For most of us, only Indian classical music and that too Carnatic music is an authentication for classicality, spirituality and intellectuality. To most Indians, Western classical music, heavily dependent on instrumental prop, is nothing but sound, rhythm with little or no depth. Our reach extends only up to Mozart and Beethoven whose compositions centre around a large orchestra where harmony is the keyword. We are hardly aware that Western classical music was in existence much before that and the medieval period music (800 years ago) had a repertory that was intellectually stimulating and spiritually enriching, similar to our Carnatic music.
Like Carnatic compositions, medieval Western music was also lyric-oriented rather than symphony since song is the most fundamental of all human expressions. And obviously the verses so worded were capable of stirring the emotions at different levels. Melody and rhythm were more complex in medieval music than in the 18th century Western music which we classify as ‘classical’ since we have no clue of music prior to that. Though the ‘tala’ (count) and ‘raga’ concepts were not overtly spelt out, the French musical terms of the 14th century do use the term ‘colour’ for melodic basis of a composition and and ‘talea’ for the sequence in counting pattern which was broadly called ‘isorythm’. For instance, Guillaume Dufay, a Dutch composer of the early Renaissance (15th century) can be compared to our Purandara Dasa in more than one way. His compositions, like the Dasaranama, were simple chants within the arena of sacred music like hymns, magnificent set to antiphons and a few ballades that came within the purview of secular music. In the West, Dufay was nominally an official of the Catholic church and no ‘dasa’ and so he had to keep his music in accordance to the changes of his times. His influence on the succeeding generation of European classical musicians was tremendous. Almost all composers absorbed his style. All his sacred music was predominantly vocal although instrumental accompanists were also present, like our Carnatic vocal recital.
The only transformation that happened was that these complexities in music got abandoned; the devotional aspect of the lyric slowly gave way to rhythm-oriented song and song in turn gave way to pure instrumental music composed to notation. The emphasis on devotion decreased by the day and shifted to political or other regular topics. This sequence, also seen as part of ‘modernisation’ of the West, happened as a matter of course since the tastes of the listeners changed with changing environs. Mozart and Beethoven ruled the roost, followed by semi-classical and light music which became popular. Fortunately classical Western music still has its faithful followers. Carnatic music too is facing a challenge that the Western music faced eons ago. Today it is at a crossroads on the issue of aesthetic diversity, especially since it has gone global. Some of our most reputed performers are touring the West to make a living and are able to break the rigid norms in order to make it appealing to the audience of the day! That must be the reason for the Western violin to enter the Carnatic concert conduit replacing the very Indian veena. Similarly, our music has moved over to technological concert setting with total amplification. The veena, violin, mandolin, saxophone, clarinet are a few instances in the offing.
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On careful observation, one can find that despite the mushrooming of music learners and aspirants, India too has changed and presently finds little or none of the ‘bhakti rasa’ that is the essence of Carnatic music. The younger generation of artistes have already adopted a synthetic mode of rendering the required emotion in their tones which are technologically modulated; there is a paradigm shift in emphasis from ‘bhakti’ (devotional rendering ) to technical gimmicks, sophistry and artistry in keeping with the Western mindset that has overtaken their Indian peers who are the present day audience. So we sail in the same boats eras later, don’t we?