“ Vanakkam, enakku avalavu Tamil theriyadu, so naa English le pesuraen ,” (I don’t know much Tamil, so I’ll speak in English), says Aditya Prakash, and the crowd responds with thrilled shrieks and applause to the American-born Indian Carnatic musician’s icebreaker.
Despite the urban rock concert vibe, the Western jazz-Carnatic experimental tunes that we hear are flowing along the Cauvery in Thiruvaiyaru, as part of the Festival of Sacred Music (FOSM), a weekend of free public concerts organised in end-February by the Chennai-based Prakriti Foundation.
Aditya Praksh and co-artistes Shreya Devnath (violin/vocals), Vedanth Bharadwaj (guitar/vocals), Akshay Anantapadmanabhan (mridangam/kanjira/konakol), Aalaap Raju (bass) and M.T. Aditya (Latin Percussion/tabla) are playing at the Pushya Mahal Ghat, to a hugely appreciative audience comprising of local residents and visitors who have specially driven over to the village considered to be the seat of Carnatic music.
For two hours, the group makes its sonic footprints on the hearts of those assembled, recovering its pace after a fireworks display from sandbanks on the riverbed behind briefly disrupts the proceedings.
In its 8th edition this year, FOSM is among the many niche events that have begun to draw the discerning culture lover to the rural pockets of Tamil Nadu, a little away from overexposed big ticket attractions.
Homecoming trail
There are many who think that the State is ready for this resurgent interest in culture. “Culture tourism is really the future. Because when everybody’s partied and had a good time, then what?” says Krithika Subrahmanian at her heritage hotel Svatma, a 38-room property in M.Chavadi, Thanjavur situated just 2 kilometers away from possibly one of the most recognisable buildings in India after the Taj Mahal – Sri Brihadeeswarar Temple (also known as the Big Temple).
The architect, with over 19 years of experience in over 1,200 projects, worked on Svatma (‘one’s own soul’), for nearly 7 years before it went fully operational in September 2015. The luxury property is promoted by the family-owned firm Sumanth & Co. based in Chennai.
Whether it is the lovingly restored main red-brick residence or the adjacent modern wing, the priceless antique art collection showcased throughout the property, or the tastefully dimmed lighting system, everything about Svatma spells a careful curation of experience.
“It’s about having time to catch up with yourself,” says Ms. Subrahmanian of her hotel. “I feel only something old and timeless can help you do that.”
The debut season attracted guests from United Kingdom, France, Spain, Croatia and the United States, but Ms. Subrahmanian feels it’s time Indians patronised domestic high-end tourism too.
“There are many well-to-do Indian families that go on package tours to the southeast Asian countries who could be redirected here. After all, what are you seeing on these foreign tours? Casinos and amusement parks? Wouldn’t it be better to reconnect with your roots and culture on a domestic heritage trip?” she says.
A crucial point about heritage tourism is that it goes very well with luxury. “We have not priced ourselves for the mass pilgrim market because we’d like to offer something more exclusive,” says Ms. Subrahmanian.
So in addition to trying their hand at traditional south Indian cooking (the resort’s three restaurants serve organic vegetarian menus), guests at Svatma can expect to see or participate in Vedic chanting, chamber concerts and dance lecture-demonstrations among other in-house activities conducted with local charitable trusts.
Going the distance
Thanjavur and Kumbakonam are on the ‘Navagraha circuit’ – where it is possible to find temples dedicated to each of the nine planets in the Hindu astrological chart within a 60 km radius. But facilities that cater to pilgrims and the regular tourist in this region are far from satisfactory.
Whether it is the hotels, public toilets on the laybys, or accurate information on the tourist sites, nearly everything comes up short in comparison to states like Kerala or Rajasthan.
“Simply showing the Big Temple and going home will not do,” says S. Muthukumar, secretary, Thanjavur unit of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). “We should market not just Thanjavur, but also think of circuits that encompass the history of the area – a zone on Chola history, for instance, or one on the Maratha heritage, which will bring in other towns and villages in the vicinity. We have a lot of heritage in this region, not just in monuments, but also the performing arts,” he adds.
The Brihadeeswarar Temple and the Saraswati Mahal’s library and art gallery are among the most visited spots in Thanjavur, but a significant number of heritage structures, some of older vintage, are neglected, says Mr. Muthukumar.
More needs to be done to make local residents feel proud of the history in their midst. Seeing the graffiti in courtyard shrines of the Big Temple, or the ancient stone sculptures exposed to harsh sunlight in the art gallery of the Saraswati Mahal, conservationists have a long battle ahead.
“Culture exponents should come to Thanjavur to conduct awareness workshops. Sitting in Chennai or Coimbatore and talking about Thanjavur will not work,” says Mr. Muthukumar. “The documentation of the Big Temple, for example, has been exhibited by the Delhi-based Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA)in Chennai and Coimbatore, but not in Thanjavur.”
The biggest victory for the INTACH chapter so far has been to getting the State government to rebuild the historic moat around Thanjavur city and Big Temple. Starting at the south-western side of the Big Temple, the first phase of the project (costing around Rs. 30 crores), involves building 9 bridges, to ensure water supply for the envisaged ‘hop-on, hop-off’ water taxi service.
“We are now talking of converting Thanjavur into a smart city. But any city in India can only be smarter when it includes its history and culture,” he says.
Different sound, same admiration
It’s been a night buzzing with unusual energy on stage and off it, but Aditya Prakash has been totally tuned in to all – the obligatory post-concert photographs, handshakes with random folks and the scribbling of phone numbers on bits of paper.
Thiruvaiyaru has come alive for the Festival of Sacred Music, and it seems as if Aditya Prakash and his team of musical collaborators are going to be flooded with adulation for much of the evening.
“Performing for a Western or Indian audience is same in a way,” Aditya Prakash tells MetroPlus later, at a dinner at the Svatma heritage resort being hosted in honour of the artistes at Thanjavur. “They are already infatuated with our sound, which is new to them.”
Growing up in an artistic household in Los Angeles (he is the son of danceuse Viji Prakash, founder of Shakti Dance School of Bharatanatyam) Aditya Prakash formally trained in Carnatic music from the age of 8, and at 16, became one of the youngest musicians to tour and perform with the sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar.
The school and college breaks spent in getting trained in Chennai have all been time well spent, says Aditya, who studied Ethnomusicology at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). “After a certain point it is not about going to class, but internalising what you have learned. You should become so familiar with the music that you can converse with it comfortably,” he says.
Aditya has been experimenting with fusion music collaborations since 2011. “It is something I get a lot of enjoyment from because I originally started the AP Ensemble with my roommates in college, who were curious about my style of music, just like I was about theirs. Now I’m interested in collaborating with different styles and seeing how things can move together,” he says.
From a US-wide centenary concert for M.S. Subbulakshmi curated by Gowri Ramnarayan, a dance-drama based on the life of Buddha in collaboration with his elder sister and dancer Mythili Prakash, chamber concerts and the regular Carnatic music season in Chennai, the rising star’s 2016 calendar is already full.
“Carnatic music doesn’t need anything added to it. It would be enough to improve the way it is presented – just a decent sound system, for example, can do wonders. What I’m doing is nothing, it’s simply an expression of what I have learned through the years,” he concludes. –
The writer visited Thanjavur and Thiruvaiyaru courtesy Svatma
