Dr. L Subramaniam and wife, Kavita Krishnamurthy kickstarted the debut edition of HCL Concerts’ global series with a concert curated especially to suit an eclectic audience
Chemistry was the core of the concert. The unspoken, near-magical chemistry between Dr. L Subramaniam and his violin; the chemistry between him and Kavita, the chemistry between Indian and western classical music, the chemistry between instruments (bass, piano, keys, drums, mridangam, tabla) and artistes on stage and, needless to say, the chemistry between the artistes and the audience.
On November 29, at the prestigious Carnegie Hall,America’s business leaders and culturatti gathered to soak in Dr. Subramaniam’s music.
HCL concerts chose this well-known couple to launch its global series to give the audience a glimpse of Indian classical heritage and contemporary musical sensibilities.
The concert was a medley of tracks, some familiar and a handful of compositions written by Dr. Subramaniam, who is among the pioneers of creating the idea and sound of global fusion. He took Indian classical music beyond its borders, allowing it to fuse with an array of genres. In its presentation, even though the concert allowed audience to scratch the surface of Indian classical music, its content was layered with nuanced complexity that Dr. Subramaniam has with ease and conviction, made his own.
The opening act was ably handled by Kavita, best known for her career in playback, having sung nearly 50,000 songs across Indian languages. Cinema, as always, hit the sweet spot, and almost instantly filled the audience, especially the Indians in it, with nostalgia — the gregarious Sridevi in the iconic Mr India making gibberish her own, in the voice of Kavita, and remaining the eternal ‘Hawa Hawaii’ girl for us.
When Kavita went backstage, after welcoming her husband, it was the beginning of a different kind of a journey. As most true artistes, Dr. Subramaniam is a man of few words, allowing his music to do the talking, focussing instead on initiating and sustaining a dialogue between his violin and all the other instrumentalists on stage.
‘Indian Express’, a composition of his own, was the beginning of that. Full of energy and dynamism, rooted in the Carnatic sphere but very eclectic in its sound , it set the stage for what was to come.
The next track, ‘Conversations’ was literally that — long dialogue between the violin and the piano segueing into short, deliberate conversation between the violin and drums, mridangam and tabla — was undoubtedly the showstopper.
After ‘Conversations’, Kavita was back on stage to present a deep and contemplative Ahir Bhairav, with the song, ‘Albela Sajan Aayo Re’, demonstrating not merely her firm grip over the classical form, but also the array of sounds the violin can produce.
The befitting finale was ‘Ganga’, an ode of sorts to the river and its many tributaries, reinforcing the legacy of Indian classical music that is full of potential and possibilities, travelling far and wide, enabling connections and collaborations.
Experiments with sound
How audience across the world have been able to appreciate the idea and sound of global music?
Music is music. It can be appreciated at many levels. When you bring together genres, you realise there are a whole bunch of common elements among them. The thing about music is that it can be appreciated at a rhythmic level, at a melodic level, from a technical point of view, from a spiritual perspective where an artiste brings life to each and every note. But if that’s not done, the music is dead. Each note means something to the artiste and to the audience and when they listen to it, something happens to them in a way that they are moved and transformed.
Why did you decide to tread the global music path?
Back in the day, whenever people outside India thought of our music, they referred to it either as ethnic or folk music. They never really understood that it is one of the greatest classical systems in the world and easily one of the oldest. That impression the world had of our music bothered me a great deal and I came up with a repertoire of my compositions that I wrote in collaboration with Western classical musicians. I created an ensemble with African musicians, yet another with musicians from Indonesia. The idea was basically to communicate to people that all systems of music come under the umbrella of global music and within that there were a whole lot of music that was specific to each country and culture.
What’s your take on corporate support for art and culture.
Many organisations don’t think of culture.It’s heartening HCL does this. It’s imperative organisations think like this. Education as a corporate social responsibility is one thing but arts and culture is fabulous. Take children for instance; if they are exposed to the right kind of music, it can take them away from violence, de-stress them and also empower them pursue it as a profession.
The writer was in New York at the invitation of HCL Concerts
