38: Thoughts on Music by Mohi Bahauddin Dagar

I am so honoured and privilege to listen to great master without any microphones in his house in Panvel, Mumbai. I am keeping his introduction short for those who don’t know him.  He is a Rudra Veena Player. A sangeet natak academy award winner in 2012 and a 20th generation of Dagar lineage, referring to Swami Haridas Dagaur of the 13th century  I would like to start by asking the most fundamental question which you answered in one of your interview online - "A beenkar must never be in a hurry" - Can you please explain this thought.  Is it possible in today’s time to play traditional Dhrupad and still make it appealing to attract more listeners? How do you ensure that the purity is maintained and yet it engages new age audience?  In one of your interview you mentioned, "there are no elders left to criticise the nonsense we play” - How do you ensure the quality is maintained? In today’s noisy day and age, people really don’t have reference point to understand what is good and what is great. How do you maintain integrity?  I would like to mention one quote from you interview published in Darbar.org - “Learning is not just the technique. It has to be a way of life” - Can you tell us what do you mean by this?  In one more reference to you interviews online, you said, “We cannot compromise with the instrument’s rituals even if we die of hunger” - Where does this passion come from?