Nitin Shankar recounts, Still playing Pancham.....

here's a nice write up from 2011.....published in Mumbai Mirror...


Still playing Pancham - Mumbai Mirror
Anand Holla, Mumbai Mirror Jun 27, 2011,

On the legendary R D Burman's 72nd birth anniversary, one of his musicians shares reminiscences.

Percussionist Nitin Shankar's musical journey with R D Burman seems like an ideal fancomes-of-age-with-his-idol story. An ardent R D fan and an early enthusiast of music, Shankar left his Pune home and school at 15 and headed to Mumbai in search of Pancham. "There is something about the rhythm of his music, the unmistakable groove. As a child, I had heard all his music and I was crazy about it. I wanted to meet him and try my luck of getting to play with him." At Tardeo's Film Centre, where Pancham often recorded his music, a young Shankar crashed in and met his hero.

"But it was in 1987, when I was 22 that I got the chance to play for him. I had learnt the octapad well by then and began playing for his compositions. When I began playing, he was curious as to why I had attached a sampler keyboard to my octapad. I demonstrated the different sounds one can get with it and he was impressed," says Shankar. Soon Shankar's octapads and conga became a regular fixture in Pancham's rhythm sections for a dozen Hindi film scores — from Gurudev, Ghatak, Gardish to 1942: A Love Story — other than a string of Tamil, Bengali films and a few private albums.

Shankar says, "I especially enjoyed performing many live shows with him; London, South Africa, Bangkok and all over India. Only six days before he passed away, he enthralled a crowd of 15,000 at Trivandrum — his last show — with superb singing and harmonica playing. I remember it was a rousing performance." In fact, three days later, Pancham held an energetic music sitting at his Santa Cruz residence with director Raj Kumar Santoshi. "Soon, actor and his dear friend Mehmood dropped by for the first time. Pancham was so elated to see him that he began playing his best-kept compositions and the mood of that room was unforgettable. That was the last time I saw him," recounts Shankar.

For a Bengali album featuring Usha Uthup, Pancham was recording at a Bandra studio and Shankar had to play a rhythm section on his conga. Shankar reminisces, "I tried something new this time. I played the conga entirely with my palms instead of fingers in authentic Latina style and the sound was markedly different. At the other end of the glass, Pancham sprang from his seat and began dancing with joy. Though he was always lively during recording sessions, I had never seen him so mirthful. When the recording got over, he ran to me, hugged me and asked me how I got that sound. I showed him and he was all praise. He then pulled out a hundred rupee note from his pocket and gave it to me as reward. I asked him to sign it and he did. Till date, I treasure it immensely." With Pancham, Shankar says, every musician had to be as charged and interested as he was. "He had a wonderful team of musicians who knew exactly what he wanted from them. You couldn't ask for anything better."

Having composed and arranged music for Asha Bhosle albums such as the popular Precious Platinum, Shankar is now producing a film starring her — Maaee — for which he has also given the music.

Shankar has even named his music venture, Rhythm D'vine, after R D's initials. He says with a smile,