Carnatic Ramble

Tyagaraja Festival - 2007

admin — Fri, 25 May 2007 00:18:00 +0000

“His name is Chittoor Ramachandran, call him uncle” - sounded Shyam’s sonorous voice on the phone. I nervously dialled ‘uncle’s’ number and introduced myself. “Ohh, if you are Shyam’s friend, we have to welcome you to Salt Lake City’ he said. At the Tyagaraja Festival this year, I saw what one man’s dedication, love and determination to foster music can do. I have been testimony to uncle’s meticulous planning that starts way ahead of the festival. Every small detail and need is addressed. It is but a herculian task to organise such a festival and uncle manages to ace through it every year. In addition to providing a platform for local talent in Utah, the Tyagaraja Festival features artists from India every year. The thing I loved about the festival was its intimate setting. I feel proud to be included in this family of artists and kala-poshakas.

This year’s prime concert was none other than Padmashri Dr. N. Ramani accompanied by the highly energetic Simushnam Rajarao and Sri. Nagai Muralidharan. Thanks to some last minute hassles, I missed Smt. Rajarajeshwari Bhat’s concert and Shyama Krishnan’s performance. My personal favourite in the morning’s concerts was Ashwin Krishnakumar’s concert. He is humility personified - his flute can sculpt vistas never imagined before. What drew me to his music was it was a product of unprocessed love. Very few people’s music flows from that sacred space within- that spot from which music flows unabashed. If I were to describe that day in one word, it would be - inspiration. Sitting amidst the parched lands of New Mexico, I was only too eager to scoop up all that I could - I was more Carnatic-starved than I imagined. The laya-packed Pancharatna Ghostigayana and Tara Bikkasani’s ‘Bhaktimargam’ were spectacular.

As for my concert, it was a haze. With my cold and blocked ears, I could hardly hear what I was singing. I considered it my training to sing without feedback speakers, if ever! Swaminathan-’ji’ and Deepa Ramachandran were delightfully supportive on and off stage. My decision to sing Bindumalini was rather brave I thought, but went off well. By the time it hit me that I was indeeed performing (considering I was so drugged by that time), I was doing the Bindumalini swaraprastara act and had to wrap up with a devaranama!

In all, this festival meant a lot to me. It gave a focus to my otherwise disordered practice routine (read singing at 1am to my neighbour’s glee or screaming in the laboratory when I am dissecting rat retinas!). It also re-opened my performance streak here in the US. Performance, I must say is an addiction - blame dopamine. Once again, I cannot thank Ramachandran uncle enough for this event in my life and Shyam Kumar - my friend, philosopher and guide for opening these doors for me.

Are all raagas born equal?

admin — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 01:20:00 +0000

Are all raagas born equal? Maybe in Saraswati’s perception but out here in the Carnatic world, there are ghana raagas, viaadi raagas, vakra raagas, bhashanga raagas, upanga raagas, nishantya raagas and so on. Why, there is almost an elaborate caste system in Raagas ! I have been a curious bystander to Raaga discussion on the net and in person. Some say sampoorna raagas are the best, because they have a lot of ’scope’ for extempore improvisation. Or maybe because it is relatively easy to create patterns in them, as opposed to a vakra raaga. Also, I often hear Carnatic wannabes talk about certain raagas as prestigious - as being the very essence of Carnatic music. Very often, some raagas are called ‘light’ raagas, while some raagas are ‘weighty’. What exactly is the basis of this classification? To me they are all colours, some stain crimson red, some blue and some violet. I often wonder if this stems from a need for falsified prestige and hierarchy, when there needs to be none. Every raaga is a being in itself. How can one say the world is beautiful ONLY because there is an Anadabhairavi? Also, the fact that Anandabhairavi is a beautiful raaga is a legitimate qualification in itself. One need not corroborate it by saying it is a weighty raaga and hence it is beautiful. Music is a garden, a place where only orchids are grown is called a nursery. I call this - “One who can sing Bhairavi has learnt Carnatic music” syndrome- the nursery affliction in Carnatic music. Why be obsessed with a huge lotus? Isn’t the jasmine equally pretty? There is a place and time for everything. What a needle can do, a sword cannot. What a Todi can portray, maybe a Karnaranjani cannot; but conversely, what a Karnaranjani can, a Todi certainly cannot. Why the need to draw lines and be chauvinistic about Raagas, like with everything else in life. The most common gripe against such democratic thought is that, certain raagas are ghana raagas because there is a lot to say in that raaga. Since when did quantity matter? Some raagas can be more eloquent without the expanse of a ghana raaga. This brings us to another question, since when did music become a matter of ’saying more’. Sometimes less is more. Why do we need pickles and side dishes, if the essence of Indian cooking is in the curry alone. I feel awkward when people say, if someone knows Raaga X, then they have learnt Carnatic music. Such a gross misappropriation and extrapolation. Mastery over some raagas is not mastery of anything. It is just mastery of those raagas alone. Every raaga has its edges. There cannot be a standard rule for all raagas, and applying such automation will only make raagas seem pedestrian. Some raagas need boiling, some raagas need cooling, some raagas are express take-outs, some have to be marinated for years, some need frying and some are best served raw. Like the avid bhojana rasika, the fun is in having it all, there is no need for upper caste/ scheduled caste categorisation. Just slurp and burp, sway with a Sahana, wail in a Shubhapantuvarali, ignite the spirit with a Pantuvarali and get some jazz out with a Bilahari. Dont be stuck with a Shankarabharana always.

