Praful talks to Punya about his most recent years as a musician and composer, about playing the bansuri as a Westerner, and giving solo concerts
A few years ago, on a beach holiday in Corfu, Greece, Praful met Punya in the bar of the prestigious Hotel Horizon, where he spoke about his upbringing and professional life while watching the waves and drinking – most probably – a freshly pressed orange juice. The first two parts of the interview were published some time ago.
In Sax in the attic we traced the time of his student years and his arrival in Pune in 1992, where he immediately played for the Evening Meeting in Buddha Hall.
And in The silence you can’t express in words he spoke about composing mantras for Deva Premal and of becoming a big star in the US with smooth jazz.
In this third part, we follow Praful’s creativity over the last 20 years, including the most recent concept of a workshop for musicians.
Freedom!
The deal with the record label Therapy Records came to an end in 2007 (we were in the middle of the global collapse of the music industry). Suddenly I was free again. It felt like falling into nothingness, but I had the opportunity to explore a new musical direction.
I had already started buying equipment in order to run my own studio and so did a bit of production. Which means that my next album, Where Spirits Live, which is this CD here, was my first production! Since then I have been doing my own thing, releasing an album almost every one or two years, under my own label. So far I am very happy with this arrangement. I don’t have the same sales numbers I used to have, but I am playing – and I’m in charge!
In the States I was sometimes playing for 5,000 people. Today I don’t often play for that many people, but I am much more fulfilled with the way I live now and with what I do.
My love for the bansuri
In 2013, I came out with this CD: The Silent Side of Satie. The music is by the French composer, Eric Satie. As you say, one would expect that instead of playing it on the piano, as it was intended, one would have chosen the silver flute and not the bansuri, as I did. I very much like that combination as it gives an Indian flavour. Also, with the silver flute it has probably been done so many times already. It’s quite common to play Satie with another instrument than the piano, but to use a non-Western instrument gives it that unexpected element.
You see, hardly anybody plays the bansuri the way I do. Indian flute players have not learned to play over harmonies the way I have, because it’s not part of their music as it is in jazz. They would approach it with a different mindset and would play more or less one raga over the whole piece. But with Satie you have modulations, you go from one key to another, and you can’t do this if you don’t understand the harmonic structures in depth.
On the other hand, for us Westerners it takes a lot of time and dedication to get an in-depth understanding of Indian ragas, their tonal and melodic nuances which have developed and evolved over thousands of years. An Indian musician will probably always be better at playing ragas than I will, but I can do something with the bansuri they can’t. And this is what makes it interesting for me.
The question now is, where can I bring in my own roots, my own background? I have always tried to combine cultures, I have always had the feeling of Don’t try to imitate them and pretend you are Indian, because then you will always be second choice. But if you manage to do something that includes your roots, then suddenly you become very strong in what you do.
Yeah, The Silent Side of Satie is sort of a very unique approach.
Another reason why I did not choose the silver flute is that with the bansuri, the Indian flute, you can create emotions and spaces you can’t with a silver flute.
In my first year in Pune, in 1992, I went to a concert – you know those concerts in very large halls that last the whole night? Hariprasad Chaurasia was playing that night. As soon as I heard him I was like, Wow, I need to learn this instrument! So the next day I bought my first flutes and took lessons with a sweet French sannyasin, who was a bansuri player: Palash.
Some years later, Hariprasad started teaching in Rotterdam – as far as I know, the only place outside Mumbai where he regularly taught. I took lessons with him in the Netherlands and visited him again in Mumbai a few years later. I didn’t complete the full course of study, but he is still my flute guru. Sometimes, even seeing him for just one day is already inspiring. That’s how I began playing the bansuri. Nowadays, I hardly play the silver flute. There’s something about the bansuri – it opens the heart. I just love it so much!
Collaborations and mantras
In 2011 I released an album called Pure, recorded in the mountains in France. It’s only flute and a saxophone solo, without accompaniment – it’s very simple, very Zen.
And this here, also from 2011, is Colibri Heart Ecstatic Dance Journey, a guided dance meditation that I made together with an English shaman, Guy Barrington. It’s basically a one-hour dance meditation with different stages.
Mirror of the Heart, an album inspired by Sufi music and featuring musicians from Turkey and Pakistan, came out in 2013.
