Inderjeet Singh

Inderjeet is an Indian musician and teacher. He discovered his talent and love for music at his grandparents' house, where he grew up.

"When I was three months old, my grandfather took care of me. He was a great musician. He sang, played citar and tablas. I would always listen to music in the house. I liked listening."

His grandfather taught in one of the six rooms of his house. They called it the Music Room. He used to wake up at four in the morning for his classes, before the students went to work.

"My grandfather had many students. When I became older I asked him if I could also learn to play. He said "Yes! Of course!" First, I sat down to listen and step by step I started to play tablas and learned to sing the classical Raga."

Inderjeet enjoyed practicing at night, by himself. His grandfather didn't mind, he told him he could fall asleep even with loud music. At 15 years of age, Inderjeet began to accompany other musicians in rehearsals to gain some money and help his grandparents at home.

"I will never forget how much my grandfather helped me. He took care of me, of my grandmother, of the house and he gave music lessons. I didn't want me to help him cook, he would tell me: "No. Go practice some more! Listening to you is good, it relaxes me."

Matilde met Inderjeet on top of a cliff, in Zambujeira do Mar. She was going to film Rajendra playing the flute and they saw a man sitting on a stone bench, looking at the ocean. she asked him the favour of holding her dog's leash while she filmed, and Inderjeet stood with her, listening to Rajendra. In the end he asked them if we were musicians. Rajendra said he was, and she didn't. But she explained the project to him. Inderjeet was looking for work, he had just arrived to Portugal, days before.

"Before I moved to Portugal I was in Singapore, Malasya, China, US, Korea. I like to travel and I like to teach my music in other countries, meet other people."

That's how he joined the first rehearsals for BOWING BACK. He was always early, with tablas that he borrowed from the Sikh temple in Odemira. He accompanied the dances with music and played for everyone. When the band Chão Maior arrived, to join the process, Inderjeet was integrated in it with the tablas, between a guitar, a drum set, voice and trumpets, melodies to him unknown, until then. The music of the show was ambiguous and mysterious, crossing many latitudes. Inderjeet accompanied the rehearsals with the core group, between Brejão and Odemira, always arriving early, sitting on the floor and observing, playing, sharing his universe with us. Each week that went by, he learned a new phrase in portuguese. He says that he is always learning, and although he is a teacher he also feels like a student. For many years he exchanged videos, recordings and wise sayings with his grandfather.

“He would send me things he knew, I would send him things I knew.”

In the performance, Inderjeet had his own room inside the abandoned student centre, the 'New SEF'. He sat on the tiled floor, with the audience around, and he played on his tablas like they were the heartbeat of the building. His rhythm was the pulsation that gave life to that whole place, where there were dance and music solos scattered around different rooms. It was also the rhythm of a lifetime, from birth to death. Inderjeet still lives in Odemira, in a close relationship to BOWING DOC, giving Raga classes in the Hands-On space. He started teaching when he was 23, using his grandfather's method, which he currently puts in practice in his Raga lessons.

“First the basics, the scales. Once the first step is clear you can move into the next step. I never teach anything harder if the basics are not clear. When I teach my students I think about me in their fase. They want to learn fast. I was the same.”

Currently, Inderjeet is also forming a band, a quartet with portuguese and asian musicians: Crossing Land. He keeps on searching for stability, as a musician living in Portugal.

“Music is very deep. It's never perfect! You never know everything.”