Carnatic music loosens up a bit

Entertainment


Indian artistes and groups abroad are breaking barriers and biases to make Carnatic music accessible and progressive

Indian artistes and groups abroad are breaking barriers and biases to make Carnatic music accessible and progressive

Classical music the world over has always been a niche field. Many construe it as rather exclusive and inaccessible with its staid and prim and proper image, and rigid rules for everything from dress to conduct.

But, over the years, Carnatic music particularly has opened up to new ideas and exchanges. Musicians are excited about collaborating across geographical borders and genres. This undeniably has widened its reach and appeal. With a good following around the world today, many youngsters of Indian origin have turned into serious enthusiasts, and Indian organisations abroad have been promoting classical music in diverse and unique ways.

In Cincinnati, Kanniks Kannikeswaran, as early as in the mid-1990s, facilitated extensive choral arrangements of Indian lyrics and ragas with Western ensembles and found an instant connect with large sections of the uninitiated public. In the past decade or so, Roopa Mahadevan, Aditya Prakash, ZerOclassikal, Brooklyn Raga Massive, and Indian Raga Labs have thought through multiple potential barriers to dissemination and worked methodically on making this art more accessible and welcoming to others.

“I was confident that if people had access to this music, they would like it,” says Brooklyn Raga Massive’s (BRM) Arun Ramamurthy, who was born and raised in the U.S. He began Carnatic Sundays, a weekly programme at New York city’s Cornelia Street Café in Greenwich Village, rated one of the best places in the world to listen to jazz. It featured traditional kutcheris mostly by tri-state (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut) musicians of standard. The cosmopolitan audience had a lot of young people, South Asian and otherwise, those familiar with the music and those who were not. “These performances also doubled up as workshops with questions raised mid-concert,” says Arun.

Radical approach

Indian Raga Labs’ Chainsmoking Varnam
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

ZerOclassikal, a non-profit, was launched in London to “offer a radical approach to South Asian classical music by facilitating progressions and experiments in the genre.” Its programmes too have been mostly in alternate venues like Café OTO, one of the country’s most progressive venues for music. In fact, some of the more traditional venues have been resistant to them. “We are perceived as the punks of the industry,” says Hardial Rai, its founder. Accessibility sans any barriers is very important to both Arun and Hardial, and such venues fostered a more welcoming environment to diverse demographics. “Gender, caste, sexual orientation, nothing should matter,” says Arun. Conventionally, quality Indian classical music is rarely offered alongside refreshments. But entities like BRM actually prefer performance venues that offer food and drink. San Francisco born and raised Roopa Mahadevan, headliner of the band Roopa in Flux says, “To casually eat a plate of pasta and drink a glass of wine while listening to a Ragam Tanam Pallavi is so meaningful to second generation desis like me.”

A closely related aspect is the dress code. “It was one of the first things we did away with,” says Hardial. “We wanted to break what is almost a cultural imposition.” Wear what you normally do, he told the performers. “Why should they carry that baggage to the stage? They do not wear those clothes in daily life. It should be only about music.” The casual dress code could very well make the music seem ‘normal’ and less ‘exotic’ in a country where, Hardial says, most view South Asian classical music only as restaurant music. However, “many parents insisted that their children wear traditional attire to programmes,” says Sriram Emani of Indian Raga Labs, explaining that he too encouraged casual clothing for his productions. “They said you can do what you want as adults, but we want our children to follow convention.”

Aditya Prakash ensemble

Aditya Prakash ensemble
| Photo Credit: Ivan Fuentas

It was Sriram’s desire to familiarise average Indians with the rudiments of Indian classical arts that resulted in Indian Raga Labs’ YouTube videos. Understanding the ever-shortening attention spans of online viewers, the short videos feature high quality sound and imagery. Indian Raga Labs (with London and Singapore chapters) now offers validation via certification, opportunities to jam with others, competing via monthly thematic competitions, exposure for skilled musicians, and learning and teaching . BRM, an American non-profit organisation, will soon enter local area schools as an outreach initiative, with a tailor-made performance-based music curriculum.

