Kathmandu:

He is humble and down to earth. He does not have that air of arrogance, and if you meet him casually, you will not even realise that he is a guitar maestro who has made his mark in the musical scene by playing Eastern classical music on a Western instrument. The way he strums the guitar, the way the he expresses feelings through its music and the fusion he creates mesmerises all.

Meet Anil Shahi, the musician who has given fusion music a new platform.

“I never say I am the one who introduced fusion music on a grand scale. It was always there. I just tried to bring it to the public through different ways,” says Shahi modestly about his achievement.

“Music has always been my reason for existence. Since the time I realised and discovered music, it has be-en my passion,” says Shahi.

He first started playing music at the age of nine and tried his hand at percussion. But his uncle and friends use to play guitar during informal jam ups in the tole every evening.

“I use to watch my kaka and friend Bal Krishna playing guitar and slowly started to get interested and took initial lessons from them. Though at that age mostly youth are interested in playing electric guitar, I was always into acoustic sound. So I concentrated on hollow guitar,” he shares.

With jamming up on songs by legends like Narayan Gopal, Om Bikram Bista, Deep Shrestha, Beatles, Dire Straits and Eagles, he started his musical journey with a guitar by his side at the age of 12.

He adds with smile, “My family was never against my inclination towards music as most of them loved music. My grandfather was a tabla player and my father always encouraged me. I remember when I was a teenager, whenever a guest used to visit us, Bua use to make me play the guitar. I use to get red faced and nervous and never looked up throughout the performance.”

Soon he felt the need to learn classical music and went to Gurukul, Varanasi where he learnt classical raagas. When he first went to London in 2000 for a concert, he was introduced to fusion music, which not only caught his attention but also inspired him to do something on his own.

“I wanted to play someth-ing different but people had to relate with it, and fusion music is the best option. It is a genre where any kind of music can be included and everyone loves it. Fusion does not have any boundaries and we can do lots of improvisation,” he says.

Shahi, who has already composed music for nine Nepali movies, feels that producers normally demand Bollywood-type music. But he wanted to do something different so has come up with fusion albums like Maya Mantra, Raagmani, Guitar Lounge and Acoustic Fusion.

He expresses, “Today fusion music is not only popular among foreigners, but also among the locals. Slowly people have started to understand and appreciate fusion music. When musicians — foreigners or Nepalis — say that they like my music, I feel nice. Just popularity is not enough for a musician, appreciation is equally important from contemporary musicians.”

Apart from his passion in music, he is also a self-confessed movie buff and he enjoyed Tareen Zameen Par tremendously.

“When you decide to do something different, there will be lots of obstruction. Work hard and your dedication and talent will pay back some day and people will notice you. I always believed that if you want to achieve less, you work less; but if you want something big, be ready to give more,” he says on a parting note.