Shanmukhapriya in Reverie

admin — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 20:30:00 +0000

For the last two days, I have been obsessed with a single piece of music. It is called - ‘Is it Fixed” from Ilayaraja’s “How To Name It”. It is short, yet very eloquent. It speaks of two lives in parallel. It speaks of two melodies embattled in an intense conversation. It is reverie. It creates imagery of spectatorship- this is a piece one would hear in a movie, after the hero is seperated from the heroine, and the screenplay shows their lives in isolation; back and forth. Look at the spatial symmetry created in this piece. If you notice, there is a ‘trigger’ melody and there is a ‘response’ melody. The ‘response’ goes from statements ..to upheavals .. to long winded rhetoric. Splendid. This is consummation of the melodic ideal. This is Shanmukhapriya in reverie. This is contemplation in Shanmukhapriya. And, only Ilayaraja could have thought of it this way.

Listen to Ilayaraja’s reverie here

Why Abhangs?

admin — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 23:21:00 +0000

Why does a Carnatic concert need to include Abhangs? Agreed, the exotic factor sells. Who cares about the Marati intonations coming from chaste Tamil mouths. Chastity is not everything, says the defense. Yeah right, for an art form obsessed with the sacred and chastity, the Marati abhang falls in line, and totally. Why? Isn’t the Carnatic plethora blessed with semi-classical forms that can do what an Abhang can? For that matter, how many musicians know what the purpose and meaning of the word “Abhang”is? Do they even know the place of Abhang in Marati devotional philosophies? What is a compositional type that denounces religious praise and highlights spirituality doing in a musical system thought to have great religious affinity? Why aren’t the traditonalists hurt? Because it is a ‘cool’ move. Singing Abhangs seems to be a ‘progressive’ move. At a level, it is. Getting the average Tamil musician to sing anything non-Tamil, is a huge victory in itself. But is it really any progress?

Abhang means ‘indestructible’. A true Abhang is supposed to carry in its lyrics, the ageless truths of life and spirit that know no death. Not every devotional song in Marati is an Abhang either. Abhangs were created as pieces of rebellion, against a Hindu hypocrisy - that insisted that Bhakti meant singing praises of the Gods, while you slaughter the every idiom that stands for godliness. It talks about spirituality away from religion. Excuse me, but most Carnatic junta believe the ‘religious content in lyrics’ is what forms Carnatic music’s identity. So with an Abhang, aren’t we diluting its identity to an extent? Frankly, I dont care, but I am tickled. For the mainstream take on ‘Bhakti’ is thinking about God, prasing him and reflecting on him. The Abhang points to the fact that while people are obsessed with the ‘act’ of thinking, praising and reflecting on his virtues, they seem to have forgotten that those were tools to inculcate godliness in ourselves. If you worship Rama, you must strive to foster righteousness in your life. Not wear pendants of Rama around your neck and stray at the first sight of temptation. This ‘thoughtology’ is what a true Abhang is all about. Given that, is Carnatic music ready include quasi-religious sentiments in its quiver? So, why not sing about a flower? Why not sing a lullaby? If Hindu principles say that we have to find God in commonplace things (remember, God is everywhere, Love is God, Mother is the first god, a mother’s love is divine, nature is divine). Then, why cant we celebrate love, romance and motherhood in our music?

