Classical music ain't decomposing in the time of Indipop

MUMBAI: Mozart and Mahler, once the uncontested preserve of the Parsis and Christians, are stealthily being appropriated. By the Gujaratis and Marwaris, no less.
Meanwhile, snooty South Mumbai teenagers are discovering that there''s life and music outside MTV— many can even discuss the finer points of a Bhimsen Joshi taan.
It''s time then to fell a stubborn misconception—that Mumbai''s youth is culture-illiterate and would prefer even Chate''s to classical music concerts.The happy, if somewhat surprising, truth is that the city''s classical music pulse is by all accounts alive and ticking.
This hasn''t happened by default. In an atmosphere in which the cultural mandarins have done little to demystify the arts, and a philistine market has dragged music down to gutter level, the unflagging efforts of a few aficionados have kept classical traditions alive.
From appreciation courses to sangeet sabhas in suburban pockets to campus initiatives and gurukuls, several streams and tributaries have been feeding the sur sagar.
At the vanguard of this music literacy movement is Spic Macay, the noted26-year-old organisation devoted to the promotion of Indian culture. Taking stalwarts such as Gangubai Hangal and Amjad Ali Khan to school and college campuses and ripping the esoteric armour from classical music is its mission, towards which it conducts concerts and close to 130 lecture demonstrations a year.
"All the top artistes support us unstintingly," says Kalyan Bose, chairperson of the Mumbai chapter. "They realise, after all, that this is about creating future audiences."
Indian Music Group (IMG), set up by the students of St Xavier''s in 1974, is another organisation that arranges monthly baithaks of maestros, has a music room where students can get an entry point into the mystique of khayals and thumris, and even showcases campus talent.
"It''s a myth that collegians won''t look beyond pop," says 23-year-old Samira Ibrahim. "When I was at Xavier''s, we had as many as 50 volunteers on our team."
Adds vocalist Shubha Mudgal, "Even the number of students enlisting in music schools and colleges has gone up. In fact, there are queues and waiting lists everywhere."
The demystification of Western classical music, though relatively new, is also in full swing. Besides the hugely successful Mehli Mehta Music Foundation, which introduces children to great composers, there is Parag Trivedi''s Sabrang which has been conducting appreciation workshops for the past 11 years.
"The most interesting thing, apart from the dramatic rise in attendance, is the shift in Mumbai''s participant profile," says Mr Trivedi. "Ten years ago it used to be the westernised Indian, very often the pseudos who just want a bit of jargon to throw around at cocktail parties. Now, more people with a genuine interest are coming in—Gujaratis and North Indians, among others."
Does the appreciation course route lead to larger and more discerning audiences in the concert halls? While music critic and teacher Anjan Ray doubts that such courses make a significant impact on concert attendance and CD sales, noted tabla player Anish Pradhan claims that he has seen a definite growth in the number of younger people attending concerts—although he feels that a lot more could be done.
"Music circles should try to find out what keeps youngsters away, and make a concerted effort to enroll them," he says. "Unfortunately, in many of these circles, there is an outright condemnation of the young."
Although purists may disagree, many believe that a plausible way to lure the uninitiated is by initially explaining classical music within the parameters of a more accessible form. Vocalist and music teacher Sandhya Kathavate has an interesting project where she expounds ragas through film songs, much like Vividh Bharati''s early morning programme ''Sangeet Sarita''.
"If I tell a youngster that Poochho na kaise maine rain bitayi is a Raag Ahir Bhairav composition set to the Keharwa taal, and then sing a bandish in the same raag, the latter will be more accessible," she says.
Adds Mr Ray, "It helps, for instance, to show how Rehman or Illayaraja use the same fundamental principles in the creation of modern music or to demonstrate how Johann Strauss evolved the waltz by combining a folk dance with orchestral tradition."
Of course, if music had been taught in schools, cutting a swathe through the thicket of esotericism would have been unnecessary. "Most countries have music on the school curriculum but not us," says Homai Desai, Mumbai representative of London''s Royal School of Music. "Although children are very interested, there is virtually no encouragement from schools."
Indeed, despite both the 1964 Kothari commission on educational reform and the draft national cultural policy of 1992 recommending that culture education be integrated into school curricula, the former remains strictly outside the pale.
"Increasingly the market is carpet-bombing us with off-key Indipop and tinny remixes," says 24-year-old music lover Monica Sharma. "What is more galling is that it positions this as ''youth music''. It''s time good music, classical or otherwise, picked up the gauntlet."