Chennai, Did you know that when an ‘oppari’ or ‘lamenting’ singer wails, it has a tune – or ‘varna mettu’, as they say in Carnatic music?
And that, if you pay close attention to ‘gaana’ songs – a cultural anthem that pays homage to ‘Chennai Tamil’ – you can see shades of ragas, say Bageshri or Hari Kambhoji, colouring them? Even though the singer may not even know his ‘shruti’ from ‘tanam’.
Or that one of the key emotions, ‘veera rasas’, or heroism, in ‘kattai kuttu’ – a rural theatre form practised in Tamil Nadu villages – is almost always set in raga Mohanam.
Packed to the gills it may have been, but there was more to the Madras Music Academy ‘s Margazhi line-up this season than just Carnatic musician T M Krishna’s ‘return to the Margazhi fold’ concert on Christmas.
Under the overarching theme of ragas, this year’s Sangita Kalanidhi Krishna has curated a series of academic sessions that upended the norm by sneaking in the music of the marginalised.
But given the controversies that surround this year’s Sangita Kalanidhi, the organisers hasten to add that this was not the first instance of the “paradigm shift” in the programming of the MMA.
“We simply returned to the thematic focus after at least 20 years. As is usual, the expert committee, including the Sangita Kalanidhi, decided on the topics,” said N Murali, president of the MMA, to PTI.
Music historian Sriram V, who anchored the lecture demonstrations this year, pointed out that this is not the first time that the Music Academy has attempted something like this.
“If you look at the 98 years of the Music Academy’s lec-dems, you will find there are several instances where there have been such kinds of paradigm shifts. One is Dr Shyamala Balakrishnan’s presentation on how ‘nadodi padalgal’ influenced Carnatic music. I think she did it in the 1960s,” said Sriram, after the presentation on ‘Oppari: The Pain of Loss and the Loss of Pain’ on December 18.
While summing up a presentation on ‘Kuttu Raga-s: Evoking the Character’ on December 19, Krishna admitted that the ‘chicken-and-egg’ question, ‘where does a raga belong?’ was his inspiration for curating this year’s academic sessions.
“We lost the ability to give the ragas, or abstract ideas, a way to breathe and find their own space,” Krishna said.
‘Kuttu Raga-s’ was presented by Vidvan P Rajagopal, considered one of the finest ‘kattai kuttu’ artistes, and indologist Hanne M de Bruin, who has been studying the artform for over 35 years now.
“It all started for me when I saw a performance in a village. I watched it along with 2,000 people, almost. That was something else. Nothing prepared me for it,” said Bruin to PTI.
According to her, despite this undying love for ‘kattai kuttu’ in villages, the art form of the lower caste people is not recognised as a legitimate theatre format in urban centres.
“Often it is countered with ‘can lower caste people produce art?’ In that sense, what Krishna has done with the lecture series is a step in the right direction of erasing such boundaries,” added Bruin.
If expanding people’s minds by piquing their curiosity was the end goal, Krishna might have hit a bull’s eye with his curation.
In the case of ‘kattai kuttu’, much of the post-presentation conversation between the artistes and the audience revolved around making ‘muga veena’, a not-so-often seen wind instrument that is crucial for this art form, relevant again.
‘Muga veena’, a temple instrument lost its glory to the growing influence of clarinet, said Sasikumar, who played the ‘muga veena’.
At the end of the presentation ‘Gaana songs: The Cultural Identity of the Marginalised’, on December 28, the audience were treated to an impromptu ‘gaana rap’ by one of the youngest members of the troupe.
According to Krishna, ‘gaana rap’, the contemporary evolution of the art form, is a rage these days.
During the presentation by mridangist Sangita Kalanidhi Tiruvarur Bakthavatsalam, titled ‘A Tuned Mridangam’, on December 26, the audience were shown how difficult it is to tune a mridangam.
He was aided by mridangam maker Valangaiman Navaneetha Krishnan. And the session left everyone present convinced that making a mridangam is an art, too.
Navaneetha Krishnan later told PTI that it was his first time being on stage although he comes from a family of percussionists – his great grandfather was thavil Kalaimamani Karanthai R Shanmugam Pillai.
“I was very nervous throughout. But I was also very proud,” added the 53-year-old sought-after mridangam maker who started learning the craft in 1987.
According to him, they were only able to tell the very basics about mridangam tuning, given that they had just 45 minutes.
“I have been invited already for another presentation next year and I will be making it on my own,” said Navaneetha Krishnan to PTI.
Dr A Ramanthan, who documents ‘oppari’ songs, said he too was apprehensive about the presentation, as he knew it was a “different kind of audience”.
“I didn’t expect them to understand the context so well. I am happy that the artform has reached more people through this lec-dem,” said Ramanathan to PTI.
For president Murali, despite the brouhaha surrounding the Sangita Kalanidhi this year, the 98th edition of the MMA event has proved that music is ultimately the winner.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