Forget all those, why go to Abhangs, when there is a wealth of such literature in Dasa Sahitya? So, are we bringing back saints like Tukaram, NamDeo and Eknath into our music, that is otherwise obsessed with idols, ksetrapuranas and God-acts. If so, Kanakadasa is around, just so you know. If you are indeed sick of Bhakti, why not include Padams and Javalis? If the Tamil Isai movement made such a huge outcry about singing in a language that people understood, then why sing in Marati? Why not include more Malayalam kritis in your repertoire? Why not grow up for change?

Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu: elegance, beauty and melodic excellence

admin — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 06:18:00 +0000

Virtuosity- is used very often in the Carnatic muse. There are scholarly musicians like Semmangudi, there are geniuses like Balamurali Krishna, there are brilliant exponents like Chembai, there are intelligent performers and then there are the famous mavericks like S. Balachander. Dwaram was a quiet genius. His music sparkles of sublime beauty and grace, in a world smitten with accented virtuosity. His music is a stream of fresh melody, in a world obsessed with rhythmic emphasis. Carnatic music might mean many things to many people, but I am sure to him, it meant - an ardent worship of beauty. SVK, a famous music critic remarks -
” The hallmark of Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu’s violin is that he soared to the very pinnacle of melodic excellence with the minimum use of technical paraphernalia. His style was stately, resposeful and abounded in tonal mellifluity”. To me Dwaram’s music is sculpture. He sculpts the raga with a beautiful form in mind. He attempts to create an elegant raaga, without indulging in ‘body-building exercises’ in the scale. His goal is an innately handsome raaga and not a muscleman with six packs and perfect abs. His ornamentation is elegant; not every ornament suits every melody. His gamaka-usage is so focussed and sparing. It is a huge delight to see someone use his gamakas with prudence and not in greed. To me the best part of his music, is the retention. A Dwaram’s piece stays in your active memory for a long long time. He has this innate knack of letting his music ruminate in the minds of his listeners. That is a rare virtue. At a higher level, he was a true nadopasaka. For, his music is testimony to the fact that only reflective manodharma is true nadopasana. Aesthetics are often forgotten amidst rules and stereotypes. Dwaram’s music is a sensitive reminder that truly great music utilises the technical apparatus to achieve a greater goal - to take the listener to a plane of sheer aesthetic bliss. Dwaram does just that and effortlessly, like a mother’s lullaby to her irate child.

His music gives us the biggest message of all times - Simplicity is elegant - a component so forgotten in today’s music. Dwaram’s vision of his musical inner world was truly splendid, coming from a man who was partially blind. He reminds of me of this quote:
“When you reach the heart of life you shall find beauty in all things, even in the eyes that are blind to beauty.”

Last but not the least, I must thank my friend Baladitya, for opening the “Dwarams” to Dwaram’s music!!

Importance of incubation in music

admin — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 06:27:00 +0000

I often gag about ‘the assembly unit pipeline syndrome” in Carnatic music. The pedagogical structure in CM (start with the saralevarases, then the jantivarases—-> varnams—-> kritis——–>RTPs) has a very sound scientific basis. It is a great way to introduce the student to the essentials of modal music and then add layers of rhythmic patterning, prosody and raaga expression. The mind is fed with the “raaga data”- by kritis and varnams, thereby teaching the “rules” of every raaga. Then, when challenged with a task like creating a novel alapana or neraval, the mind comes up with novel patterns within the raaga framework, based on the rules taught. This creativity in music is the only shimmer of novelty and the drop-of-genius associated with our music. So, what determines the novelty in a musician’s music? Every artiste brings his ‘neurological phenotype’ to music. Not every brain taught the same rules, comes up with the same ‘patterning profile’. So, every artiste has his neurological stamp in his music. The best of artists have had very distinct neurological stamps, that made their music unique, irreproducible and sometimes inimitable. Like M.D.Ramanathan, Madurai Mani Iyyer and Balamurali Krishna. To me, this is the biggest difference between a musical genius and an artist. But this observation points to what is the most crucial ‘processing’ in the ‘assembly unit’: the unit of cognitive incubation.

Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia on what incubation is:

Graham Wallas, in his work Art of Thought, published in 1926, presented one of the first models of the creative process. In the Wallas stage model, creative insights and illuminations may be explained by a process consisting of 5 stages:

(i) preparation (preparatory work on a problem that focuses the individual’s mind on the problem and explores the problem’s dimensions),

(ii) incubation (where the problem is internalized into the unconscious mind and nothing appears externally to be happening),

(iii) intimation (the creative person gets a ‘feeling’ that a solution is on its way),

(iv) illumination or insight (where the creative idea bursts forth from its preconscious processing into conscious awareness); and

(v) verification (where the idea is consciously verified, elaborated, and then applied).

In numerous publications, Wallas’ model is just treated as four stages, with “intimation” seen as a sub-stage. There has been some empirical research looking at whether, as the concept of “incubation” in Wallas’ model implies, a period of interruption or rest from a problem may aid creative problem-solving. Ward^[9] lists various hypotheses that have been advanced to explain why incubation may aid creative problem-solving, and notes how some empirical evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that incubation aids creative problem-solving in that it enables “forgetting” of misleading clues. Absence of incubation may lead the problem solver to become fixated on inappropriate strategies of solving the problem.^[10] This work disputes the earlier hypothesis that creative solutions to problems arise mysteriously from the unconscious mind while the conscious mind is occupied on other tasks.^[11]“

Now, how does musical incubation apply to Indian music? Old timers in Carnatic music were forced to stay off performance by their gurus who guarded their “maturity” like hawks. Hindustani music has an important lesson here. Owing to a marked lack of pedogogical modules in their teaching, every student is forced to ‘incubate’ his raaga thoughts for a considerably longer time. Hence, there are no child prodigies in Hindustani music. On the contrary, the intense tutoring done in Carnatic music, although helps immensely with the “feeding ” of the problem, sometimes shortens the incubation time. This might explain why teachers in the olden days never allowed their pupils to perform too soon. Maybe they thought performance would mar the student’s musical incubation. This might also explain why Carnatic music is more predictable than Hindustani music in terms of kalpita sangeeta.

Travel Scholarships?

admin — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 05:10:00 +0000

During a conversation with my best friend, philosopher and guide, Amrit Nataraj, we spoke about a huge lack of travel scholarships in India for artists to travel to conferences abroad or within India. The university music departments are cash-strapped, the music academies are busy arranging concerts and the state/central governments have higher things to be bothered about. That apart, music research and scholarship is very limited. The disparity between practioners and academicians is so high! Today, there is such a heightened need for research with a performance immedicacy to it or a global perspective to it. What if a Carnatic musician wants to travel to a conference on ethnographic studies? What does a musician do, if he wants to talk to a global music audience about his music and explain its founding concepts against all other musics? What if an eager ethnomusicologist wants to study Carnatic music and its antiquity as opposed to Balinese music? What if a drummer wants to network with drummers accross the globe? What does he do? What platform would cater to these emerging needs for artists?

This is also a personal challenge that me and Amrit are facing. Amrit is an ‘A’ Grade artist with AIR for Khanjira and was groomed under none other than G.Harishanker. He has given innumerable performances in AIR and Doordarshan and has also featured in many national festivals, percussion ensembles, lecture demonstrations and fusion concerts. Above all, he is kind enough to be friends with a mere mortal like me!! He has been a great force in my musical journey and I owe a lot of my musical sanity to him! He plans to attend the Percussive Arts Society’s Annual Conference in 2007. We are in the process of finding sponsors who can make it happen. Who does such things in the US?! If anybody knows of organizations, art groups, funding agencies that could be tapped,please! please! Let me know! Any leads would be welcome and appreciated!

