Violinist Sunita Bhuyan says every milestone in her musical journey traces back to three towering influences - her mother Minoti Khaund, maestro Bhupen Hazarika, and the discipline of the seven classical notes.
At the NDTV Assam Power Play, Bhuyan said growing up in Assam meant "Bhupenda was the biggest influence". His music, she noted, was inseparable from humanity and social change. "There was not a single facet of human life that Bhupenda didn't talk about," she said. "Ask anyone here, he has influenced their life in some form."
But her earliest lessons came much closer home, from Minoti Khaund, Assam's first violinist and a Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee, who introduced the violin to the state more than six decades ago. She passed away two months ago.
"My mother was my first guru. She introduced me to the seven notes. And then I realised all the music is in those seven notes," Bhuyan said.
She linked that idea to a wider message on inclusion. "Music teaches us the biggest lesson of inclusion," she said, adding that even the month of International Women's Day should be seen as a space for everyone. The universality of the seven notes underlined that idea. "Whether it's folk, rock, jazz, Bollywood or Hollywood, it's the same seven notes."
But Bhuyan issued a warning for young artists in an age of viral shortcuts.
"Just learning a song and going viral on YouTube will not make you a sustainable artist," she said. "Only if you get trained, if you build depth of domain, if you have a guru - that's what makes an artist."
Genres may differ, she added, but the foundation remains constant: "We can't be patronising about classical or folk or Bollywood. It's all the same seven notes."
