the opportunity to see the books on French and American impressionism.  From the very beginning I liked pastel colors and somehow the different sense of composition at the same time, the choppy brushstrokes and all that, you know.  The colors were so fantastic and the analyses of sunlight and light in general.  So I liked that and I immediately started working in an impressionist style.  

When I came to America, I was stationed in Cleveland, Ohio and not to far away from my apartment there is a very great and famous museum, The Cleveland Museum of Art, and that is where I saw the originals.  Until 1967 I had never seen an original.  

I used to lecture inside the museum for adult education.  I would take a group of 10, 20, or 30 people and would take them from one gallery to another gallery.  At that time I was studying to receive a MA degree in Art History from Case Western Reserve University.  My first degree is in the area of Economics and Political history that I received form Gujarat State University.  As You call Texas State we have Gujarat State which is a very developed state culturally and economically.  

I had a lot of student friends that studied art history in my lectures and they told me about Kent, Ohio.  I heard about the University and so I went there and I received a MFA, Master of Fine Arts in paintings.  At that time I was a very fine, a very good impressionist painter and I just continued to experiment in that particular style.  

Leticia Alaniz:  What painters do you consider your most influential?  

Trivedi:  One, which I would like to mention is Claude Monet.  I used to teach Claude Monet's paintings.  I taught art history classes and later art appreciation.  We analyzed and talked about different styles of paintings, cubism, impressionism, post impressionism, renaissance, baroque and all of those..

Leticia Alaniz:  In your own art work, what subject is what you paint the most?

Trivedi:  My style of painting is impressionist.  But I also paint in a very native style, a very decorative Indian style of art.  In 1960, while still living in India, I won a national recognition award.  My work was highly appreciated.  That in a way encouraged me a lot.  At that time I was working near a college near the Arabian Sea, near the seashore so I painted my surroundings.  

Leticia Alaniz: Do you incorporate mostly nature and landscapes, portrait or religious motifs?

Trivedi:  I do paint portraits, but mostly I call myself a landscape painter.  I love landscapes so much!

Leticia Alaniz:  And Speaking of portraits, I know of a very famous one that is hanging in Buckingham Palace.  

Trivedi:  Yes well you see, my few friends from London, England called me and they said that quite a few artists from all over the world have presented their paintings about the special occasion, the marriage of Lady Di and and Prince Charles.  And I wanted to do something and I found some photographs of the entire wedding procession, so I decided to do a special painting of the marriage procession.  I received a very, very nice response, it was a great honor.  Prince Charles' secretary wrote me a very fine personal letter saying that they all loved my work.  Of course that encouraged me.  

After that I did a special painting for late President of France François Mitterand and he liked my work very much and today as I understand, the painting has been sent to The National Cultural Heritage museum of France.  I feel happy, I say Voilå!  But very good, ¡Muchas Gracias!  Eternally thank you!  

Leticia Alaniz:  I understand that your paintings are also hanging in the house of late President Ronald Reagan and also with Bill Clinton, among many others. 

Trivedi:  Yes that's true!  I did a special painting for late President Ronald Reagan.  The subject is called, "Welcome Home".  When the 52 hostages came back from Iran, there was a very big procession.  In the back you see the senate building, the congressional building in Washington DC and there was so much happiness everywhere.  So I studied a couple of photographs then did a special painting.  President Ronald Reagan liked it and Nancy Reagan also liked it very much.  Another painting that I did is called "Spring Melody".  The paintings had an impressionistic touch.  A lady from California called me and told me that my paintings were put on display at the presidential library in California which is near somewhere in the Los Angeles area.  I am so happy!  A poor artist like me can do little good things in this world.  

Leticia Alaniz:  You're an amazing artist!   

Trivedi:  President Bill Clinton's painting was, "Autumn in Chicago".  I think that event was also very well covered by CNN News.  

Leticia Alaniz:  Did you get to present the painting personally?   

Trivedi:  Yes!  I met him personally!  There is a book written about me and it's called Kartik Trivedi, Contemporary Impressionist, that is the title.  That was printed in New York City and this was many many years ago.  So I presented him the book and we took a photograph and he was very kind, and he said, "I will carry the book", and so he was carrying the book with him.  An he also wrote me a very nice thanks letter.  I feel very happy and I thank him and thank everybody, those who arranged it.  And the painting I think they said they liked it.  

I presented a second painting to President Bill Clinton when there was a very big parade in New York City.  It was when the American Army came back from, let's see, from where?  Saddam Hussein's country, what is that called?  Oh my mind!  

Leticia Alaniz: Iraq, Desert Storm.

