Conversation "One"

                         ABBREVIATED VERSION 2 OF CONVERSATIONS ON SINGING “RAGHOOPATI RAAGHAVA”

 CONVERSATION 1:  M.D. & Kristin Rao – Gandhi Memorial Center on February 7, 2009

 KR :  Can you tell me what it’s like to sing “Raghoopati Raaghava” at Gandhi Jayanti?

MD:  . . . Singing . . . with others at this particular prayer meeting . . . invokes different feelings of my surroundings—of the particular institution, the people, and the circumstances. And along with that is the feeling of its history . . . because I’ve sung it . . .  over the years since . . . I first came to this institute in 1985. So each time . . . it brings out memories of the past occasions. . . .  

. . . “Raam Dhoon” is a song . . . to God that I sing. . . . There’s only one God, one Truth, and that’s what Gandhiji taught. . . . God is One and honored by different names. . . . I don’t pray to God as a Hindu, or a Jew, or a Muslim. I pray to God as a human being. . . . Gandhi Jayanti is . . . the most important and biggest occasion of the year for me. . . . [Singing the song] brings back memories of everything in this institution which is really the Self-Relevation Church of the Gandhi Memorial Center. . . . So it’s been a great connection that I’ve had with this place and also my daughter went to the Sunday school here since she was five years old and she came here every Sunday. And so she became very close to a lot of the people here . . .  When I sing that song at Gandhi Jayanti I’m singing with my family. It’s a family occasion. Kamalaji always says this is, you know, family. And so singing the song with others in the Chorus, but everyone in the audience also sings it . . . That’s how it was in [Gandhiji’s’ ] . . . prayer meetings. . . . I’ve sung it on stage for many, many years. And of course I know the song very well so if I’m not on stage I still sing it from, you know, the audience or from the door if I’m assigned the door duty. . . . It invokes memories, a lot of memories, of my daughter’s childhood, of my family here, my connection here . . . .  

KR:  What kind of musical background do you have?

MD:  I don’t really have much of a musical background other than what I’ve learnt here. I did take Jeff’s classes in Tagore music.  And I participated in quite a few choirs.  And that’s pretty much it . . . . And when I was a kid I used to play guitar, but I never read music. . . . In “Raam Dhoon” . . . we sing . . . songs basically just by ear because I don’t read music.