Chintoo Singh: Star in the Making

He is the son of composer Mohinderjeet Singh but he is not making waves in the music industry because of his father. Chintoo Singh is an expert with the rabab. His father was a music director with NFDC and composed music for Doordarshan serials and some Punjabi and Hindi films too. Mohinderjeet Singh was also guru to teachers like Sulakshana Pandid and Chitra Singh.

His own music training started at the age of 10 when he started learning the violin from his father. Then came the mandolin, and the guitar which he learned from 15 teachers including his father, Pandit Ramprasad Sharma, Tabun... meanwhile Chintoo also was also influenced by western music. He made his debut as a guitarist in 1994 with R.D. Burman's 1942 - A Love Story at the age of 17.

Soon, he came across an instrument that captured his interest - the rabab. The rabab is an Indian stringed instrument with eight to 14 strings and its origins have been placed in the 12^th century or earlier. It preceded the sarod and is more difficult to play than any other string instruments. It was said to have been popular in the mountains in Kashmir and Afghanistan. The rabab, says Chintoo, was heard in films like Zanjeer and Khuda Gawah.

Chintoo was enchanted with the rabab and was soon giving solo rabab shows which made him very popular. After that, he hardly looked at any other instrument.

Still, the youngster is now looking beyond the rabab. He wants to explore all areas of music. He worked as a musician in Omkara and next year, he will perform at New York's Carnegie Hall on invitation from Phil Collins. He has played live for many famous musicians including Shania Twain, Hariharan, Jagjit Singh, Shivamani, Mehdi Hasan, Kailash Kher and Pankaj Udhas. And that's only a partial list! He has also arranged albums in several genres. He has scored music for TV serials including Saturday Suspense, Geet Gaata Chal and many more.

Chintoo speaks with great pride of his solo albums especially Mumbai on the Move (Times Music). He says that the same album was released by Times Music in the name of different metros. In Delhi, it was named Delhi on the Move.

Chintoo Singh, it seems, will go a long way in the world of Bollywood. Will he create another revolution in music like A.R. Rahman has? If he does, it won't be a huge surprise. Not to most music fans, anyway.