I have the greatest admiration for the quality of T.M. Krishna’s music and his powerful articulation whenever he writes. However, I strongly disagree with his near-imperious appeal, in his article, to older musicians to call it a day when they feel they have lost their lustre and glitter (Friday Review – ‘Perspective’ – “The temptation to not let go”, December 29, 2017). Music is not a game of cricket where statistics count and go against a player once he loses his form, and therefore his place in a competitive contest. Musicians are not in competition with one another. There is space for everybody. Do we ever look upon Sanjay Subrahmanyan and T.M. Krishna as being locked in a competition? They co-exist much to the delight of thousands of rasikas like me who enjoy listening to both.
Senior vidwans may crave for attention but do not normally denigrate those junior to them who steal the limelight. As long as a sabha invites an ageing musician and there is an audience, however small, to listen to him or her, why should anyone retire? T.M. Krishna may deny that he is not prescribing an age for retirement but his tenor indicates otherwise.
He has the right to speak his mind but he has no right to hurt others who came before him. He is a brilliant musician and many like me will travel anywhere to listen to him. I am sad that he has lost track, something that distorts his image as a singer par excellence. I hate to say this but populism is eating into his golden voice.
R.K. Raghavan,
High Commissioner to Cyprus,
Nicosia, Cyprus
