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How an Indian maestro is taking classical music to the masses | How an Indian maestro is taking classical music to the masses |
(about 5 hours later) | |
India's southern Indian city of Chennai (Madras) is witnessing a musical revolution of sorts. | India's southern Indian city of Chennai (Madras) is witnessing a musical revolution of sorts. |
Leading the way is celebrated classical musician and Ramon Magsaysay award winner TM Krishna. | Leading the way is celebrated classical musician and Ramon Magsaysay award winner TM Krishna. |
The Carnatic music vocalist has critiqued the south Indian classical music industry for being under the dominant preserve of the upper-caste Brahmin community. He wants to create more inclusive egalitarian spaces where the arts of all communities come together in the city. | The Carnatic music vocalist has critiqued the south Indian classical music industry for being under the dominant preserve of the upper-caste Brahmin community. He wants to create more inclusive egalitarian spaces where the arts of all communities come together in the city. |
To that effect Krishna has been seen across Chennai, on various platforms, taking his music outside the hallowed portals of the city's prestigious sabhas or music halls, setting a personal example. | To that effect Krishna has been seen across Chennai, on various platforms, taking his music outside the hallowed portals of the city's prestigious sabhas or music halls, setting a personal example. |
Krishna took his music, spoken of in sacred terms by most performers, to a fishing village on the shores of the Bay of Bengal in Chennai. | Krishna took his music, spoken of in sacred terms by most performers, to a fishing village on the shores of the Bay of Bengal in Chennai. |
Open to the sky and sea, the entire village served as a concert hall for the alternate festival, the Urur-Olcott Kuppam Vizha that "celebrates oneness" this month. | Open to the sky and sea, the entire village served as a concert hall for the alternate festival, the Urur-Olcott Kuppam Vizha that "celebrates oneness" this month. |
Krishna has joined hands with Nityanand Jayaraman, a prominent social activist, to make the village a venue for holding open-air concerts with the aim of "bringing down barriers, equalising spaces and de-classing the arts". | Krishna has joined hands with Nityanand Jayaraman, a prominent social activist, to make the village a venue for holding open-air concerts with the aim of "bringing down barriers, equalising spaces and de-classing the arts". |
"Krishna is using art to heal differences and break stereotypes and liberate the art to new spaces," says Mr Jayaraman. | "Krishna is using art to heal differences and break stereotypes and liberate the art to new spaces," says Mr Jayaraman. |
The festival included a coming together of different forms of music and art alongside Carnatic music. | The festival included a coming together of different forms of music and art alongside Carnatic music. |
The music of the marginalised - devotional music by a community of transgender people and dirges of Chennai's slums, for example - are being taken to "a concert space for the first time," says Krishna. | The music of the marginalised - devotional music by a community of transgender people and dirges of Chennai's slums, for example - are being taken to "a concert space for the first time," says Krishna. |
He has even hosted "concerts in spaces symbolic of day-to-day life", such as in crowded public buses and and railway platforms across Chennai. | He has even hosted "concerts in spaces symbolic of day-to-day life", such as in crowded public buses and and railway platforms across Chennai. |
Krishna believes that this effort is an important step "in addressing many cultural and artistic hegemonies and hierarchies". | Krishna believes that this effort is an important step "in addressing many cultural and artistic hegemonies and hierarchies". |
Unusual | Unusual |
Krishna is an unusual Indian maestro who has taken the traditionally upper-caste classical music to the lower-castes and disprivileged. | Krishna is an unusual Indian maestro who has taken the traditionally upper-caste classical music to the lower-castes and disprivileged. |
He has travelled to war-ravaged Jaffna in Sri Lanka to perform and engage with Tamil students. | He has travelled to war-ravaged Jaffna in Sri Lanka to perform and engage with Tamil students. |
And back home, he has engaged in unconventional activities, like setting the lyrics of song by a local alternate rock band called Kurangan to Carnatic ragas (The basic musical modes which denote "moods" in Indian classical music) and releasing a video to highlight the environment degradation unfolding in a local creek. | And back home, he has engaged in unconventional activities, like setting the lyrics of song by a local alternate rock band called Kurangan to Carnatic ragas (The basic musical modes which denote "moods" in Indian classical music) and releasing a video to highlight the environment degradation unfolding in a local creek. |
"Such collaborations from the traditional world of Carnatic music with other genres and current issues make it more accessible", says Kaber Vasuki of Kurangan. | |
Coming from the orthodox traditions of the south Indian classical music world, Krishna's outreach programmes are, many believe, a first of its kind. | Coming from the orthodox traditions of the south Indian classical music world, Krishna's outreach programmes are, many believe, a first of its kind. |
David Shulman, one of the world's foremost authorities on the languages of India, writes of Krishna as one, "for who music is a medium for public moral statement and an instrument for making peace". | David Shulman, one of the world's foremost authorities on the languages of India, writes of Krishna as one, "for who music is a medium for public moral statement and an instrument for making peace". |
Krishna's Magsaysay award citation read that Krishna saw Carnatic music "was a caste-dominated art that fostered an unjust, hierarchic order by effectively excluding the lower classes from sharing in a vital part of India's legacy. | Krishna's Magsaysay award citation read that Krishna saw Carnatic music "was a caste-dominated art that fostered an unjust, hierarchic order by effectively excluding the lower classes from sharing in a vital part of India's legacy. |
Politics of art | Politics of art |
He has questioned the politics of art and made an active effort to widen his knowledge about the arts of the Dalits (formerly known as untouchables) and non-Brahmin communities. | He has questioned the politics of art and made an active effort to widen his knowledge about the arts of the Dalits (formerly known as untouchables) and non-Brahmin communities. |
Moved by the persecution of Tamil novelist Perumal Murugan whose writings on caste angered Hindu groups, Krishna set to music and sang an evocative poem of the writer. | Moved by the persecution of Tamil novelist Perumal Murugan whose writings on caste angered Hindu groups, Krishna set to music and sang an evocative poem of the writer. |
Carnatic music, traditionally set to songs composed by Hindu devotional poets of the 17th Century and beyond, is a genre associated with southern Indian classical music. | Carnatic music, traditionally set to songs composed by Hindu devotional poets of the 17th Century and beyond, is a genre associated with southern Indian classical music. |
Dated more than 2000 years ago, it evolved from the devotional canon of hymns and verses set to tune as musical prayer offerings in temples across southern states. | Dated more than 2000 years ago, it evolved from the devotional canon of hymns and verses set to tune as musical prayer offerings in temples across southern states. |
From the temples it found its audiences in the courts of kings and by talented performers. | From the temples it found its audiences in the courts of kings and by talented performers. |
Later it moved to concert halls across the southern cities. Chennai's famous Carnatic music "season" - held from December to January - is a century old. | Later it moved to concert halls across the southern cities. Chennai's famous Carnatic music "season" - held from December to January - is a century old. |
Musical concerts are held across Chennai and these concert halls are frequented by the upper castes as patrons and with predominantly Brahmin performers. | Musical concerts are held across Chennai and these concert halls are frequented by the upper castes as patrons and with predominantly Brahmin performers. |
A century later Krishna is calling out his community of classical musicians to make their music more meaningful by sharing its beauty with all kinds of people. | A century later Krishna is calling out his community of classical musicians to make their music more meaningful by sharing its beauty with all kinds of people. |
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