Wadkar sceptical of social media benefits for singers

Suresh Wadkar and his wife Padma talk about music, social media influences and what they like about Bengaluru

Veteran singer Suresh Wadkar and his wife Padma Wadkar were in the city over the weekend, to announce the launch of their music-based workshop, ‘Interaction with Guru and Shishya’. The workshop was recently held at Shikshak Sadan, KG Road.

In conversation with Rakshitha MN, the husband-wife duo talk about their upcoming workshops, their music school ‘Ajivasan’ and more.

Tell us about the recent music workshop.

Suresh Wadkar: We run a music school called ‘Ajivasan’ in Mumbai, with an aim to spread music education among people. We are now looking to reach out to southern India as well. The workshop we conducted yesterday marks the start of our new journey. The response has been good so far. We are looking forward to conducting more workshops in the coming days.

What can one expect from these workshops?

Padma Wadkar: The aesthetic of classical music is missing. There are a lot of classically trained singers who fail to apply the knowledge to other genres of music. This workshop is mainly for them. We will be training and helping them connect both. For those who have no knowledge of classical music, this workshop will help them understand it better.

A lot of professional musicians nowadays come from music reality shows. Do you think reality shows make any difference?

Padma: As far as we see it, coming or not coming from reality show does not make any difference. It is just a mentality, as most of the recent singers hail from some reality show. But ultimately, it is just the talent that matters.

Do you think the music scenario in India has changed owing to all the social media hype?

Padma: Well, both Suresh and I are a little old school. We don’t believe in social media as a platform for young singers. Though social media helps young singers to project themselves, it has many other negative effects. Most of the videos might be fake. You never know if the person is actually singing. It creates a lot of false hopes in young singers.

Do you visit Karnataka often? What do you like about the place?

Suresh: My wife likes silk saris here. Though we don’t visit often, we never miss a chance to come down to Bengaluru.

Bollywood has been following the trend of remaking old songs for some time now. Any comments on this?
Suresh: I am not against it. I think remakes make us relive the good old songs.

Since both of you are singers, does conversation at home revolve only around music?
Padma: I was Suresh’s student before we got married. So yes, most of our conversations are based on music. Since we also run a music school, we can’t help it (laughs).