MUSIC

Dr Benny and his Bongo Guitar: On a World Record quest

by Mahes Perera

"My Bongo Guitar is one-of-a-kind, the only one in the world with drums inside" says a smiling Dr. Benny Prasad who has been recognised as the World Record Holding Musician who has travelled to 245 nations, performed 300 to 400 concerts and is overwhelmed with the response, so much so, that it inspires him to keep moving and meeting people and people.

Dr. Benny Prasad was in Sri Lanka last week for just one concert, happy to share his music from his Bongo Guitar and rap with the audience about how not to give up no matter how difficult life gets.

The idea to craft the Bongo Guitar came about when in 2004 he was invited to play for the welcoming of the African athletes for the Olympic Games in Greece and also the cultural stages. "They told me strictly that they wanted me to perform and not share my journey. But what I have gone through in life, all the pain and suffering is so much part of my musical journey, I just cannot perform there or leave it there. I wanted to share of how I came out of difficulty. As a result I prayed for an idea to design a guitar, so that this guitar will attract the athletes and the audience to meet me and ask me questions, about the transformation of my life. So that's how the idea to create the guitar came about."

This one-of-a-kind guitar with two built in Bongo vellums at the base of the guitar, strangely has not been duplicated by other up and coming young musicians. There is no copyright, no embargo from Dr. Benny Prasad.

"Other musicians can copy the idea but nobody has taken it so far, because it's too expensive and not many musicians will be willing to create this guitar. It took me about one year to build this guitar. So far no young musician has wanted to create this guitar."

Watching Dr. Prasad perform his Bongo Guitar for a TV clip the music was smooth and flowing and the playing of chords looked unusual.

"How do I play the chords on this guitar? I play on top actually. The method of playing is different. It's not the conventional way of playing. It's more visual rather than just hearing, and you will realise that it is a very different way of playing the guitar. As for my Harp which is very small, the strings are 8 or 9 inches in length, I have to go to a factory and ask them for customised strings."

Listening to his performance, which bordered on mood music with intermittent beats on the bongos I asked him what his repertoire was like.

"It's hard to define. It's instrumental music. But probably it can come under world music. A bit of it is world music, a bit of it is based on Indian culture, a bit of some other cultures too. Because of my travels I have picked up elements. It has a strong Indian background but it also has backgrounds of other countries."

Although Dr. Benny Prasad was first invited to perform for the South African athletes welcoming them for the Olympics in Greece in 2004, his music has not absorbed South African elements, how do we really define his compositions - is it mood music or is it spiritual?

"It cannot be defined as mood music, basically it's spiritual and instrumental. Yet it stirs up the audience. There are people who get motivated to dance. There are people who are listening and they are crying. It can really go to the extreme of what it is. So that's why I'm not able to define my repertoire."

Since his compositions do not have lyrics but only instrumentals what would the message be to the audiences?

"My message is don't give up, no matter how difficult life gets. Challenges are always there - we feel the challenges because of other people's mistakes and sometimes because of the choices we make. In my case the challenge of not being able to keep up with parents' expectations and the issues with my health really came to a point at sixteen years when I wanted to kill myself. My encounter with religion spurred me to travel extensively and tell the people don't give up, no matter how tough life gets. Music is a panacea."