Using different language forms to deliver Carnatic music is one step towards achieving inclusiveness, said well-known vocalist T.M. Krishna.
“There is only one kind of Tamil in Carnatic music now. There are so many kinds of Tamil spoken, which can actually be used to deliver Carnatic music,” he said in a conversation with former West Bengal governor Gopalakrishna Gandhi on the theme of inclusive music at the Madras School of Economics.
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Mr. Krishna was recently named for the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award.
The talk was an initiative by Chennai International Centre, a think-tank to boost art, culture, theatre, music and creative thinking in Chennai. However, Mr. Krishna said that the use of Tamil could not be at the cost of other languages identified with the tradition of Carnatic music and one could not take an extreme view of it.
When asked whether Carnatic music should be left to its traditional roots, Mr. Krishna said, “Asking someone to cook is okay. But insisting only women must cook is a troubling narrative”. He also said that Carnatic music should go to public spaces and not be restricted to sabhas.
“Including all in Carnatic music is not a conversion process. Rejection is part of the discourse and it’s welcome. We should learn from rejection. That rejection experience would not come in sabhas,” Mr. Krishna said in a freewheeling chat.
About the Magsaysay award, he said, “I see the award as a celebration of music and art as part of the human dialogue”.
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