And in 2014 I made a production for Satyaa and Pari; it’s called Healing Mantras. I know them well because when they give concerts in Germany they quite often ask me to play with them on stage, and they also invite me to their singing retreats here in Corfu, or for New Year’s in Bavaria.
In October that same year I brought out my first mantra album, Into Being. It includes some new mantras I had composed and some that were ‘left over’ from the ones I had written for Deva Premal.
The following year, in 2015, I made a CD called Quintessence, together with a didgeridoo player from New Zealand, Sika. He is a very beautiful, warm-hearted guy, an amazing player, and a spiritual man also. We have a great connection and also performed concerts together in 2014 and 2015.
Whenever I meet someone, it’s very often about that click – and then we enter into an amazing adventure together. I had the same with a woman I toured with for two, three years: Peruquois. She is quite well-known, an amazing singer from Australia. We had this love affair through music, and in 2009 we made a Tantra CD together, Breathing Love. Then somehow our paths separated again. She lives in Moscow now and is doing her thing, and I am doing mine. That’s how it goes… It’s almost like love affairs that you can’t really control much. The love goes this way and that way. I mean, the love is always there, but the paths go in different directions.
And the list of releases continues. In recent years, there have been more and more singles, though I still release full albums as well. Most people stream music these days, and you can find mine on Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, and other platforms.
Those who would like to support me can purchase tracks and albums via Bandcamp. It’s a great platform that passes most of the revenue directly on to the artists. You’ll find my complete catalogue there.
I still have to tell you about the studio project I made with a whole band. It was a wonderful experience. In 2017 we locked ourselves in an amazing studio, for 5 days! Out came an album trilogy, named after the band, Spirited Tribe. One album contains composed pieces, while the other two consist of completely improvised, extended sonic journeys. In recent years, I have also been regularly making meditation albums again, with Ma Ananda Sarita and with my partner Vimal Gabrielsen. It’s something I love doing and has meaning for me, as it brings meditation and healing out into the world, to the people.
New collaborations have emerged, like the ongoing Prayer series with Dana Devi. When time allows, I also like to produce songs for other artists in my studio, although I don’t seem to manage more than one album a year…
My music has also shifted a little when I renewed my connection with South America. You might remember I told you that I speak Portuguese fluently from the time I lived in Brazil. And I also speak Spanish. So lately I have been writing lyrics again in these languages. In 2021, I came out with Selva Sagrada, and in 2024 with Sun on Your Wings – two albums that bring my own distinct flavour to what is now often called ‘medicine music’.
Over the winter I am always busy in the studio, and in the summer I am usually touring. The beautiful thing is that now I tour in places where my partner also loves to come and our daughter Isha is well received. I’m not playing at festivals where people just get drunk. I am in beautiful places; yoga festivals, Osho festivals, tantra festivals, where it’s wonderful to stay for four to five days with the whole family. We are quite happy with what is happening. Step by step. And enjoying every step very much. It’s a lifestyle you have to really like.
Together with my partner I also give workshops, called Healing Sound Healing Touch. She works with healing and I play live music for the events. People do some exercises, maybe a guided meditation, then lie down. And I play music while she does the healing. I also work on them with acoustic instruments.
One of the long-term projects I have is the one for danceable music, called Red Fulka, with a Moroccan DJ producer, Kareem Raïhani. Our vision is of a ‘right kind of dancing music’. It’s like world music you can dance to, modern but with a lot of heart and tribal influences. It’s being played a lot all over the world in conscious dance events like Ecstatic Dance.
The lockdown was a bit challenging for many artists, as we were completely grounded and there was little need anywhere for our services. But to me, it was a wonderful time. I received some financial support from the government and for the first time in decades had a long period where I didn’t have to travel. My body loved the break from touring and being on the move. I enjoyed it very much. In that period I could focus all my energy on making the album, Selva Sagrada.
Playing on my own – that sense of not knowing
I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. Of course there is an internal thread that sort of guides me on. I want to continue exploring the music and continue with more Praful solo concerts. These concerts came about quite organically. Not that they were something I had ever asked for…
About fifteen years ago, I was invited to play at a festival in the Netherlands. I said, “OK, I’ll bring some musicians with me.” But they insisted: “No, just you. It’s not because we don’t have the budget. When you play alone, the silence is much deeper. When you bring other musicians, it sometimes feels like it’s a bit too much. Please come alone.”
