5 months ago
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As Chennai prepares to immerse itself successful yet different euphony season, the determination of the Music Academy — 1 of the city’s premier institutions — to invitation euphony manager A.R. Rahman to inaugurate its 99th yearly euphony league and concerts reflects a important displacement from its anterior presumption connected music. ‘Isaignani’ Ilaiyaraaja, who blends Carnatic ragas with people and occidental classical music, inaugurated the euphony festival of the Academy successful 2017.
Changes person caught up with the sabhas successful galore ways. Even the connection of show is nary longer an issue. Singers who erstwhile chose Telugu oregon Sanskrit compositions of the Carnatic Trinity and keerthanas successful different languages to showcase their vidwat at the Music Academy present often opt for Tamil songs arsenic the main item, oregon adjacent for the ragam-tanam-pallavi.
A assortment of factors has ushered successful this shift. The old-timers who traced their roots to the composite Thanjavur portion on the Cauvery, oregon to the courts of Ramanathapuram, Ettayapuram, and villages successful Tirunelveli — erstwhile the surviving links betwixt past and contiguous — person astir vanished from the scene. The philharmonic scenery is present dominated by a caller procreation groomed successful Chennai and they are cosmopolitan successful outlook. Though the bulk are inactive Brahmins and travel the accepted kutcheri format connected stage, their nonrecreational lives widen good beyond its boundaries. Their enactment is marked by collaborations with artistes from different genres, experiments with caller forms, and performances for caller and divers audiences. In the property of the Internet, they nary longer subordinate to Carnatic euphony solely arsenic a sacred, bhakti-oriented art. Tradition and sampradaya, arsenic a result, cannot beryllium interpreted successful the aged ways. Carnatic euphony is simply a full-time assemblage today. When artistes collaborate crossed genres they bash truthful not conscionable for popularity but with committedness and understanding.
Among the caller experiments is Band Cooum, comprising vocalist Susha, violinist Shreya Devnath, and percussionist Praveen Sparsh — each with a beardown Carnatic inheritance — on with parai artistes Deepan and ‘Rocket’ Raji (Rajendran) of the Friends Kalai Kuzhu troupe.
The members of A Carnatic Quartet — featuring violinist Shreya Devnath, mridangam artiste Praveen Sparsh, nagaswaram subordinate Mylai Karthikeyan, and thavil subordinate Jeevanantham — person explained however collaboration and speech of ideas person enriched their playing and deepened their knowing of music. The Chennai Sangamam, organised by the DMK authorities headed by M. Karunanidhi (2006-11) and driven by MP Kanimozhi, besides facilitated encounters betwixt Carnatic and people artistes, and took Carnatic concerts to nationalist parks.
Vocalist Sanjay Subrahmanyan, successful his memoir On That Note, recalls however helium erstwhile resolved to beryllium a purely classical vocalist adjacent arsenic others — including P. Unnikrishnan, Bombay Jayashri, and Nithyasree — were breaking barriers betwixt Carnatic euphony and cinema. Yet, helium excessively yet sang for films. After the COVID-19 pandemic and the accelerated enlargement of integer platforms, audiences nary longer consciousness compelled to be unrecorded concerts; they tin simply perceive from home. This has pushed artistes to tailor their concerts and collaborations to suit an invisible, dispersed audience. Sid Sriram balances careers arsenic playback vocalist and Carnatic vocalist, arsenic did K.J. Yesudas earlier him. Almost each the singers of the Quarantine From Reality, a fashionable euphony programme produced by Subashree Thanikachalam, were Carnatic vocalists.
Puritans who look down connected different philharmonic forms often hide that Papanasam Sivan, celebrated arsenic the Tamil Tyagaraja, had a agelong and palmy innings successful cinema arsenic a composer. G.N. Balasubramaniam, a trendsetter successful Carnatic music, acted and sang successful films. M.S. Subbulakshmi and N.C. Vasanthakokilam excessively had notable movie careers.
In his book, A Southern Music: The Karnatic Story, T.M. Krishna notes that the archetypal large alteration that Rahman brought to cinema was the prime of sound, whether section oregon instrumental. His accomplishment coincided with leaps successful exertion that transformed however movie euphony was produced and experienced. “Elements of Carnatic euphony person appeared passim the past of South Indian movie music...,” helium writes. “Rahman and his successors person astatine times utilized Carnatic ragas arsenic superficial sources of melodies.”
