Cutting Chai with Lakshmi Ganapathy is a monthly series of bite-sized interviews with prominent South Asians showcasing their career and personality and celebrating their South Asian Australian identity.
SHANUL SHARMA is the first Indian-born tenor to perform as a principal artist with Opera Australia and has sung in major roles at some of the world’s most prestigious houses including the Staatsoper Hannover, Moscow Bolshoi Theatre and Sydney Opera House. Known for his critically acclaimed portrayal of M.K Gandhi in Philip Glass’ ‘Satyagraha’, he also sang in the heavy metal band Sobrusion for 8 years.
Lakshmi Ganapathy: Why do you think people who listen to Bollywood or heavy metal should also listen to opera, and vice versa?
Shanul Sharma: When you go to a restaurant you try different types of foods and you cultivate different tastes, and because of that experience, you maybe get more of an understanding of a different culture. Your palate expands so you’re able to then accept newer things with less prejudice or judgement…the way food is for your palate, music is for your mind. I think the more types of music and art you expose yourself to, the more cultured you become…you get a very different perspective. If you are interested in culture or learning about new things, then why not go and listen to opera? Listen to heavy metal, listen to Bollywood and combine them – make the best type of fusion possible.
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Lakshmi Ganapathy: What has opera taught you about the world?
Shanul Sharma: Opera is one of the pinnacles of western classical expression, and it explores human psychology in a very deep way. It’s not just about singing beautiful Arias; I mean those songs and those tunes exist for a reason. It’s everything that builds up to it. In opera, you must have the skill to be able to feel silence, because a lot of times the music is written to express a certain condition, or a certain type of staging that is happening [reflecting] something that was going on in the composer’s mind.
Like, there are moments in operas where a composer has composed footsteps to signify that somebody’s walking, and if you’re a person who’s deeply aware of music, and you’re able to lose yourself in it, then you walk differently while you’re listening to that music. That’s what it’s taught me on a- I don’t want to use the word ‘spiritual’, but you know, on that kind of a level.
It’s so weird, as soon as you start listening, time slows down, you know, you start breathing differently suddenly and you go ‘where has the last half an hour gone?’ The music is so engaging that you go into the flow state or something…I can’t explain it, but that’s what opera does. It slows you down in a very elegant way.
On a physical level, I’ve learnt different languages. I’ve met different people, eaten different food and had all these different cultural experiences through my travels as an opera singer. It’s made me more accepting of different people than I would have been otherwise.
Lakshmi Ganapathy: We noticed how moving it’s been for you to play Gandhi in Philip Glass’ ‘Satyagraha’. What did you learn about Gandhi and the Gita from this experience?
Shanul Sharma: The Bhagavad Gita has been very important in my family, and I took Sanskrit as a third language in school. I’m also interested in eastern philosophy; I felt that all my interests, all my training was to arrive at that moment so I could most effectively communicate what was going on in Gandhi’s life, and what was happening in the Bhagavad Gita.
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Singing Gandhi was like social work. It transcended the need to be a musician, to be an actor, to be something on stage. I felt like a channel for all of that. It wasn’t about me, but it was about the truth, the ‘Satya’ of life – we should learn to coexist. There is much more to be had by existing together than dividing ourselves into different sections of society. It may give us immediate contentment, but human beings don’t belong to themselves, I mean, we are as much a part of society as society is a part of us. It was very humbling and I’m glad that I was able to communicate that to people, it was completely a selfless exercise for me.
Lakshmi Ganapathy: What’s something that you’re currently listening to/reading/playing/watching?
Shanul Sharma: I’m involved in an [Opera Australia] production of Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) so I’m listening to that. I’m watching the second series of Squid Game, and I’m reading Herman Hesse’s ‘Siddhartha’.
Lakshmi Ganapathy: What’s a word that you like in a South Asian language, and what does it mean?
Shanul Sharma: I like 2 words, both from Sanskrit. The first one is ‘Pragya’ and the second one is ‘Tripti’.
The definition of ‘Pragya’ is it’s the state of wisdom that you arrive at which can’t be obtained through knowledge or inference, but through experience and living life in a ‘dharmic’ way. If you’re sensitive enough to the universe around you, you can arrive at ‘Pragya’; it brings intense amounts of peace, and I’d like to attain it someday. But you know, it’s a work in progress as life is.
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My mum used to tell me about ‘Tripti’ all the time. You know, ‘ye kaam karo, tripti milege’. You feel content, but it’s not really contentment. I think the best definition I’ve found for ‘Tripti’ was ‘spiritual delight’ – mann prafuluth hogya, ye kaam karke, tripti mile mujhe.
Lakshmi Ganapathy: And finally: Soan Papdi or Papdi Chat?
Shanul Sharma: Papdi Chaat. To be honest, I’d rather have samosa chaat, but you know, it’s not on there.
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