I’m a huge fan of classical music: Sting

Popstar Sting, who has reimagined 12 of his cult hits for ‘Symphonicities’, says he’d love to come to India for a vacation, if not for a concert
Most songwriters are too possessive about their creations and aren’t always excited about them being reinterpreted. How much of a risk-taking proposition was it for you to rearrange and reimagine 12 of your songs in “Symphonicities”? Wasn’t there any apprehension in you about reservations of your fans?
I originally thought that there was enough harmonic movement within the songs themselves as they stand, which would warrant them being played by a symphony orchestra.They’re fairly sophisticated in the way they’re structured musically. So, I had an instinct it might work, although I’m not an arranger. I didn’t know that for sure. I got into this thing by accident. I was asked by the Chicago Symphony to provide an evening of entertainment with them for a benefit. I like challenges. Although I’d worked with orchestras before — I’d done the Grammys with an orchestra and the Oscars on a one-off — and I’d always enjoyed it but never thought of putting a whole evening together. So, I hired a lot of arrangers — about 10 arrangers — and said, “Look, choose a song from my canon, if you like, and see what you come up with”.
You’ve been closely following Indian classical music too. Have you ever thought of rearranging your songs completely with Indian classical instruments?
It’s true that I’m a huge fan of classical music. But I really haven’t thought of rearranging one of my songs. Maybe, in future, I might do so. I’m becoming more and more inspired by the freedom that the orchestra gives you. I’m digging up songs that have been ignored for years, or unknown even, and giving them this new set of clothes.
Giving classical treatments to popular numbers has not always met with a thundering success. Was there any dos and do-not-dos when you revisited your cult hits? How did you work on your own limitations such as the intricate details of knowing how backs of string players are organised? How do you convince your players not to be too much in awe of you and your works to breathe a new life into them?
Tempo is different for classical musicians. Rock ’n’ roll people like strict tempo. It’s kind of tyrannical, really. In an orchestral setting, the tempo is much more flexible. It kind of breathes. It’s organic. So, there are compromises that have to be made. But I’ve always said, we are speaking a common
language. At least, the building blocks are common to us. So, let’s see if we can build something that bridges both sides.
Were you always interested in musicianship across borders?
I’ve always been interested in musicianship across barriers and people who play classical music as well as rock ’n’ roll or jazz. That’s what I really like. I like these hybrid forms.
What inspired you as a child?
Probably the first piece that I remember was the “Moonlight Sonata”. I managed to learn how to play a bit of it on the guitar. Then when The Beatles came along — I was about 11 — they started to use bits of classical music: in their harmony, the way they structured the songs. And I thought, there’s a connection here. And when “Eleanor Rigby” came along, I said: “right, it is all one thing.”
How different is it singing these songs where someone else has built harmonies?
It’s like swimming in a very warm swimming pool. You’ve got all these wonderful currents going underneath you and flowing around you. It’s a wonderful sense of freedom. I play the guitar in the song, “Roxanne”, but I also have these wonderful fugal lines going around me. It feels wonderful. It feels like a warm bath.
“Roxanne” seems to be very close to your heart. You sing this song in almost all your concerts. Why is that so?
Singing is like flying. You can swoop, you can soar, you can go fast, you can go slow. There’s total freedom there, and that’s exactly what I like. I learn something about a song every night I sing it. I must have sung “Roxanne” thousands and thousands of times, and yet there’s always something, a little inflection, I can throw in there and...oh, I haven’t done that before. The melody can go that way. I have total freedom, and this is really what I like.
Would you contradict people’s interpretation on any of your songs?
I would never contradict someone’s interpretation of one of my songs, because that makes it rich. A lot of people would think a song is about something that I haven’t thought of before, but I’m not going to say, “Oh! no, it’s not about that.” If it’s that’s for you, then, the words...well then, that’s what it is for you.
You’ve been quite critical of shows such as “The X Factor” and have gone on to say that the real shop floor for musical talent is pubs and clubs. What’s your advice to parents, who think talent hunt shows on television are sure-shot ways to making a name in the music/playback industry?
Everyone is entitled to his/her own point of view. Well, I sort of began life in the folk scene, when I was a teenager playing in folk clubs and Newcastle pubs — and sort of drank it in, like mother’s milk from local singers up there. It seems that kind of folk melisma is part of my vocabulary.
Do you have plans of visiting India for a vacation or a concert?
I don’t know when I will be coming to India for a concert. But yes, I would love to come to India for a vacation, if not for a concert.