Carnatic music and its pan-Indian relevance

Carnatic music may well be at a point of inflexion. The art form is poised to transcend the clubby sabha circuit of Chennai. Many feel that in a wired world, audiences outside this small world – within India and outside – may form a numerous enough segment able to appreciate the art form’s beauty.
Most performers, especially the younger ones, understand this intuitively and are coming up with various ideas on how best to reach out to those audiences.While many seek a radical break with the recent and distant past, some like Sikkil Gurucharan, among the young stars of Carnatic music, advocate a more nuanced approach.
Staying close to the practices, Gurucharan, who was recently on a Fulbright fellowship in the US, is seeking to chart new territories. In a chat with M Kalyanaraman, Gurucharan who collaborates with pianist Anil Srinivasan says the first step has already been taken by many.
Is the religious component important in Carnatic music?
Is it imperative that we should sing on a religious figure or a religious icon? Even if I just sing the seven notes it would still be Carnatic music though not devotional. I am primarily a Carnatic musician, not a devotional musician. Professor Indira Peterson has insights into non-brahminical composers like Vedanayagam Sastriar who composed the Bethlehem Kuravanji. The tune is very simple. He probably intended the lyrics to get precedence.
As early as 18th or 19th century, performances had started happening. Javalis and padams using two or more languages were being used. A 19th century "manipravala javali" by Sivaramayya (1798-1820) in the ragam kamboji goes like this: "My dear come varuvai i vela". Every line has Tamil or Telugu and English. The British were probably important politically at that time and the javali reflected that. It’s only in the last century or more that the number of languages have got restricted. If the music is polyglotic and multi-religious, it could definitely help to reach out to a wider audience. It's just that music needs to be the dominant force.
Are the lyrics important at all? Is the meaning of lyrics important for you and the audience?
Yes. The meaning enhances the music. If you explain shantamulekha to an audience that doesn’t know Carnatic music, the audience would be able to appreciate the music that much more. Music helps to circulate the meaning. Many of our composers were well versed in literature as well as music. Some of them tuned their poems to their finest detail. Others like Bharathiyar allow others to tune their songs.
While singing the ragam, say Kalyani, the meaning of the song doesn’t matter. When you sing a composition, however, it should be sung in the way the composer intended it to be sung. It so happens that sometimes in Tyagaraja’s krithis we sing some songs at a fast tempo even though the song may express pain or similar emotion. But in Dikshitar or Shyama Sastri, there is no room for ambiguity. The meaning or the emotion of the song should be conveyed by the performer to his or her best extent.
In what direction do you want to take Carnatic music to make it more pan-Indian?
The first step has already been taken through collaborations. Right from the 1980s, this has been happening. Today we have festivals and programmes dedicated to collaborative work. These draw a different audience and serve a purpose.
The next thing is to include a pan-Indian repertoire. Carnatic music originates in the four south Indian states. But today abhangs and bhajans are being increasingly sung. I think there is much potential in Kabir’s dohas as well as Tagore’s compositions. It would be interesting to see how we can use the two-verse format of Kabir. Use of other languages and interactions with audiences will all help.
Do you think the concert format needs to be changed?
To me, the specialty of Carnatic music has to be conveyed to the audience. That is more important. The beauty of the art form is in how it seeks to strike a balance between the unstructured and the structured. Songs are important, yet there is much space for creativity within the song. And you of course have other elements like ragam singing to bring in the creativity. It’s the way the music weaves back and forth between these two that is important. But even for songs, we should consider the possibility of using works from history and contemporary compositions, or even non-religious works.