The Biology of Manodharma

admin — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 21:22:00 +0000

The focus of my next post is - the much-talked about Manodharma Sangeeta. It is music that is created extempore and on the spot by the musician. Carnatic music places an equal emphasis on taught music (Kalpita Sangeeta) and extempore music (Manodharma sangeeta). Very few musical systems, barring jazz inculcate and almost demand extempore improvisation. Prof. Sambamurthy in his book, “South Indian Music” says- “The ideal of absolute music is reached in ONLY manodharma sangeeta”. My favourite take on Manodharma is - “letting your musical intuition find its destiny”. The deeper I study Carnatic music, I am amazed at how our musical system thrives on imagination in the wake of rules and spontaneity in the wake of rigidity.

My search was to find that state of mind or the state of consciousness that created this kind of contained creativity. I was certain it was an “altered state of consciousness”. Here is what I found. Psychology recognises naturally occurring altered states of consciousness like dreams, euphoria, ecstasy, premonitions, hallucinations, out-of-body experiences and so on. Manodharma stems from music-induced ecstasy. Ecstasy is an out-of-the-ordinary state of consciousness emanating from intense thought, emotional upheaval and heightened chanelling of mental resources to one particular task. It is the by-product of thought-energy reductionism in the brain.

Let us start from scratch. Creativity is the ability to either generate a novel idea from nothing or to make associations between non-convergent thoughts, concepts and ideas. The neurobiology of creativity is an area of intense research and we know very little about the inner workings of the brain in this regard. Manodharma is basically born in the frontal lobes of the cerebral cortex. On a lighter take, Manodharma is almost adrenal gland-induced hallucination! “Manodharmic” state is induced by norepinephrine co-activation of the right and left cerbral cortex into a high throughput and high-feedback response loop. Creative people who are capable of divergent thinking have non-normal connections between centers of the brain responsible for cognition. Also, they have the ability to regulate neurotransmitter profiles that are able to sustain this kind of bilateral communication between the frontal lobes. A system thus created is a guided pattern-generator, that is capable of quickly generating almost endless patterns of swaras. This is the ability to see “unseen” patterns of swaras, given a set of rules (rules of raaga, taala and sometimes lyrical metres). This is a crazy level of cognitional maturity that will probably take humanity several decades to even map. Probably, that will explain why most musicians seem to work at the intersection of insanity and creativity!!

That brings us to a very interesting edge of thought. Manodharma is tutored. Much like generation of artificial intelligence in already intelligent systems! The Manodharma-producing system is initially presented with some training data (swaravalis, geethes, varnams, kritis) along with rules (raaga, taala, lyrical metres, rules of prosody). The system is trained to see “connections” between the ruleset (Ex: If one changes Ma in raaga X, it becomes raaga Y), interpret the training data, refine and customise the ruleset (Ex: a great way to stay out of trouble in raaga X is to not oscillate on Ga) and makes notes about what works when (Ex: just stick to such phrases in raaga X, dont try those gamakas in raaga Y) and when not (Ex: no gamaka on Ri in raaga X). Once ready,the sytem is ready to take on newer and higher constraints (Challenge= delineate a short alaapana vs a detailed alapana, sing swaras in X nadai and X taala). So, now even a stringent ruleset (a Raagam-Taanam-Pallavi maze) can be handled adroitly. Isn’t that cool?!!

Basically, Carnatic musicians are cool people, they figured out early on that the body is a “khalu dharma sadhanam” and one need not drug himself to get to euphoric states. What is even better, they take a whole audience to such states without gassing them, “mass hypnosis” maybe?! hehe!

