She was all of 13 when an elegant piano majestically sprawled in the drawing room of her Delhi house became a big part of her childhood fantasy.No one played it in her house at that time, and the instrument stood merely as a showpiece to lend the place an elitist charm. Being taken in by the instrument, Gurbani’s attention was naturally drawn to old 50s and 60s Hindi songs, where the piano was a regular fixture. “I would see Raj Kapoor, Raj Kumar on the piano and would try to imitate their style. I would watch the keys they pressed closely, and that’s how my interest in playing the piano really started,” says the 20-year-old, who performed in Kochi on Sunday at JT Pac.Amazingly, this youngster who cut her album with T-series in her teens, and then has gone on to do several concerts everywhere, has taken no formal training in piano at all. “I am completely self-taught. I was in my tenth when my interest was stroked. I couldn’t join classes, but frankly, I don’t think classes would have helped. The music came to me from within. It was all my effort always. I did rely on online lessons though” she says.Perhaps because Gurbani took no formal training, she applies no real rules while playing the instrument. Watching her fingers lustily banging on the keys, and taking the audience down memory lane with hits like ‘Ajeeb Dastan Hai Yeh’ ‘Yeh Raatein’ and ‘Tere Liye’ from 'Veer Zaara', give you the impression that she’s playing a Western instrument like an Indian one. And she agrees, “Absolutely. I love the piano. It’s like driving the most luxurious car in the world. I love its class and beauty. It is a Western instrument, but I see endless possibilities in it to play Indian music. Even our music directors initiate the tunes on the piano. That is the first step for them always,” she says.The talented youngster, who is a favourite with the World Punjabi Organisation, says that promoting Indian music has always been dear to her. “Music is in our blood, it’s in our culture,” she says. A good deal of her concerts then comprise of Punjabi folk music.Since Gurbani likes the idea of playing Indian music on a Western instrument, she suitably dresses up in ethnic clothes whenever she performs. “When I play abroad, I wear even more traditional clothes like gotta, banarasi saris, georgettes,” she says. Back home, everyone is proud of her achievement, and Gurbani is of course always requested to bang out a number whenever there is a piano in sight during a party. So what is it about the piano that arrests her so much? “Its beauty, its elegance. It is an instrument of feeling,” she says.A lissome beauty who plays the piano like a dream. Quite a lethal combination to attract male attention, isn’t it, you ask. “No, none of that for me now. I would only like to romance the piano,” she trails off“I want to be the World Number One, and I’m single-mindedly working towards that,” she says.
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