One knows how Gandhi’s life and work was inspired by the Gita but to see it unfolding so reverentially through the combined efforts of the ENO and the British theatre company, Improbable, is another milestone in Gandhi’s global legend. “It’s very much a sacred piece — a contemplation, really. I have found that I can only work on it for a time before switching into an altered state, “ says Julian Crouch, the associate director and set designer.

Though Glass’s Satyagraha has premiered in London 27 years after it first appeared in Rotterdam, it’s almost unanimously acclaimed. The Guardian described it “an astonishingly beautiful work.” The Times called it “a perfect marriage of music and subject matter”. It is vintage Glass — repetitive, minimal and yet softer and melodious enough to the capture the resolve and righteousness of the Gita and peace and non-violence of Gandhi. All this brilliantly falls into place due to the sublime presence of the conductor Johannes Debus.

Yet many found the musically broken Sanskrit syllables hard to digest. Oke agrees, “Glass’s music by its very nature is very repetitive¿ It’s more like a mantra; it’s quite prayer like.”

So how difficult was to sing in Sanskrit? “Very difficult”, he says, “in my case it was repetition, repetition and repetition, because there was nothing to relate to. But I am not finding it difficult to pronounce although I am not saying that a Sanskrit scholar will be convinced by our pronunciation.” Every morning he wakes up for an hour long practice — a routine that began almost six months ago. He had even pasted the Sanskrit verses on the walls of his flat.

... contd.