Higgins Bhagavatar; a journey to the core of the Carnatic spirit

admin — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 21:53:00 +0000

The cynic in me always frowned when people said, music and art can promote understanding and appreciation between various cultures of the world. I felt people who could atleast tolerate if not appreciate other forms of music are never the perpetuators of bias. It takes a pliable spirit to have an open mind. The world I see, is polarised into the skewed world of bigotry and the “loony”world of just being human, doing what you like and letting the other bigots screw up the world. Will these worlds ever meet? Can music transform the human spirit? I believe the human spirit knows no tags. Despite this, all of us create divides and love living and thinking along the many contrasts in our microcosm. How many North Indians actually take time to find out everybody down South is not a Madrasi? How many South Indians actually break away from their inherent hesitation towards Hindi? How many of us can even name the languages that are spoken in Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur? How many of us understand and truly “see the point” in other cultural rhetorics? How many of us are willing to devote time, effort and a lifetime to such acts of cross-cultural transmogrification?

Jon B. Higgins is one such journey. Also, we are 9 days away from his 67th birthday, had he been alive to tell us the stories of his marvellous journey. What began as an innocent infatuation with an exotic sounding music, he arrived on the Carnatic firmament to dole out some “sound” lessons to the Carnatic purists, reductionists, conformists, conservatives and the “Koopamandookas”! (the frogs that live, dwell and die in the same well they were born in). His journey confirmed the universality of human spark; that art is the ultimate manifestation of the sublime in various forms, and the vitality of art knows no boundaries.

It is funny that this blog is a sequel to my previous blog, that lists the several laments against Carnatic music! Let us think of the hypothetical gripes that could have infested Higgin’s mind, if he were to play bigot for a while! (just for humour sakes!) - “What is wrong with these people, why can’t they stick to one language in their compositions?” ” What is the “zh”, do they have an extra tongue or what?” ” an over-augmented Ri? - clearly these guys are demented”. Jokes apart, he is the perfect example of what love and will can do. From, 1973-1978, Higgins must have delved into the collective genius that created a system like Carnatic music and left it universalised, liberated and rejuvenated. After he went back, he shaped the Wesleyen University Ethnomusicology program as a professor of music and Director of the Center for the Arts. His name is now almost synonymous with Wesleyan University and the Carnatic music department out there.

Listen to some of his renditions here. There is virtually nothing in his music that betrays his descent - his diction is clear, his understanding of the purpose behind our music is profound, his unmistable surrender to the magic of the raaga..what a beautiful anomaly to have blessed our music!

I salute that journey! I salute to the spirit that made it happen!

On why Carnatic music is for the fossils..

admin — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 18:50:00 +0000

I was born into an upper-middle class family in Bangalore. Heavily inclined towards Hindi film-music and Kannada literature (since we are part of the Navaratna Rama Rao gene tree). Patriotic fervor ran high; both my grandparents were freedom-fighters (my granddad was part of the “action squad” of the Congress; a revolutionary wing that felt our freedom movement needed a little “action” too! All this, to tell you that I can speak for a relatively large cross-section of educated middle-class in South India, which neither understands nor appreciates Carnatic music (the freedom fighter geneology might explain why I am such a thankless rebel!). I am also speaking on behalf of zillions of local “dudes” and “dud-inis” who dont know what to think of Carnatic music.

1. To begin with, us youngsters dont understand the abstract language used in our lyrics.

Try this - ” gAngeya vasanadhara padmanAbha”. To appreciate this, one must know that:

gAngeya is bhIshma - the son of gange (gange ya maga gAngeya - 8th std sanksrit should kick in!)
vasanadhara - a certain someone clothed
padmanAbha - vishnu is called padmanAbha because he has a kamala sticking out of his nAbhi (navel) ; abstract meaning : he is the creator of the universe (lotus in Hindu mythology is equated to the universe)

So, that sums upto: vishnu, who is clothed in white clothes like gAngeya!!

Now, this is just one line in a swAthi thiruNAL kriti. Lets now try unravelling, “praNava nAda swaroopiNi” or “himagiri thanaye hEmalathe”. Dikshitar’s kriti’s are loaded with such esoteric references to motifs that span the entirety of Hindu mythology, Vedas, Upanishads and sanAtana dharma. Almost all kritis need a good understanding of our roots. Now, how many of us actually studied Sanskrit, away from getting good scores? Also, kritis are composed in almost all south Indian languages, except malayALam (I have never heard of a malayALam krithi). So, one needs to be well-versant with a lot of things in the Indian spectrum.