And that’s how it began. More and more people started inviting me to perform solo. At first, I was a little afraid. Just me? How am I going to fill two hours with only a flute and keep it interesting? But life gently nudged me in that direction. Now I am really enjoying it and continue to explore it. I wouldn’t want to only do that, but it’s something very beautiful.
Nowadays, Live looping is a big part of my solo performances – it means that you can record yourself while playing and then add things on top of that. The other night you heard me play and saw me use a looper, and you asked me if I didn’t get disturbed in the flow by that technical part.
Every situation has its own good sides and bad sides. In a concert, when you play alone you can be as spontaneous as you could never be with two, three, four, five musicians. The more musicians, the more agreements about things you have to make beforehand. Playing with someone else is very beautiful and I would never want to miss that. To play alone, however, gives you an incredible independence and spontaneity.
Imagine diving into this ‘not knowing’ and maybe also into the fear that comes up – because the mind always wants to know what is going to happen next. So you stand there in front of a big crowd. They are all looking at you and you close your eyes and wait for what wants to come through… That’s actually what this whole thing is about – not anticipating anything.
When we go on stage with a whole repertoire that we have prepared with the other musicians – we all know which chords change when – you could say that the repertoire is a way to avoid the not-knowing. When you step into the fragile space of not-knowing you are completely creating out of the moment, and you also have to have the guts to do that. It’s a challenge for a musician. For me at least, it’s something I love exploring as a challenge.
There is another aspect to it: if I know that I can do it alone, the moment I’m playing with other musicians it does not feel as if I am depending on them. It’s like in a relationship: if you are together with someone and you feel like Oh I cannot live without this person, you are in a co-dependency. But if you feel like you are completely happy and fulfilled on your own as well, it’s such an incredible bonus!
So it’s a bit like that in music as well: you will become very strong in yourself when you know that you can do things alone. And while standing there with other musicians, you feel that self-confidence, because you know that even if you were on your own, you would be able to hold and create that space.
For a musician, it might also be a challenge to play alone. It’s easier to, let’s say, hide behind the other musicians; you don’t need to carry so much all by yourself. In that sense it’s maybe the ultimate step to find out: How much responsibility can I take for holding the space during a whole concert?
When I am playing at an event for Eckhart Tolle, for instance, I stand alone in front of 2,000 people without a clue about what I am going to do. And without any computer tricks! My beloved, Vimal, always reminds me just before I go up on stage, “Just play from your heart, don’t make a plan about what you’re going to do! Just play, completely from the moment, because that’s when you are at best.” That’s how she supports me to be my best!
Musician’s Quest
Another project I want to mention is the retreats and trainings I’ve been giving in recent years. The Musician’s Quest brings music and spirituality together and invites instrumentalists and vocalists to explore their true calling, expand their creativity, and step out of their comfort zones.
I enjoy these retreats tremendously, supporting other musicians to bring out their full potential. I feel that with all the experience and knowledge I have gathered in music over the years, including my journey with Osho and meditation, it’s time to pass some of it on to the next generation.
Links
Discography
1993: Fragments of Truth
1999: Touched by Love
2000: It’s About Time (with Project 2000)
2003: One Day Deep
2005: Pyramid in Your Backyard
2007: Remixed + 2
2008: Where Spirits Live
2009: Breathing Love (with Peruquois)
2011: We Are One (with Red Fulka)
2011: Pure
2013: Mirror of the Heart
2014: The Silent Side of Satie (with Helvia Briggen)
2014: Into Being
2015: Om For Yoga (with Satyaa & Pari)
2015: Quintessence (with Sika)
2017: Silence Speaks
2017: Call of the Beloved
2018: Earth Tones
2021: Selva Sagrada
2024: Sun on Your Wings
Related articles
- The Musician’s Quest – Praful writes about his new workshop concept for musicians, with the next edition taking place near Barcelona, Spain, from 27 April to 2 May 2026
- Sax in the attic – Praful speaks about his early life as a music student, opening up in therapy groups and finally taking sannyas (Part 1)
- The silence you can’t express in words – Praful talks to Punya about playing in Buddha Hall, composing mantras and becoming a big star in the USA (Part 2)
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