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IN FIRST PERSON   • Kunnakudi R     Vaidyanathan   • Rajkumar Bharti   • Soumya   • Nityashree     Mahadevan   • Unnikrishnan

Semmangudi Sreenivasa Iyer

The doyen of Carnatic music needs no introduction to music lovers. At 94 years, he is physically weak and tires quickly, yet mentally he is agile. When he came to know I was from Trivandrum, he wanted to talk about the city where he had spent 23 years as the principal of the Swati Thirunal Music Academy.

Those were the days when I was young and lived in my village, Semmangudi. With the advent of the month of Margazhi, you would hear the sound of conch shells being blown early in the morning. Some people were specially alloted the task of walking along the streets blowing conchs and singing bhajans in praise of God. Even in Chennai, we used to hear bhajans and the sound of conchs in the mornings. I don't think this happens anymore.

Do you know why people sing in praise of God during Margazhi? That is because Margazhi is a month that is special to God. It was believed that wherever there were bhajans, He would be there. It was believed that God would reside in all those who devote themselves to Him; that music was a way to reach Him. It is in this month that events like Radha Kalyanam take place. Everything has changed now. Do you feel bhakti [faith] anywhere anymore?

When I was young, villages were very active during the month of Margazhi. You saw only one bhava [emotion] and that was bhakti. You heard only the sangeetham of bhajans. This happened not only in the temples, but in every nook and corner of the village. As a young boy, I was drawn to these bhajans and would go behind the singers.

But the villagers have changed now. I feel God comes only to Chennai in Margazhi! You turn around and you hear only sangeetham in Chennai during this month.

My singing days were different; we didn’t have so many sabhas or kacheris then. Now, you have a sabha in every street. It is true that through the sabhas, sangeetham has reached a large number of people. But, at the same time, sangeetham has been commercialised because of all this. Now, you get a festive feeling in Margazhi.

It was not like this in my days. Even if it was a sabha kacheri, it used to go on for four hours. Only serious music lovers went to listen to concerts. They were well informed and appreciative about music and would listen to the kacheris with all seriousness. There never would be more than 300 people for a very big kacheri.

One difference that I find is in the applause from the audience to a good rendition of a raga or pallavi. Nowadays, I feel they keep applauding all the time. During my time, there was never any applause. They just nodded their head and, if they were really impressed, they would exclaim, ‘Aaahh!’

Another difference that I find today is the entry of women into Carnatic music. All of them sing so well. In my days, women never used to come out and sing in kacheris. What gladdens me is that most of the women singers of today are educated. They even have university degrees in music. It is a very good sign.

You don’t need a gurukula vaasam [residential school] these days. I hear that many people learn sangeetham with the help of computers. I don’t understand all that and I don’t belong in there with these machines. We learnt directly from our gurus and we were expected to sing the way our gurus taught us. We would get beaten if we made a mistake in the shruthi.

Today, like there are sabhas in every street, there are sponsors too. This is a good period for all artistes; there is a lot of money in classical sangeetham now. So many people sing and so many people go to listen to them. I don’t say that this is bad but I would like to point out that even amruth [nectar] in excess will have a poisonous effect.

Similarly, I feel classical music has lost a little bit of its seriousness. If anybody feels that art will die if it is not commercialised, they are all wrong. Art will never die.

We never had such huge halls then. So all of us sang without any mikes or loud speakers. I feel mikes and speakers change the complexion of music completely. Also, there were no fans in the halls then as fans disturb the music.

During my time, music was sung in villages but now you don’t have villages any more. Sangeetham has moved to the cities. You now see many people singing our sangeetham in America too. Our musicians regularly go to America and give kacheris. Sangeetham has crossed all the oceans and that is the magic of our music. That is why I feel this art will never die.

Also in first person:
Kunnakudi R Vaidyanathan
Rajkumar Bharti
Soumya
Nityashree Mahadevan
Unnikrishnan
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