Trivedi:  Yes!  That was a very big parade.  You remind me because I may be talking wrong, I get lost!  So whenever everybody is ready I'm ready…  

Camerman Tony Quinn:  We're ready…

Leticia Alaniz:  We are rolling, but this is good…

Oil on Canvas by Kartik Trivedi
Photograph by Leticia Alaniz © 2013 All Rights Reserved

Trivedi:  When the American Army came back from Iraq I presented a painting to President Bill Clinton and Lady Clinton.  There was a very fantastic parade that I attended and did some drawings.  There were so many very fine and big American flags hanging everywhere.  That was a very wonderful subject for a painter like me, other people have also painted this subject, and so I painted that and they liked it.  This painting is also at the Presidential Art Collection a the White House.  

These are some of the things that I like.  You see, this is so funny… When I did my first painting for President Ronald Reagan, he was a very kind person to me and he used to write letters to me and I used to read, and you know the postman used to come all the way to the second floor of my apartment.  He would knock on the door and say, "Mr. Trivedi, you open the door, I have something for you!"  And I said, "Oh my god, I don't know what that could be."  But he said, "Mr. President has written you a personal letter!"  I would tell him, "I have a can of soda for you!"  And he was always so happy to get a can of soda.  You see, before President Reagan wrote me a letter, that was always a question.  Everybody used to ask me, "Is there anybody who knows you?"  And my Indian background taught me one thing, "Yeah, my god knows me", but it wasn't helping me at all.  So I had a couple of xerox copies made and then I would say, "Yeah, yeah, Mr. President knows me!"  So I would tell my friends sit down, have some tea or coffee.  It was a very interesting and funny thing.  

Suddenly, I would do another painting.  I made one when I was in Santa Clara, California, and I took a painting all the way to the White House and it was wonderful.  I enjoy doing special paintings for dignitaries, a religious leader or a great musician, a writer, or a playwright, actors, actresses.  You see, I'm a painter, I'm a teacher, I was a teacher, but now I retired I think since January 2011.  So now I play piano.

Leticia Alaniz:  You retired form teaching but not from painting…

Trivedi:  No, no, I still paint.  Recently I have written a book and I came to Dallas city because I heard that the people of Dallas city are very friendly and very generous and very loving and caring, so since the last two or three weeks, I'm experiencing their love and care and all that.  I would like to come back to Dallas some day.  

Leticia Alaniz:  You are always welcome.

Trivedi:  Thank you!  Hardly you cannot find such wonderful people anywhere else.  Music has been very much a part of my soul.  Can I talk something about my mystical experience?  

Leticia Alaniz:  Oh yes, of course!

Trivedi:  This is a most true story…  This was 1975 and I was living in Bedford, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio.  One day in the morning it must have been around 4:00 or 4:30.  And a very, big, golden light… I saw a golden light, someone woke me up, I was still in the bed, and the background was the white wall of my apartment, that golden light spoke to me, the language is English, and said that at one point in time I was a very famous musician in Germany.  And they said we have reserved your german house, you are in heaven, it is filled with music.  And after my death, they will take me back to my German house which has a very grand piano.  The golden light talked to me and said that we are going to take you back to music.   And the thing was so personal, so special.  

Leticia Alaniz:  It sounds like it.  So spiritual!  

Trivedi:  Yeah, why would anybody care to come from heaven, without appointment or anything in the early morning and wake me up and say, "Hi…Hey you, I want to talk to you!"  At the time, I had to have eight graduation units of the 96 I needed to graduate with a MFA, so eight units I took in music and I made a presentation.  This was music I know, this much I can play, this much I can talk and they liked it very much.  And they also gave me a scholarship.  They said, "Yeah, you are very good".  So, eventually after that I fell down and broke my fingers and took care of my fingers.  I moved to Santa Clara and I went to San Jose University and told them my story.  "I said, look I want to study music."  They said, "What do you do?"  I said, "I'm an art instructor."  So they asked me to come for an interview.  They looked at my credentials and they encouraged me to study music.  If I want to go back to 1975, I would say that the golden light was burning fire.  

Leticia Alaniz:  Well I don't think that was just a golden light because here we have proof of your recordings.  It was a dream for you, but it is a reality for your fans and those whom appreciate fine music.  Tell us about this.  

Trivedi:  The Raga Impressions!  You know I'm an impressionist painter, and when I look at the keyboard of a piano, I think, why can't I create a painting.. you see each key on a piano keyboard has a special color.  I look at the entire keyboard like there are so many colors there.  So striking a piano key in such a way, so it should create an impressionist brush stroke.  So the basic idea is, can I do that, can I be allowed to do that, and lots of great musicians say, yes it's very possible and also very acceptable because you are still working within the classical discipline.  So within the classical discipline, I play classical hindustani music.  I get a tabla player which is a pair of indian drums, and we practice and I try to create the entire mood, the Raga mood that is.  So in The Raga Impressions there is a complete presentation in a most traditional,  classical way.  But then in some cases I am running of it and creating and impressionist feeling of a Raga.  It shouldn't be very difficult to understand, that is what I'm trying to do.  Something very light, very much just searching for a light, in a most lighter way.  

