A German professor’s love for Kishore Kumar

DURING a visit to Germany for an academic conference, I took permission from the organiser to travel around Berlin after the presentation of my research paper. A professor from Frankfurt, Dr Johann Werth, offered me a ride in his Volkswagen car as he was also keen on shopping and sightseeing. I accepted his offer promptly.

I came to know that Dr Werth had visited the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, a couple of times and had pleasant memories of India. While we were cruising on the highway, he gave me a big surprise by using a pen drive that started playing songs by the inimitable Kishore Kumar. I enquired about his interest in Hindi film music. With a smile, he replied that he was not only a physicist but also a music lover and a bit of a composer. Once, while travelling by a cab to IISc for a guest lecture, he had heard a singer yodelling in a song playing on the car’s music system. Though he could not understand the lyrics, he found the voice very melodious. The cab driver had told him about the singer and the song, and he had noted down the details. After returning to Germany, he had frantically searched for Kishore’s songs on the Internet. His passion for music drove him to enrol himself for an online Hindi course. He managed to complete the course and learn the language so as to understand the lyrics.

As I listened to him, I felt proud that an Indian singer had inspired a German to learn ‘ka kha ga’. Then it was my turn to speak. I told him that Kishore had carved a niche for himself as a singer despite having received no training in classical music. His yodelling was inspired by American singer-songwriter Jimmie Rodgers and New Zealand performer Tex Morton. Kishore was also an ardent admirer of Hollywood actor-singer Danny Kaye; closer to home, he adored KL Saigal and had great respect for Rabindranath Tagore. No wonder he had hung portraits of his idols on the walls of his home and would bow before them reverentially.

I mentioned interviews of legendary singers Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle, who had said that working with Kishore was a very enjoyable experience — at times unpredictable due to his naughty pranks. They had said that Kishore’s jokes lightened the atmosphere in the recording studio and brought out the best in them. Another remarkable singer, Manna Dey, had acknowledged that Kishore was an artiste with a God-given talent.

It was a wonderful and unforgettable journey with Dr Werth. I realised that inspiration knew no boundaries of language, race, region or religion. It was beyond all borders. The professor was a classic example of an Indophile who had embarked on a discovery of this marvellous country, thanks to Kishore’s songs. Indeed, we are living in a global village where music, in particular, brought together people from disparate cultures.