Also, understanding a Carnatic recital is a lot of diagnosis - you want to first figure out the language of the krithi, it’s hidden meaning, make sense of the innumerable names that are given to each of our gods, unravel compound words, figure out who the composer is, look for the ankitha/mudra… so on and so forth. That is just fact gathering. Then, one has to make connections between the facts - that the composer’s intent in composing the krithi is this or that, that particular raaga was selected to convey this bhAva because this raaga is a karuna rasa-pradAna raaga..see that? It keeps your neurons firing! It is hard..incredibly tedious.

2. Overuse of Bhakti - most of us dont feel spiritual all the time.

We are a materialistic generation. I personally did not understand what BuddhA meant , when he said - “Aseye duKhakke moola” (Desire is the cause for unhappiness). My immediate response to that was of dismay. If one has no desire, what is the motivation to live then?! So, our generation is not high on bhakti, we are more carnal and immediate in our desires. Renouncing the world, honing one’s spirit, karmayOga, bhaktiyOga - do we even relate to this? Seriously, what did India get for going on an over-dose of spirituality? 200 years of colonial rule and a wounded civilization? Anyway, a music that has bhakti as the single-most dominant bhAva or emotion in it, seems boring.

3. The melody in the Carnatic voice is not obvious.

I run the risk of being stoned to death by Carnatic purists, but well! Indian music is melodic and monophonic. Our roots are stooped in melodicity and prosody. Yet, the carnatic voice has lost its melodic appeal. Several of my friends, who like raaga-based film songs but refuse to come to Carnatic concerts feel the same. The voice production is effected and not melodic. The most spontaneous reaction to the Carnatic voice - is that it is unappealing. This might explain why many of us prefer to hear Carnatic music played on a Mandolin, Saxophone or other instruments.

That apart, for the new breed that spends hours on the computer and is battling with stress, the concept of music has changed. We dont seek serious music. We dont like music that takes itself too seriously also! Music to us, must be relaxing, rejuvenating and non-cerebral. Here again, this is no lament that Carnatic music does not have the right ingedients to be all that. The audience has changed- that is all. My grandma would often shout at me for playing Carnatic music and say - “YAk hoDkotA iddaLe avaLu” (Why is she howling?). Even worse, she would often remark that most Carnatic musicians are constipated and need laxatives!

4. The Carnatic musician is a visual torture

Today, the deal is to be cool. The Carnatic singer on stage is clenching his teeth… opening his jaws… making demonical shapes out of his mouth…his hand is twitching and turning.. he points out to imaginary things in the air and smiles for no reason! Also, the indifference exuded is a huge turn-off. Many singers dont even face the audience, they dont talk to the audience, no remarks are made about the kriti, raaga, taala, anecdotes and alike. The room is filled with bald-heads and maamis draped in gawdy Kanchivaram saarees. Plus, all good-looking chics are hip-hopping in discos; the men have no reason to make it to concerts unless they find solace in traditional kumkums and nAmas.

5. Concert set-up is not clear; who does what on stage?

This to me this part is as bad as it gets. Somewhere down the line, Carnatic community assumed that it’s listeners will all be erudite musicologists. Nothing is ever spoken about. My cousins used to ask me questions like - “what is that aaaaaaaaaaaaa iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii oooooooooooo before they sing the song? Alapana - I would say. “Why do they do that?” To set the mood for the song; Alapana is also the teaser on what kriti might be coming up next. Many people dont understand that the hand count has a purpose. The hand count is the interface or joining ground for both the musician, who is doing extempore melodic improvisations in the taala framework and the percussionist who is improvising rhythmically - to the same tempo, beat and tALa. My cousins used to call my hand count “fits” - which meant I was making epileptic-like movements!
The concert structure is never discussed. Why does the varNam come first, why is the alapana sung at all, why is the kriti finished with a neraval, where is the swara prastAra placed in the scheme of things… …the list is big. These questions might seem very basic to the self-proclaimed protectors of Carnatic music. They ought to realise that a huge chunk of our demography thinks otherwise.

Well, I will stop it at that.. I might be doomed for having spoken the truth! But, every music needs a revolution .. …. some fresh experiments and better packaging.. yawn!