July 13, 2009
Irreverance of self-proclaimed musicians
I was determined not to blog, for two reasons. Firstly, Nobody will ever be bothered to read it. Secondly, I wont be able to keep it updated. But then something changed my mind. Today me and my wife had been to a concert. we are die-hard rasikas of carnatic music, and today’s concert changed my mind. I need to vent about the declining quality of carnatic music to somebody other than my wife. ( Frankly, she really got fed up of hearing this, over and over again). So here goes.
The lead artist had started off with a Saveri varnam. If rendered right, it is a very beautiful composition. We learn from her that how badly one can sing it. She did not stop there, she went ahead and started rendering Kalpana swaram for a varnam!! Even the greatest stalwarts stopped doing that, to show respect to the composer of the varnams. Violin and Mrudhangam accompaniments really out performed her. The thing that really ticked me off, is the irreverence that she had, for the accompanying artists and the audience. It would probably be an unjust generalization to say that, a large number of artist performing in U.S do not show humility. However, it is true for almost all the concerts I have been to.
Before I continue with this rant, I should really appreciate the performance of the violinist and the Percusionist. They showed respect to music, and strictly followed the traditional rules of being an accompanying artist. The precision and melody of the violinist was expressive of his expertise. Supportive and flawless performance of the percussionist showed his talent and devotion to music.
However good the accompaniments may be, the way lead artist sung was intolerable. Another thing that really annoyed me was, the constant announcement that she made, about every song she is about to sing, its history and theory. I felt that the artist had taken up the huge responsibility of educating the mass about the basics of carnatic music.
These artists would not survive a single day as artist in south india, performing this way. Constant scrutiny of the professional critics and avid rasikas would put a stop to amateurs trying to perform before they perfect their art. Outside of south india, I presume that these amateurs have the notion that rasikas are not knowledgeable enough to identify their flaws.
I really pray that this situation changes, and only really talented artist are encouraged. Most importantly the artist listen to their own music, judge themselves and not live in self-approval.
The concert that we attended is this
http://www.padmathyagaraju.com/index.php?p=1_5_Concerts-Workshops
Arunk said,
July 15, 2009 at 12:35 am
You may have other valid reasons to complain about this concert and singer’s performance, but singing kalpanaswarams for a varnam is not a sign of declining art. It is not a blasphemy. There is no rule that says because varnam has swara passages, one cannot add to it and somehow disrespects the original composer. It is just a one specific (and IMO narrow and misguided) interpretation – the kind the plagues carnatic music i.e. basically personal preferences/prejudices get prescribed as unsaid rules and people follow it. Besides if one were to truly respect the original varnam style, there is no need to render it in trikalam and in tisram (done even by stalwarts) etc. Those are all “enhancements” beyond what was originally intended – and simply academic exercises. Varnam itself evolved over time to become a “lesson in the raga” but still somewhat humorously maintains the Srngara bhava. To me. the whole point of “basic lessons in a raga” set to lyrics that convey Srngara bhava (starts with ra ra venugopala actually) taught to young students etc. is bizarre indeed – but the true tradition of carnatic music is to ignore real import of lyrics (varnams, krithis) and hang on and beat about other mundane things. Also, your information about greatest stalwarts not doing that is factually incorrect – e.g. GNB has done it.
Arun
PS: I am sorry to be negative – but I do not like arm chair critiquing particularly in the name of protecting the so-called tradition of classical music.
pleco said,
July 18, 2009 at 7:06 am
I was not intending to be a “arm-chair critique” and not trying to protect the traditions. If you read the post right, I mentioned, some of the stalwarts had stopped performing kalpana swarams and that also means many still do it and that is not wrong. Except that it has to be done right. Kalpana swaram with abaswarams and is not good whether it is performed on a varnam or on a RTP or any composition for that matter.
All the “enhancements” are relevant if the artist is able to get the original varnam right.
I apologize if the choice of words that I used made things sound like rules.
As far as the stalwarts not performing kalpana swarams on varnams, well GNB is one example of many who did perform that. KVN stopped doing so in his later years, may be not because of this reason.