The Chevalier award is a recognition from a foreign country, so it’s kind of thrilling: Aruna Sairam

A Padma Shri awardee and a recipient of the prestigious Sangeeta Kalanidhi, the veteran has now been honoured by the French government with the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des lettres award. In an exclusive interview with CT, Aruna looks back on her early years, tells us what the recognition means to her, and what keeps her passion for music alive. Excerpts:

How do you feel about this honour? What was your initial reaction when you heard of it?
Disbelief. You always hope you get some award, but when you actually get it, there’d be that initial disbelief if it’s truly happened. More than an award, this is a recognition from a country, a foreign one at that! So, that’s kind of thrilling.

What does an award mean to you? Have you reached a state where an award is no big deal?
An award always comes with two predominant feelings. The first is happiness. An award is a pat on the back, telling you, ‘You are doing a wonderful job’. It’s a validation. So, there’s happiness that someone has noticed what you are doing. Along with that there’s also a feeling of responsibility. It tells me that I cannot stop and as long as God has given me the strength to make music, I should continue. Every award takes you to another level. For me, as long as I’m there, I want to keep making music. So, every award is a celebration.

Apart from being a validation, how do you see this honour? Where do you see yourself going next?
I see my past. When I look back on my early days, I remember myself as a young singer who did not know how to do a concert. I had knowledge, but knowledge and performance are two different things. Even in France, my very first concert was for an audience of just 30 people, with only my tanpura. There was not even an accompanying artiste. My concert career in France started with such a chamber concert. I was in Germany as a visiting professor in a university. It was on the border between France and Germany, and the French organisers suggested that I drive down to their country as Paris was driving distance from there. Even though there’s a sizeable Tamil population in France, this had a completely French audience. I sang whatever I could with my tanpura and spoke of my art form. I was very confused on my return because I did not know if the audience had enjoyed my music or not. This was in the late 1980s. In the following years, the audience for my concerts grew in number little by little... from 200-300 people to 500 and then, the Théâtre de la Ville, which had 2,000 people! When I relive that experience now, romba suvaiya irukku! Similarly, in India, too, from not knowing how a performance should be, I grew step by step. Unlike some artistes who became stars overnight, with a bang, naan thatti thadumaari mutti modhi dhaan vandhen. If I was able to bloom, it was because I was encouraged and given opportunities by all the sabhas here. The organisers, the seniors and the audiences... they all accepted me and the little bit of experimenting that I was doing. They were initially surprised by some of my out-of-the-box attempts, but they eventually welcomed them.

Talking about early years, most Carnatic musicians when they start out would have goals like, 'I should perform at least once at the Music Academy' or 'I should get the Sangeeta Kalanidhi'. Did you have any specific goal when you decided to take up music as a career?Goal-nu solradha vida aasai-nu sollalam. Because, at that stage, you will have doubts on whether your wish will come true or not. Firstly, music makes me very happy. I had the benefit of learning under great people, like my mother and my guru. So, at one stage, I felt it's a gift and I should keep doing this. I had no idea on how far I'd go. I took it day by day or week by week. Also, I feel if you look too far, it can become intimidating. Luckily, I kept going little by little. But yes, at the back of my mind, I did have my dream. Just like how anyone who picks up a tennis racquet dreams of winning the Wimbledon, anyone who sings Carnatic music will hope to get the Sangita Kalanidhi from the Music Academy. But at the time, I hadn't reached the stage where I could even be given Sangita Kalanidhi Junior! Aana aasaikku alave illaye. I thought, 'If I get it, good; else, that's fine too.' I guess looking at it this way and making my way helped me. There's this saying that running non-stop is more important than running faster. It will help you keep running. Because I took everything little by little as they came my way, I could sustain myself.

Since you mentioned Wimbledon, earlier this year, Ashleigh Barty announced her retirement two months after winning the Australian Open (she was ranked No 1 at that time as well), stating, the fire inside her died after she had won the Wimbledon the previous year. So, as a singer, once you have reached that place you had dreamt of, how do you continue to sustain the passion for music?As far as I'm concerned, I see life as a mix of everything. I do not look at music as the only aspect of my life. It is a very important aspect for sure, but I am equally involved with my family and my kids. I think that's why my passion has not died down. One never gets tired of interacting with their children. Similarly, I never get tired of my music. At the same time, I haven't gone on an overdrive at any stage in my career. I have never wanted to do back-to-back kutcheris, or one concert a day and so on. I take things at a slow pace, so I haven't burnt out my passion.

Can you share your thoughts on the French audience and the artistes you have collaborated with?When you perform at big concert venues like the Théâtre de la Ville, you will be waiting on the sidelines just minutes before the concert. But you will never hear a sound from your room. You might even think that there's hardly anyone in the auditorium. And then, when you enter, you will be surprised to see it fully packed as you walk on to the stage. They would have all been seated 15 minutes ahead of the concert, and seeing such a packed crowd, you would feel thrilled. They will applaud after every piece, but never in the middle of the concert. And once the concert is over, and you take a bow, they will applaud continuously. If they applaud non-stop thrice, it means they want you to do an encore. After that, the well-behaved audience would turn into a different kind of audience. Their temperament would entirely be different. They'd woot, whistle and wave standing on top of the seats! So, you can see a range of responses from the audience in France. And given that Paris is a cosmopolitan city, the audience will be a mix of nationalities... French, Arabic, German, and art lovers from other European nations. It was an exhilarating experience for me, at least initially, to perform for such an audience. It was in one such concert that Dominique Vellard, a popular singer who specialises in Medieval music, approached me, and expressed his wish to collaborate with me. I first wanted to see how it would come out before we announced a concert, and he and his wife invited me to be a guest in their house on my next visit and we spent time looking at how we could make it work. His music was western music from the 12th to 17th centuries, especially Gregorian chants, and mine was traditional Carnatic music. But this collaboration threw up a lot of interesting things. We have been collaborating from 1996 till now, with our last performance in 2019. Into this collaboration, entered Moroccan musician Noureddine Tahiri, who sings Arabic music. So, we now had three singers singing three distinct styles... European, Arabic and Indian... Christian, Muslim and Hindu. This triad happened in an unplanned way. We used to sing in our own styles, but together.

Do you think about your legacy?Whatever I have learnt, I want to share it with the next generation. I'm already mentoring some musicians. I am the head of the Carnatic faculty in the Artium Academy, a well-known worldwide internet academy for music. They have a lot of departments... Like, Sonu Nigam is the head of Bollywood music. KS Chitra for south Indian film music. Shubha Mudgal for Hindustani... So, I have started working towards sharing. But this work has to intensify in the time to come.

During COVID, everyone was going through a difficult time. It was a time when survival was more on people's minds than art. You were going through a personal tragedy during this time as well. How did you look at art during this time?Yes, it was a difficult time, and you tend to get despondent, especially when you see everyone else suffering as well. But that is where one has to introspect. I have mentors who helped me introspect, particularly my Bhagavad Gita teacher. I read the Gita every day, and that helps me to stay balanced. You realise that the hardships of some are far beyond what you are going through. That mental state doesn't come easily, but once you reach it, you are able to get up and face a new day every day. It is also teaching me to live day by day.