T.M. Krishna seems to be a rebel without a cause with an intense passion for transforming the Carnatic music world; it is not clear as to what he wants to replace it with (“Carnatic Music and Performance Structure”, Friday Review, February 10). From what I understand he has made two points: music and music performance are not the same and there is a need to question the format of the current day kutcheri. On the first point, none will disagree with him when he says that the space of performance is immaterial to art music.
His unhappiness with the kutcheri format is again not articulated well as he does not say what is wrong with it. Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar thought ahead of his time when he introduced the current-day concert paddhati diversifying the repertoire sensing the shortening trends in the attention span of rasikas. Before him the emphasis was on Ragam, Tanam and Pallavi (RTP) and the elaboration of one or two major ragas followed by a kriti of a great vaggeyakara for hours. Can anyone expect that in today’s jet age people have the patience and interest to listen to Todi without a kriti, niraval and swaraprastara for two hours?
If Krishna wants to change the format nothing prevents a musician from starting with Mangalam and ending with a Varnam or reverse the order of RTP. But would rasikas accept it? If there are no rasikas to whom would the musician sing? If he wants to take away religion or bhakti from our art music what remains is entertainment like in the case of a film song. Changes are taking place in all fields due to technology, pace of life and new tastes and preferences. In fact, contrary to what he says, it is already happening in classical Carnatic music. The RTP, the core of the kutcheri, does not carry the importance once assigned to it. It is either rendered in a capsule form or ignored altogether. Many musicians dispense with Varnam at the beginning of the concert. Sarvalaghu has replaced Kanakku with a few exceptions. Carnatic musicians are participating in fusion experiments. The 78 rpm record showed how maestros could compress a major raga with a kriti bringing out all their nuances and musical idioms within 3 or 6 minutes and hence became popular.
In the case of Bharatanatyam the format has already undergone a revolution. The traditional Margam is seen mostly at the time of arangetram and the nattuvanar has become a member of the orchestra instead of being the conductor of the programme. Otherwise it is dance dramas, jugalbandi or fusion.
Art music is no exception to the trend. How does one explain the popularity of “Why this kolaveridi” that attracted 40 million hits on the Internet? We are living in an age where the ordinary man, especially the youth, would prefer “Kolaveri” to “Koluvamaragade.” If Krishna wants a wholesale change in the format he should provide an alternative paradigm.
A. Seshan, Mumbai
