27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
How this celebrated musician from Pune came to play at Paul McCartney's wedding 23 years ago
June 12, 2002. Former Beatles member Paul McCartney's wedding day in Ireland. Could there have been a man happier than him that day at Castle Leslie? Well, Chinmaya Dunster from Pune could have been a strong contender. And why not? When you have been handpicked by one of the most famous performers in history to play at his wedding and are living that dream at the event, surely you can be forgiven for beaming just a tad more than the groom.
Twenty-three years later that smile was back on Dunster's face as he spoke about that day again to The Indian Express in February this year. This time round, though, he was back in the UK and strapped with tubes, battling an insidious cancer that was steadily progressing in his body.
'But the memories are still indelible,' he said, waving off suggestions to do the call another day when he's feeling better. 'I will answer what I can now,' he insisted, going back to January 2002, when the Osho disciple popped by an internet café in Pune to catch up on his emails. He found 10 emails from his record company New Earth Records in America, with 'Paul McCartney's Office' in the subject. Each one said (sounding progressively more anxious) that Paul's office wanted him to contact them immediately. As Dunster called up the UK office from an STD booth, a polite voice at the other end asked, 'Would you be available to play a private concert for Paul? 'Could you play the songs from your CD Celtic Ragas'? 'Would you be available sometime in June this year?'
'It was of course yes to all three!' said Dunster as he quickly assembled a band that included his partner Naveena Goffer on the tanpura, him on his famed sarod and six other talented musicians from the world over. They still didn't have an idea of what event they were to play at or where, until a news break on television told them that it was for the McCartney wedding and in Ireland.
From then it was a whirlwind time of composing and rehearsing till they flew to Belfast and across the Irish border and stood at the marquee decorated with Indian theme at the castle on June 12. 'British Indian caterers feed us snacks while we wait apprehensively on stage. Suddenly there is the man himself, putting his head round the entrance and giving us a quizzical 'thumbs up' sign and asking if everything is OK. Then he is gone…. we resume our nervous wait. We've been told to play for no more than 45 minutes, and as well as material from the Celtic Ragas CD, I've composed a nice uplifting number which we plan to play when the bride and groom enter,' wrote Dunster in his blog later.
Talking of the electric atmosphere he told The Indian Express, 'The reception was decorum itself, well-dressed people standing around chatting with a glass of champagne in hand, eating Indian finger food in this gorgeous Indian-themed setting. The famous people I saw there? Not so many actually. Ringo, of course; Sir George Martin; Steffi Graf, the tennis star; Twiggy, the 60s fashion icon; Chrissy Hyde of The Pretenders and Pink Floyd's David Gilmore.'
Just when they were about to wrap up their 45 minutes, reconciling to Paul being too distracted to give them an ear, suddenly he was in front of them saying 'Guys, I haven't heard a note! Can you start again from the beginning?' But then he cut short the opening number they restarted with to hum a tune – the first track on Dunstar's Celtic Ragas CD- and request for it. 'As we struck those chords, a delighted Paul started laughing and dancing in front of us asking us to go on, ignoring advisers whispering in his ears that the next act was waiting,' said Dunster.
Off stage, Paul told him how Heather and he were at a gift shop in Ireland a year ago where he picked up his CD, which had been playing at their home since. 'Later Heather told Naveena that when Paul wanted her recommendation for the music at the wedding, she chose us,' said Dunster with justifiable pride. The following month Paul said about Celtic Raga, 'I love the unique blend of Irish and Indian music of Celtic Ragas. It has become one of my favourites.' He also included them in his recommendations—Paul McCartney's Gladstonebury Grooves—that summer.
Dunster also recollected how he narrowly saved himself from a protocol breach. 'Although we had been told not to bring cameras or mobile phones I, being a naughty fellow, had my mobile! As soon as I'd got off stage and had my few minutes with Paul, I slipped out of the back of the marquee and called my friend Charles, waiting eagerly for news at his job at a leading news agency in the US and told him everything about the event. He planned to broadcast this out to his contacts in America. But as we were boarding the bus to take us away from the venue, we were presented with these non-disclosure forms to sign, strictly forbidding us to repeat anything at all about the event and I had to rush a call to Charles and get him to pull it all back!' said Dunster.
Finally, how was the interaction with the former Beatles member? 'It's impossible for me, a child of the '60s, to stand in front of Paul and see him as an ordinary human being. This is the man who wrote Blackbird and Eleanor Rigby, (and so many others) songs that I have cried to, felt chills from, and heard in my head at nights for over half a century. They were the backdrop to my childhood. It's impossible for me as a musician not to want something from him. I can imagine many people standing in front of him and wanting some from his vast but for me, as I hand him a CD copy of my version of Blackbird, I just want to be seen, approved of, validated. He's a nice guy, I could feel that,' rounded off Dunster.
Two weeks after this interview with him, Dunster succumbed to cancer on February 28, leaving behind his partner Naveena, daughter Koyal and a chest full of beautiful music and memories, this being one of his most precious ones and perhaps the last one to share.
Chinmaya Dunster, 74, was a renowned sarod player whose compositions incorporate elements of Hindustani and Celtic music. Born in the UK, he moved to India in 1982. In 1990 he founded a band with Prem Joshua at the Osho International Meditation Resort.
