Who would have imagined that a hall full of rasikas would sway and swing to a ‘chindu’ on the very first morning of Margazhi, in the heart of Mylapore? Thanks to Prof. Gunasekaran’s lecture on folk music of Tamil Nadu, the mini-hall of the Music Academy resounded with earthy tunes from the hinterlands of the State’s folk musical heritage. Opening the Season’s lec-dem series, Prof. Gunasekaran and his colourful group of artists drove away the Monday morning blues with their outstanding presentation.
In spite of it being the only lecture, even 90 minutes fell short for such a wide-ranging topic as this. Prof. Gunasekaran listed out the folk music traditions spread across the Tamil geographies. He was accompanied by vidwan Shanmuga Sundaram on the nagaswaram, Venkatesh on the thavil and Mohan on the flute. The action started when Pandiammal, with a halo of feathers for a crown, danced in cheerful abandon, balancing a decorated pot on her head.
Ready to jump into song after every other sentence, Prof Gunasekaran exuberantly explained the various folk instruments, those meant for temples and rituals, and others as well. However, it would have helped if he had prefaced a historical aspect and contextualised the music. Like when did English words enter Tamil folk songs and many other such questions remained unanswered.
It was a highly informative talk and one got a sneak preview of the rich and real world of Tamil folk music, sans pretentions.
