RSR wrote:Check what percentage of the thousands of compositions are unconnected with Hindu religious sentiments. Hardly 5% !. ( javalis and like). .
First of all calling javalis not Hindu ( assuming that denotes a civilization in all its gamut that lived/lives around and east of the river Indus) is an unacceptable position - you can call it "not religious" - and define religion as you want - I don't care! Even if that word vanishes from dictionary doesn't impact anything for me - along with its opposite pair Secular - let it annihilate.
Lets head back to the original topic that you seemed so obsessed about. Opening passage from the article posted :
He ( some person named Sivaramakrishnan) recently happened to hear ‘Koluvameragada’ in Thodi at two different venues and realised the one sung by a veteran had a meditative quality about it while the other rendered by an accomplished youngster stood out for its technical brilliance.
Is the core of Carnatic music shifting from devotional and meditative to technical excellence and egregious display of talent?
First of all to conflate the meditative quality of something as devotion/bhakti is a stretch. Bhakti has specific meaning even used in the sense of Bhakti movement that came in medieval times.
The meditative quality of the older musician cited - may be just a result of that musician getting through years of sAdhakam and acquiring wisdom and losing virtuosity and becoming philosophical in approach as he realizes the loss of virtuosity itself implies ephemeral nature of the body - the pre-medieval meaning of the word Bhakti.
Secondly a piece does not become Bhakti theme just because it addressed a deity! Lets look at the opposite : If a piece does not address a deity - like "nATTai kurinji enbAr - ciranda engaLatu" - If you scale back in this thread - I had argued even a nation is looked at as a divine entity - well that was unpalatable to some. Then I pointed out if it refers to a rAga in a different con-joinment of words - rAgAs themselves are divine - the implication of ancestry and heritage - our ancestors are divine!!
Finally if all that escapes our thoughts - letters are divine , time interval is divine , the swaras are divine ( please refer to discussion on A Doubt in Sanskrit Grammar about MD kriti). Instrumental music is included nicely in two of those meta physical assertions! And a gAyaki style approach includes letters as well!
Even your deities are sanctified and re-established every 12 years with prANa pratishTa reciting the metrical verses where the letters , swaras and mAtras are observed correctly - assuming the priest adheres to it!
So the young boys having joy and merry at the technical wonder of the compositions - still are dwelling on the divine - why not ? Is worship a sombre affair always? And does it have to be a worship ? In a Yagna all the upa-vedas ( touching the material world ) are also a part !!
SaiSavE(a)bhyasta vidyAnAm yauvanE viShayaiShinAm - vArdhakE muni vRttInAm yOgEnAntE tanutyajAm as kalidasa says!
If people are so engrossed on the material and forget the divine - let them - if your take or theory is right - virakti will set in in due course and the divine just hides under their nose !
This is the sense with which a Guru imparts the art to a sishya - otherwise why would he/she be so meticulous in correcting mistakes! If that does not happen - where the hell is any traditional art - even using that term in the most modern sense - how does a tradition carry forward?. If imputation of divinity is viewed even as some instrument to demand respect for heritage/culture - even then we are in trouble!!.
RSR wrote:If we remove the devotional aspect from CM and 'shackle' it to dance music, albeit romantic (erotic?), it will become little different from film music
Nonsense! Film music as it got western influenced went to Shrill metallic voices for the females and crooning male voices for the male - emphasizing pure notes - even sharp metallic and physical sound - losing all subtlety. Add to it all the plethora of instruments - the sound curated to instant appeal - it is a celebration of kriyAs!
Now it is even going further down away from Human to machine domain.
http://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/st ... gue/298054
The initial years of film music dwelt on everything from a Sanskritic perspective including music. I told you to give up all this carnatic colonial names and treat as Sanskritic music or chennisai! you did not accept it.
Sanskritic music has the possibility of being sweet to someone from a sanskritic eco system even with no knowledge of nuances or methods.
You named several mystics. I will tell you something - Sunil Gavaskar has written an article on Sri Sathya Sai Baba! He recalls how his would-be father-in-law was convinced to marry his daugher to Sunil after seeing the photograph of Sri Sathya Sai Baba in the modest home of Sunil Gavaskar!
Roll forward to Sri Velukudi - clarifying why Krishna is talked about having so many consorts - when marrying during kannika dhAnam ceremony - the groom is viShNurEva - he asked rhetorically if the father does not think the boy has some qualities of viShnu - ivanai nambi evanAvatu poNNai koDuppAnA? ( Will any father marry his daughter to such a guy?)
To say that only addressing a deity makes a song Hindu Religious ( I am using both words together for safety ) - is affirming Abrahamic Theology!!
I will come to AnnamacArya and Purandaradas next!