Heiko Dijker A tabla player, Heiko Dijker teaches the instrument at the SKVR Music School in Rotterdam and is currently in India to perform at the Olive Bar and Kitchen in New Delhi on August 13, 2010. Team Connect caught up with him to learn about how his fascination for Indian classical music began.
How did your involvement with Indian music and the tabla begin?
After high school, I decided that I am not going to follow the common path. I really wanted to find what I truly love in life, and decided to travel around the world. I set off hitchhiking in Holland and after one year reached India.
India felt like home. When I heard classical Indian music for the first time, it really touched me and I started learning it. The tabla specifically, with so many sounds, colours and expressions was much more than just rhythm. I spent about three-and-a-half years learning the tabla in India. Later I found out that you can study classical Indian music at the Rotterdam Conservatory in Holland and get a degree and that's where I met my present guru, Ustaad Faiyaz Khan.
How would you describe the experience of training with Shri Bhaswaraj Bhendigeri in India, and later with Ustad Faiyaz Khan?
There is deep dedication to share beautiful knowledge with a lot of patience and love—both my gurus have that in common. I am very lucky to have such generous teachers, who have been trained in the deepest traditions of classical Indian tabla and they both share all the knowledge they have without hesitation. They both have been showing me the true, deep spirit of Indian culture and Indian art. And the best compliment that I got from my guru Ustad Faiyaz Khan was that I play with Indian feelings.
Over the years, has there been increasing interest in learning Indian classical music and instruments in the Netherlands? What kind of students do you see at the SKVR Music School?
Yes, absolutely. It is hard work for us musicians. We have institutes and facilities. We had the Amsterdam India Festival a couple of years back in Holland, which was a huge success.
Most of the students are Hindustanis—the community of Surinamese. The present generation has an interest in the fine arts of India and are dedicated to them.
Do you think your students are missing out by not learning in a traditional Indian environment?
It's very hard to say. I try to give everything that I have learnt. I try to teach them in the same way as I have been trained. I feel they are all very happy. I love to come to India and be here and spend time with my guru. Being here is a different thing naturally.
Could you tell us a little more about Tablatronic Violince and how it came into being?
Tablatronic Violince is a concept that I have been working on for a couple of years. And it's a wonderful project with a very dear violinist friend from Delhi, Sharat Srivastava. After I discovered classical Indian music, I left electronic music behind for many years.
When I got back to Holland and finished my conservatory I got interested in different music again and I started learning how to produce electronic music myself. I tried to join the two different worlds and that is how Tablatronic Violince came into being. I work with some great flutists from south India like Ravichandra Kulur from Bangalore and Pt. Ravi Shankarji. I made a recording with Shankar Mahadevan in Mumbai, which is still to come out.
Tablatronic Violince played two years ago in Mumbai and this is the first time we play in Delhi, which is a great honour and a great pleasure.
Besides music, what attracts you most to India?
It's very hard to say! There are millions of things I love in India. I think one thing is that it's an amazing, rich country. Rich in the sense of beautiful people, beautiful nature, beautiful food! I love the Indian spirit, which is one thing that always inspires me a lot.
Heiko Dijker
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