Pillar Talk
Ram’s the man!
The winner of the Scottish Water’s Got Talent competition was recently announced after a hugely competitive and tense vote where staff from all over Scottish Water took the opportunity to nominate their favourite.
At the glittering WaterAid Ball at the Glasgow Hilton hotel, Ramprapanna Bhattacharya was crowned as Scottish Water’s talent king, narrowly beating finalists Mark Murphy and Emma Cunningham. Mark’s soulful rendition of House of the Rising Sun and Emma’s punchy modern dance routine illustrated the diversity of talents on offer.
For Ramprapanna, the competition was an opportunity to surprise his colleagues with his skills and raise the profile of sitar music. Having been inspired to pick up his first sitar by his father twenty three years ago, Ram has been lucky enough to learn from some world famous exponents of the craft.
“My Sitar playing is inspired by the stylistic approach and techniques which were
innovated by the great sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan. I learnt from Kashinath Mukherjee (Calcutta) and Arvind Parikh (Mumbai) as well - both of them are senior students of the Ustad Vilayat Khan. I have received a lot of support from my family to continue learning and performing.”
So how does it feel to be voted the winner of SW’s Got Talent? Ram is characteristically modest, “Receiving a huge response in Scottish Water’s Got Talent is really a great recognition and honour for me. I would like to thank you all for giving me the opportunity.”
And finally, any advice for any budding sitar players?
“First you must learn to play by the rules, then you must forget the rules and play from your heart. As in any other art form, it requires a lot of dedication and patience. All the best.”
Congratulations to Ram and everyone who took part!
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