Make classical music accessible to the masses: Amartya Sen

Music, the most precious thing in my life, says T.M. Krishna

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen releases Carnatic singer T.M. Krishna’s book “ASouthern Music: The Karnatik Story” in Chennai on Monday. GopalkrishnaGandhi, Chairman, Kalakshetra, is seen on the right. Photo: R. Ragu

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Monday underscored the need for making classical music, which has remained more or less elitist, accessible to the masses.

Citing higher education, the eminent economist said the reason it does not interest the common people is they never had an opportunity of going in for higher education. The same applied to “great music” too for its lack of common appeal, he said at a function in Kalakshetra here.

Heaping wholesome praise on Carnatic vocalist T.M. Krishna’s book

A Southern Music – The Karnatik Story , which he launched, Professor Sen said it was one of the best books he had read. “What you get from the book is the deeper sense of experience, a better understanding, context and, of course, a kind of commanding view of the history of the discipline,” he said. The book, he added, also dealt with contemporary event in music and its impact.

Some of the subjects discussed, he pointed out, were general and applied to other issues as well. The book, Prof. Sen said, was “not only a great educator, a great source of enjoyment, but also a great testament to humanity, to hope, to our ability, to get into those complicated thing and yet follow it.”

Mr. Krishna said music was the most precious thing in life for him. It was this sanctity, preciousness that he tried to offer in the book. Kalakshetra chairman Gopalkrishna Gandhi said the renowned institution celebrated the profound work of music. Director of Kalakshetra Priyadarshini Govind and V.K. Karthika, publisher and chief editor of Harper Collins, which published the book, spoke.