Bright white tube lights, a green board on the wall containing remnants of a lecture left behind by chalk pieces and a carpet on a slightly raised platform formed the setting as Mysore Chandan Kumar traced the alapana of the customary ‘Mahaganapatim’ in Nattai on his flute. The sky had turned dark above this room at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, where the music club had organised this flute recital.
Chandan Kumar mostly played popular kritis based in easily detectable ragas such as Ranjani and Sindhubhairavi but what was remarkable was the manner in which he rendered them. Once the charm of the well-known faded, one could recognise the real genius of his recital in the innovative sangatis he packed into each composition. His foray into a particular raga was generally crisp but thorough. And to add to it, he was in company of a talented ensemble in V. Nalina Mohan on the violin, T.R. Sundaresan on the mridangam and Suresh Vaidyanathan on the ghatam.
The popular flautist has a grand musical name attached to him - that of his great grandfather, Tirumakadulu Chowdiah, violin legend. A portrait is etched in his mind of the man he never met but with whom he shares something in common: a passion for the instrument he plays. “My father had travelled with the maestro and it is from him that I heard about my great grandfather,” says Kumar during a telephonic interview after the concert. However, instead of the violin, it was the flute that appealed to Kumar as a child when he heard his father’s friend play the instrument. The decision to learn the flute, therefore, was not a complicated one and soon, Kumar trained under M. Gopalakrishna in Mysore where he grew up and still continues to live. He also trains under P.S. Narayanaswamy in Chennai.
On the day of any concert, Kumar says, he tries not to do rigorous practice. “I try to keep in mind the audience and then curate the songs for the concert accordingly. But, more important, I always try to keep my mind calm and relaxed,” he explains.
Though he travels fairly frequently to Chennai, it is in Kerala that he gets ample opportunities for solo recitals, he says. “In the past 15 years, the Carnatic scene in Kerala has become more lively. In Chennai, there is not much of an instrumental concert scenario,” he explains. Apart from touring the country for concerts, Kumar also trains up and coming flautists. “Earlier, there were far less aspiring flautists, but now there are more enthusiasts. Generally, most music learners tend towards vocals,” he elaborates.
Kumar strongly believes that determination is all one needs to take up music as one’s career. However, he does acknowledge that as a musician, one needs to be aware of the changing demand for music. “Since everything is online these days, CD sales are abysmal. The only future for CDs is if people buy it at the concert venue itself after listening to the artist.”
Chandan Kumar makes it a point every year, to attend the music season in the city. Having seen it grow and change over the years, he says, “Around 15 years ago, it (the season) was really nice. Now, a monotony of sorts has set in. Too much of anything is generally not good. Except a few popular ones, concerts generally have thin attendance. I have attended recitals where there were not even ten people.”
But Kumar does acknowledge that concerts even otherwise have to compete for the audience’s attention with the telecast of cricket match and soaps. “The audience promptly leaves a concert at 8.30 p.m., because it is time for their regular serial’s new episode,” he remarks.
Undeterred though, Kumar still tries his best to perform wherever he is invited be it a small audience like the one in IIT or a massive sabha gathering. That day at IIT, a row full of enthusiastic listeners eagerly followed Kumar’s exposition, appreciating every tonal nuance that his flute took. Perhaps, that is every artist’s muse.
