Anil Srinivasan

Carnatic Musicians
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rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Anil Srinivasan

Post by rajeshnat »

Anil Srinivasan is a piano artist, he is more known for collaboration presentations . Many Many years he was introduced some time back that he is also a first or second cousin to TM krishna. He writes well and most of the articles are to the point and clearly articulates what he intended to say. He also used to write in our forum and then there was a nee nAma roopamulaku , he can continue and return back for sure.

Anil's writeup in The Hindu dated Nov 23,2018. I particularly liked the overall message and most importantly he quotes anonymously a fellow artist stand.
kudosToThatAnonymousArtistWhoRelayedToAnilSrinivasan wrote: We have to work on our craft and our art for our livelihoods; not always for ...... . For many of us, our monthly sustenance comes from continuing to perform in an environment which is fickle, prone to trends and populist ideas and dismisses as boring anything that is not cinema or popular entertainment. Not all of us have the privilege of the media at our doorstep for every act of courage we exhibit
https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/ ... 566174.ece

ark07
Posts: 47
Joined: 08 Feb 2018, 14:17

Re: Anil Srinivasan

Post by ark07 »

The news that he is related to TM Krishna is surprising to me considering how openly critical Anil has been of TMK's views at times.

I also like Anil's collaborations with Sikkil Gurucharan. This rendition of Dikshitar's nottuswaram 'Kamalasana Vandita' is probably my favorite. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7pC_tBiO_A

ark07
Posts: 47
Joined: 08 Feb 2018, 14:17

Re: Anil Srinivasan

Post by ark07 »

While doing quick google search on both of them, I stumbled upon this blogpost written by Anil Srinivasan almost 10 years ago on TM Krishna. It's a great read on their growing up together and Krishna's music.

It also has this paragraph which absolutely captures TMK.
Someone once told me that the word “Krishna” comes from the Sanskrit term for “that which draws everything in”, just like the colour black. With his swashbuckling style, grandeur of mannerism and vocal expression, Krishna manages to be the point of reference in any conversation he chooses to be part of. I have often heard him be described in similar terms with respect to his stage behaviour. His unbeatable levels of energy, zest for living on the edge and ability to provoke increase by the year, and I watch with quiet amusement at his ability to command centrestage in each endeavour he undertakes. To me, none of this is new. It began with a delectable rendition in Kamas many lifetimes ago, and I only see my cousin being himself. Brash, even arrogant, but overwhelmingly sincere.
It appears they had a public 'rift' in the pages of the Hindu almost 10 years ago.

In December 2009, TMK wrote a piece in the Hindu decrying the increasing trend of playing carnatic music on 'western instruments' which are not suited for the Carnatic aesthetic.
Any Western classical music student would first learn the piano. In India, many children who just want to learn to play an instrument (excluding the classical forms) first takes to the keyboard and this has become fashionable. Unfortunately, this has entered the world of Carnatic music.

The problem here is not only a question of an instrumental limitation but more seriously an aesthetic distortion. Of course, technologically, the keyboard has advanced tremendously and today can produce microtones. But then this still does not mean it can be used to play Carnatic music because there is a greater damage happening here: of distortion of Carnatic gamakas. Many gamakas are very subtle, with minute movements that are difficult to produce even in the human voice. The keyboard not only approximates this, it also creates a completely distorted interpretation of the same. The emphasis is often wrong, the curves on the notes are incorrect and the ragas lose their elegance. Some of these points, unfortunately, can only be explained by actually singing.
Other than trying to use the keyboard as a main concert instrument today, there have been also Carnatic concerts where the keyboard has been used to accompany or collaborate with the vocalist or main instrumentalist. All these experiments sans the basic aesthetic of Carnatic music are an insult to Carnatic music.
To which Anil Srivasan responded in strong words.
To our sensibilities at this present time, certain instruments (such as the ones Krishna names) seem unsuitable. But labelling efforts by artists who are using their chosen form of self-expression as insults to Carnatic music is questioning the very intent of an artist's right to survive and I strongly condemn it. Seeking refinement of aesthetic sensibility or even exhorting students to aim for higher standards is certainly welcome; but asking them to subscribe to parochial and temporal stereotypes is not.
Finally, TMK's rejoinder: "I must say Anil Srinivasan seems to have completely missed the point in my article that the essence of tradition is change."

ark07
Posts: 47
Joined: 08 Feb 2018, 14:17

Re: Anil Srinivasan

Post by ark07 »

Ah. I forgot to link the original blogpost of Anil Srinivasan. Here it is: http://madraspianist.blogspot.com/2008/ ... h-tmk.html

It also has this nice picture of the two of them when they were very young.
Image

shankarank
Posts: 4043
Joined: 15 Jun 2009, 07:16

Re: Anil Srinivasan

Post by shankarank »

Oh yeah: this one has more SOkam, than the original one that is set to tALam. The Asai mukham. We have talked about this before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhjPZTaKgyI

That is the urduization and soft islamization of the music. Hindustani has more majesty than this! Even if Gamak is less!

And Yup , Yup!! The subtle Gamakas have been thoughtfully transported to nalinakanti.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFgUMD1wPVg

Clueless cousins!

Carnatic music has to be retrieved in the time dimension with the unadulterated Indian Sprach-bund of languages.

Let these fellows sell the Gamakas with their benders - mechanical or vocal chords and sell them to highest bidders in elite Art galleries.

Who cares!

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Anil Srinivasan

Post by rajeshnat »

Nice interview by The aalaap team and answered well by Vidwan Anil Srinivasan.
https://theaalaap.com/site/theqs/AnilSrinivasan

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Anil Srinivasan

Post by rajeshnat »

The very first time I saw a writeup is when Anil Srinvasan was introduced that he is also cousin of TM Krishna. Anil is extremely gifted in writing with intense precision . I am not saying that everything he writes is resonating with long term survival of intense classical music .The truth of the matter is say If musicians learn thoroughly the first thyagaraja krithi then shy away from marketing thru the internet and instead focus and learn the next next tOdi krithi of sadguru thyagaraja. I am 100 percent sure that they will be performance dead and gone despite the extra edge of musicality , unless there is some big time messiah of the callibre of few acdemy office bearers, big time US sabha patrons or nalli kuppuswami is there to recognise the musical worthiness of partially/fully marketing musician

Well written Anil . Anil was in our forum and he left after few strains of bacterial infection given by few forumites which is always there in internet. I welcome him back to write more in the forum , after all The Hindu edits and definitely cuts the content due to editorial constraint and he only says half of what he actually wants to say :P . The writeup is dated 10th May 2019 in The Hindu

https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/ ... 080647.ece

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