As carnatic music aficionados, we rarely miss a good concert in the city. Especially not one of Mandolin U. Srinivas’ calibre. We are undeterred by ticket cost or its occurrence in a crowded downtown suburb where parking spots are premium. And, last evening’s concert, part of the Small World Music series marking its celebration of the South Asian Heritage Month, which included a repertoire of world class artists Trichy Sankaran on mridangam and Delhi Sundarajan on violin, on all counts presented great promise. Why then did it disappoint?
Carnatic music concerts substantially focus on an artists’ ability to improvise. To test the limits of knowledge and skill; to dig deep within for those abstract emotions that lend themselves for expression in music more than in language; to establish a communion with the listener in another space time paradigm. A concert that is set to the clock and rudely interrupted with an intermission flies in the face of such a musical genre. That was strike one against this concert.
The concert was exactly two hours long. The only two elaborate pieces were a krithi in Hindolam and the Raagam Thaanam Pallavi (“RTP”) in Simhendramadhyamam and even these were disappointingly short. With four krithis pre intermission and the RTP and 4 thukkadas after, the concert was formulaic and strictly a compromise aimed at pleasing a “western” audience. However, it is unknown how far even this was achieved. When an artist plays to cater to what their perception of the audience’s preference is – they cease to be spontaneous and curb the enthusiasm of their co-performers. U. Srinivas was more a director than a performer yesterday, holding the concert in tight rein and rarely letting go except to indulge the mridangists. Delhi Sundarajan’s playing was forced, tentative and somewhat strained. He was not very present in the RTP and in most of the renditions was “allowed” to play it seemed, as an after thought. I yearned for the memorable sparring, born out of mutual respect, as I have heard between vintage U. Srinivas and violinist Kanyakumari. Sundarajan could have delighted given half a chance but, there was none of that. That was strike two.
U. Rajesh on mandolin took up a lot of sound bytes and he is a fine artist who did not disappoint. But what he brought out was the difference between a good musician and a great one. It was clear that despite U. Rajesh’s technical prowess and ability to hold his own, he lacked his brother’s ability to touch, to tease the accompanists, to produce the unexpected, to look up in wonderment at the sounds that were emanating from his instrument as though they had been created just for that moment, even unintentionally and unknown to him. The mark of a genius is the ability to take risks and create on the spot, to challenge and be challenged, but do all that with such ease that the audience does not see the “work” that goes on but delights in the sheer experience of what is served up. U. Rajesh shared the stage with U. Srinivas, which meant less of the latter. That was strike three.
Carnatic music is to this day still substantially non-commercial. For the most part musicians manage their careers, are not haloed celebrities but accessible people who are equally at ease performing a free concert at a local Chennai temple, as they are at Music Academy or the Royal Albert Hall. Last year I met M.S. Subbulakshmi, one of Carnatic music’s finest, at her modest abode in Chennai and she said to me “Naan mathram paadalaye..ellarum paadra..ellarum paadanum” (I am not the only one who sings, everyone sings, everyone must sing) with touching humility and grace. I was moved by her message that we are but instruments and that the music is more important than the person who renders it.
My conclusion then is that yesterday’s concert was packaged Carnatic Cola with fizz but little of its true substance and soul. Granted Carnatic artists should be paid better and given recognition that is commensurate with their skill and talent. However, we as Carnatic music lovers have a responsibility to take it back to its roots and to educate western audiences on what a true concert should be rather than have it fit a different mold.
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