What we have for music criticism and writing in Malayalam are either hagiographies on singers, which is mostly anecdotal, or dry technical books, with notations and all, targeting music students and enthusiasts. These books seldom give us any insight about music by elaborating upon the nuances of different genres, musical styles or banis of different singers, or on the socio-cultural history.
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Ramesh Gopalakrishnan’s book on music, Carnataka Sangeetha Vicharngal , stands out in this regard as it takes an incisive look at various aspects of Carnatic music. The first part of the book is a breezy overview about the history of musical traditions in India, Hindustani and Carnatic.
Another important section deals with music education in Kerala, which is losing its academic and aesthetic rigour due to dilution of its curriculum to cater to the exigencies of ‘employability’. The inclusion of topics other than music, for the sake of employability, cuts into the time and attention of both teachers and students.
Interviews with young musicians such as Changanassery Madhavan Nambudiri and Vellinezhi Subramaniam emphasise this point from their own experience in the field, both as practitioners and teachers. Another set of interviews with Principals of government music colleges in the state throw light upon the changing scenario of music education in Kerala. After the shift from the old gurukula mode that created a number of young talents, the new dispensation under the university system has not been able to maintain its rigour, depth or commitment, basically because of the lack of time devoted to the core subject of music, both theory and practice.
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The book also points out the changing technologies of listening, appreciating and sharing music that have had tremendous impact on contemporary practices of Carnatic music. Such ‘domestication’ and personalisation of music consumption, where certain masters and favourites rule the roost, has gradually eroded the musician-listener interface, the centrality of live listening at kacheries that has a long tradition through which this genre of music has sustained itself. This has eventually affected the quality of listening, the intensity that the listener brings to the process of enjoying and appreciating music. This calls for more critical and analytical discourses about Carnatic music.
According to the author, efforts should be made to break out of these limits, to seek new synergies, practices and themes to reach out to a wider, secular audience. This is a book that prompts the music lover not only to understand and enjoy music in more depth, but also prods the reader to look at the larger socio-political, cultural, media-related and educational issues relating to Carnatic music.
Carnataka Sangeetha Vicharangal
Ramesh Gopalakrishnan
Mathrubhumi Books
Rs. 115