Lineage, referred to variously as bani, gharana and vazhi, is a lynchpin of Indian classical music. However, that musical ancestry exerts a pressure that constantly weighs on the minds of artistes, who agonise over how free in expression they actually can be. “What is Carnatic to me? Is it impersonal, ancient, not of me? I constantly ponder,” says Los Angeles-based Aditya Prakash of the Aditya Prakash ensemble. Hardial says, “Teaching is in the self-interest of the guru who decides when to release a student.” ZerOclassikal strongly urges its musicians to break out of hierarchical shackles and creatively unencumber themselves of gurus and lineage. “We want their authentic expression, emotion and feelings.”

The ZerOclassikal team

The ZerOclassikal team
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

For artistes born and raised abroad, creativity that bridges the exposure they have had with the art they have learnt is a crucial aspect of self-expression. Roopa Mahadevan was heavily influenced by “big voices with a lot of feel” like Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and the African American soul tradition. Aditya has been inspired by collaborations of Pt. Ravi Shankar, dancer Akram Khan, Armenian Jazz Pianist Tigran Hamasyan, Anoushka Shankar and more.

“Just rethinking format opens up a different space in the mind. As T.M. Krishna says, if we strip it of all its paraphernalia, Carnatic music is just raga, tala and sahitya,” Aditya remarks. His piece, ‘Lord of the Cave’, illustrates a fluid interweaving of traditional Carnatic elements with western instrumentation and mridangam. It is definitely unconventional but not incongruent. Indeed, format becomes amorphous for crossover artistes. “For instance, I might begin with the cover of an English song interlaced with an alapana,” says Roopa. Both Aditya and Roopa are full-time musicians, who have spent significant time learning directly from stalwart teachers in India.

Various implicit conventions prevail too like women being discouraged from expressing more through body language. Roopa, however, takes her audience along through vivacious and expressive singing, perhaps taking a leaf from her Bharatanatyam training. “We are constantly told ‘adakka odukkama irukkanum’ (one should be restrained in movements). But it is very difficult to rein oneself in amidst creative outpourings.” Probably why some leading male singers move unabashedly? “I have been told I do abhinayam (the art of expression in dance) when I sing,” she smiles.

Roopa Mahadevan with a group of musicians

Roopa Mahadevan with a group of musicians
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

ZerOclassikal funds musicians to create a repertoire with modern imagery and aesthetics. In 2021, over 70 per cent of their commissioned artistes were non-South Asian in origin. As heartening as that statistic is, it illustrates the difficulty the South Asian diaspora faces with the concept of writing totally new work vs. tuning or arranging existing lyrics. “I find it very difficult to sing in English,” says Aditya. For Roopa, “Imitating others is not hard but composing is a challenge.” But new repertoire reflecting today’s problems and sensibilities is critical, stress both Sriram and Hardial. Indian Raga Labs has already put out original work reflecting LGBTQIA, cancer awareness and mental health issues.

Incorporating different instrumentation is a quick and easy way to bridge the classical and popular music divide. As early as the 1990s, Kanniks Kannikeswaran realised its potential. He trained several singers for a chorus featuring traditional Indian lyrics set to classical ragas with Indian and Western instrumentation. With no precursors, it was path-breaking. It soon evolved into ‘Shanti’ where the universal theme of peace was explored with hundreds of participants that performed across the United States, Europe and India, roping in local orchestras with visual elements like dance as well. The programmes were presented to packed audiences, of south Asian origin and otherwise. Visibly moved audience said ‘Shanti’gave them hitherto unknown insights into Indian culture. Through many innovative, and often socially inspired projects that frequently feature star musicians, Kanniks continues to successfully bring disparate groups of people together on and off the stage.

Travel indeed expands horizons and exploring progression and change in traditional arts can be easier when away from the thick of things. With many such initiatives, Indian classical art is set to reveal intriguing new shades.

The writer is a Kalpalata Fellow for Classical Music Writings for 2022.



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