The Corona lockdown has changed everything that constitutes our social world. Music is no exception. Concerts have been cancelled, and musicians have been badly hit, especially those that depend on music for their livelihood. This is not even a uniform situation – star musicians, globe trotters, high profile, up-market artistes are managing well. But those who depend on small concerts, go from house to house giving music lessons, tanpura artists, recording artists… all of them have been hugely affected. If this is one side of the story, technology has enabled musicians to stay with the world they’ve been distanced from and on an average, one receives atleast five to 10 short pieces of music through social media. This could be anything from virtually collaborated instrumental fusion, vocal fusion, individual artistes singing from the comfort of their homes, singing with family members… many such things. With social media already being a huge and influential presence in the life of music, the Corona has further escalated it. What will be the repercussions of this pandemic on the world of music? Senior musician and Chairman of Karnataka Sangeeta Nritya Academy, Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma has some observations to make.
27bgmAnoor Ananthakrishna Sharma Photo
The last 8-10 years has been very good for music. It has thrown up a whole lot of opportunities and musicians have enjoyed a never before situation. Suddenly, this world has been disrupted by Corona, what do you think will be the impact of this shutdown?
Musicians have had a good run. They are performing all over the globe, they have become stars, they work with other international artistes, get paid very well and it is only common sense that these musicians are in no crisis. They can easily sustain themselves. But I am very worried about those who go on their scooters from house to house to teach music, those who depend on small programmes, harikathe artistes, musicians in villages who earn Rs. 50-100 per programme, company theatre artistes and the like. They are in very bad situation.
Media will talk to famous artistes and take their opinion on the Corona crisis. But who will talk to these people? I feel there are two categories – the popular and the deserving. There could be popular artistes who are talented, but not all talented artistes are popular. There are thousands of them. We have to identify them and help them. How do we reach out to them? Government should show some concern and with the help of academies, support them. For these small people art is a way of life, and they would have created an ecosystem of art in their respective villages. That has to be valued.
Will Academies be able to do something?
It is difficult to go on begging the government. From Ananya 60 musicians were supported. Everyone sees artistes who come on television, they watch cinema and know sugama sangeeta artistes, but there are thousands of others. The government, I feel, should not stop a single festival. Every Zilla utsav should give opportunity to all the local artistes. Governments hand over the ustavs to event management companies, they in turn invite some big group that sings film songs and pay them 10 lakhs. Instead, Academies should be involved. We should be able to invite every local artiste and support them financially. Now the government has announced Rs. 2000 to artistes, but is that enough? We must make sure that they are given opportunities.
But the government significantly reduced culture grants last term itself….
Yes, we cannot ask for more money, but even what is available should be put to right use, isn’t it? Why aren’t the sabhas coming forward to help? Can’t they pay atleast half the remuneration to artistes whose programmes have been cancelled? Isn’t that only fair? Only Gayana Samaja was magnanimous enough to contribute to the Ananya fund. What about the globe trotters? Small contributions are enough, we can help a lot of people. The fraternity should come forward.
The social media is full of virtual collaborations. Social media had already changed the way we listened to and perceived music. This bombardment seems even more worrisome.
I agree. It is an exercise in patting one’s own back. Even here there are coteries – they appreciate only each other, and promote each other. Buffet lunches are good, there is variety, it satisfies your eyes and stomach. But you cannot have it every day, can you? You experience heavenly bliss in the simple rasam and sambar. All these acrobatics must not make listeners feel that this is music. We have to expose them to the core of music. Take for instance, the Western symphony, the Japanese and Chinese music, they keep their music pure. Not that they do not have fusion, but at the forefront is their traditional music, the core. You put layers and layers of dressing into your sandwich and finally can’t get the taste of anything.
Also, what I don’t understand is these ‘Save The Planet’ songs. I understand lyrics can be inspiring, but songs don’t save the earth. Instead, we can plant 1000 trees. What I’m trying to say is that we should not use an occasion to ride popularity charts, we should genuinely plunge into action. Now, do you walk to the studios? You would have gone by cars, taken flights, all this is pollution and it doesn’t save the earth. Popularity is a temptation for everyone, even for me, but we should be aware of our actions. If anything gets passed off as music, that’s a danger. There are many Corona like viruses within the world of music, we have to search for remedies. They have to be eradicated. Good networking doesn’t mean good music.
Chennai, 17/12/2008: (9.15 am):: Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma (Mridangam) at Music Academy on Wednesday. Photo: V. Ganesan.
Post Corona, when we have to rebuild all these worlds, the big and famous are going to be invited again. The small and inconsequential will have a longer struggle.
Exactly, it is like starting from zero. In a fun way, I was telling a friend yesterday: No weekends, no first week of the month, all outgoing calls and no in-come calls, dairies will be full of cancelled and postponed. I feel musicians should become more sharing and caring. Instead of taking all the opportunities for themselves, they should be large hearted and share with other musicians. Coming together is the only way out. Else, this will be a more inequal world than before.
