He may be 82, but Mick Jagger still has the energy of a young man. The Rolling Stones frontman is still creating music. The band’s new album, Foreign Tongues, was released last week. It is their 25th studio album in a journey spanning over six decades, and Mick is still lending his vocals to the songs. And while The Rolling Stones’ sound has been a mix of rock, blues, and country, it has seen influences of Indian music as well, notably in Paint It Black, their iconic song from half a century ago.
At 82, Mick Jagger is still creating music.
Ahead of the album’s release, the rock legend sat down with Hindustan Times for a rare chat about music, India, and more.
‘You have to devote your life to this’
Both Mick and The Rolling Stones have been appreciators of Indian sounds and music. Even though he admits he knows ‘very little’ about it, the singer-songwriter explains what draws him to it. “I don’t pretend to be knowledgeable about it. But from the very early days, when I was first exposed to it, I always found it amazing. First of all, the incredible hard work that goes into learning one raag. I remember reading a book about a woman learning to be a musician who would travel across Kolkata by train to her music lessons. Then, when she got there, for the first six lessons, the teacher wouldn’t even teach her any raagas at all. She had to just do scales.”
The 82-year-old says he admires how Indian musicians devote their lives to learning music, something that never truly stops for them. “Obviously, it’s akin to Western classical music in the fact that you have to be very serious. You have to learn a lot. You have to spend a lot of time. You have to devote your life to this. It’s devotion of your whole life to this instrument and to make these beautiful sounds,” he adds.
‘Sounds like the music of eternity’
The veteran musician praises veena player Debashish Bhattacharya as someone he has been listening to a lot lately. “I’m a big fan of the veena and I also like came more lately to listening to the way they’ve adapted the guitar to Indian music,” he explains. Talking about Indian music at large, he adds, “It sounds like the music of eternity to me. It gets very lively, and then it gets very full of drama. And then it makes you want to get up and dance. I play it quite a lot. I can go from Zara Larsson to playing that in the same day, maybe not in the same half an hour.”
Mick has been to India several times, most recently in 2023, when he a few games of the ICC Cricket World Cup in the country live. But as part of The Rolling Stones, he has only performed two shows in the country – both back in 2003. Ask him what it will take for them to return, and he says, “I just would love to come back. It’s been so many years since we played there, and it was most enjoyable. Even though I remember one gig in Bengaluru where it rained so heavily, and I looked like a rat with my hair like this (wet). But I’d love to come back, and now it’s a bit easier to play in India, I think, than it was then. It was so full of red tape, and it was hard to get all the permissions. But now it’s a lot easier. So, there’s no really excuses. So, I will come, I’d love to come back and play, if not just to come watch the cricket.”