Leticia Alaniz:  The cover to this collection of Ragas is absolutely beautiful and it is also one of your paintings.  Will you play one of your Raga pieces for us?  

Trivedi:  Yeah, I certainly would.  Thank you, thank you very much for asking me!  Let me tell you one thing.  I play very much in a traditional style.  You know, our classical Indian music is very monophonic, at a time you touch one note.  Western classical music is a form of compound sound which we call polyphonic.  I will do two small pieces for you and your audience.  One will be very traditional, I will try to play like a sarod.   The other piece which I will play in a Raga, at that time I created a very special romantic feeling.  My work got very much influenced by Chopin and Franz Liszt, and one I like a lot Schubert.  Here is a piano, my favorite instrument because I like the sound and it is the discipline that I belong to.  I'm a historian of hindustani music and in my studies in the classroom and outside the classroom, I love Frederick Chopin's trait, I'll do a little bit of that for you.  Remind me if forget, there is something that is not in our tradition, a heavy imposition and the introduction of the polyphonic system.  So then, I'm a student.  I'm trying to create a totally new music.  

Leticia Alaniz:  It's all unique and original.  Everything that I have heard of yours is unique.  I have never heard anything so amazing like this because there are many artists whom record a specific style but yours is totally unique. 

Kartik Trivedi & Leticia Alaniz

Trivedi:  Thank you, I appreciate your good comments and as you know a good comment always helps the artist.  A bad comment can kill the artist.  People get so much joy out of it, ahh I killed him man!  Stop!  help him, help that poor guy or poor girl!  So we need a lot of encouragement and a lot of good things around us.  By the way, soft drinks always help me, getting lost into my little world of art and music.  Sometimes one can goes inside my system, and I feel oh my god, I'm on the ninth cloud, it could be even the tenth cloud who knows!  

Leticia Alaniz:  Let's hear you play a little bit.    

Trivedi:  First what I will do is play a small Raga, then I will talk a little bit, then a polyphonic piece.

Leticia Alaniz: This is a mystical experience!   

Trivedi:  Yes, very mystical!  Oh! I'm gonna get you!  I like the sound of piano so much.

Leticia Alaniz:  Yeah, so do I…  What is this piece you're going to play for us?  

Trivedi:  It is a very traditional classical raga a Noon Raga, it is a noon melody, and I will play in a very traditional style like an instrumental solo.  Next I would like to do a special piece for you and your audience in a western polyphonic sound which is basically in a pentatonic scale.  

Leticia Alaniz:  Thank you very much for playing two beautiful pieces for me.  It has been an immense honor and pleasure to meet you and I thank you for your time and I appreciate you coming out for this very special interview.   

Trivedi:  I feel very honored to be interviewed by you and I just don't know how to say thanks, thanks a million!  

Leticia Alaniz:  It has been all my pleasure and I thank you.  May you have a long life.  

Trivedi:  Muchas gracias señorita. I hope I didn't goof too much today... 

Maestro Kartikbhai as he is respectfully called in Gujarat culture, is an artist whom had a dream since his early childhood.  Since his humble beginnings he worked hard to become an accomplished musician, composer and painter.  He has an enviable personality that flourishes with grace and comedy and if you look carefully it is exposed onto his music and paintings.  With sincerity and dedication he has lived a life of accomplishments holding four Masters degrees in Economics/Political History from Gujarat State University in India, Master in Art History from Case Western Reserve University, Master of Fine Arts from Kent University, and a Master in World Music from San Jose State University.

His piano compositions are deeply moving, mesmerizing, and emotional and they convey his message through one's body, mind, and soul.  It is music that cannot be placed in one single category.  It is a loving marriage of classical indian hindustani music and western classical.  He is a living legend, a rare musician.

Note: This is a transcript of an interview that was filmed live and unscripted.  A special appreciation for cameramen Tony Quinn and Joe Rodriguez of JR Media Group International, Yogi Patel of Pratham USA, Mihir Patel, Prerna Bohre, and David Roziere for providing the location for filming.  

Please Join for an Art Exhibition & Piano Concert By Kartik Trivedi.  

Sunday, March 24th 2013

At Windsor, 7750 LBJ Frwy. Dallas, TX 75251

Art Exhibition: 12 pm - 7 pm

Music:      5 pm - 7 pm