It is funny

[ratanabhinav]

It is funny that a great musical system like CM with its bewitching tunes can't be seen outside the realm of Hinduism ......Or outside the purview of Hinduism ....

[Sivaramakrishnan]

The topic has been discussed many times, many occasions, by many.

[shankarank]

Catchy title I see . So far in recent rounds of talks we have only seen how Brahmanical CM is . Then came vaishnavism , empathy and Bhakti and it's universal appeal .

I am waiting to see a chariot yatra around the country with CM artistes on the dais on the chariot - it will no longer be funny!

It will be some serious business - anyways the circle of imagination is enlarging

[arasi]

Can one, without offending anyone say, that the topic is not funny? Yes, even if the word is used in the sense of 'isn't it strange?'. We already have a heaping helping of threads which pose the same thing--and what have we got out of them?

[shankarank]

https://youtu.be/F6yyma4hiZU

Tells you about the funnism that music belongs to..

[shankarank]

Its indeed so unfortunate that such a bewitching sense of humor is confined to the enchantment of a narrow ghetto of humanoids and even a sprinkling sample from the rest of diverse world is not laughing with us. What a shame?

[arasi]

The talks are really funny, illustrating the great sense of humor some of the musicians in the past possessed. So well related by the the speakers!
What I don't see is the connection. A mere word play with the word funny, enabled us to listen to this program. Thanks for bringing it.
I still don't see the connection between the topic of this thread and these recollections about the sense of humor in some musicians...

[shankarank]

A poetess who revels in simile is searching for connections. I guess I am not up to the mark!

You could take it as: it is not funny that CM is under the purview of Hinduism , but CM itself is Hinduism or CM itself is funnyism. Just like funnyism of our culture did not reach everywhere, so didn't the Hinduism of CM.

If that sounds a ridiculous simile to you, that only serves the ridiculousness of the thread topic, well.

[ratanabhinav]

Indeed it is funny . I know that certain fanatic folks in rasikas would rather CM remain the same . But it isn't wrong if secular compositions find their way in concert platforms. My humble request to the non fanatic vageyakaras here - please start composing secular kritis . I myself have started composing on Stephen Hawking and would be uploading them on youtube next month .

[uday_shankar]

Indeed it is funny . I know that certain fanatic folks in rasikas would rather CM remain the same . But it isn't wrong if secular compositions find their way in concert platforms. My humble request to the non fanatic vageyakaras here - please start composing secular kritis . I myself have started composing on Stephen Hawking and would be uploading them on youtube next month .

Here is something to consider... breaking from the model of "composer->chosen deity->praise/worship". If one ends up heaping praise on Stephen Hawking, or describing him, or listing a litany of his attributes, it's not vastly different from the "standard model" . How about drawing inspiration from the great expressions of wonder and awe found in the Vedas, for example the Nasadiya Sukta of the RgVeda and tie it into Stephen Hawking's rumination about the universe .

BTW, my friend Gautam Tejas Ganesan has "abhara gnyanam" and sings exquisite raga-based music in a profoundly beautiful voice, with his own English language sAhitya. It is an enormous labor of love and highly relevant artistic expression (a musical idiom that he can intimately relate to, and likewise the only language he can intimately relate to) that does not have much traction among "fanatic folks" ! The culture has come a long way from the Nasadiya Sukta to the "fanatic folks" .

[shankarank]

Poochi composed on the visit of King George. The current Indian national Anthem , as a poem before was also composed on the same occasion. What is the issue?

Should we do some Harry - Meghan - kalyaNa vaibhogamE composition? It seems to be a world wide celebration. Actually the nauka caritra registers the sense of sacred not because of its reference to krishna, rather to vaibhogam (vai refers to the world) at the start.

Does Gautam have listeners? Do they like his music? Will there be people inspired to learn his music? If the answer is yes , how does it matter what is the name of the music? Is the name Carnatic music patented/trade mark - a much sought after brand label? If he has his own group of people, that will cherish his music what is the problem? Why should it matter if some other particular group accepts it as CM or not?

Fusion has been done. Has that inspired any specific genre to develop and have methodologies around it that can be taught to another generation?

Whites have thought low of and mis-treated a whole earth of people. That has not prevented the music which emerged from white-dom to be appreciated by everybody! So why not the music of the Brahmins?

Why is it that it has to be de-identified with whatever identity it has , before it can be respected in Academia?

https://youtu.be/olQlPZuEWLY?t=1168

[uday_shankar]

Does Gautam have listeners? Do they like his music? Will there be people inspired to learn his music? If the answer is yes , how does it matter what is the name of the music? Is the name Carnatic music patented/trade mark - a much sought after brand label? If he has his own group of people, that will cherish his music what is the problem? Why should it matter if some other particular group accepts it as CM or not?

I agree. Gautam has great gnyanam (of Carnatic raga, laya, etc...) , shraddha, an original concept and is doing tapas. That's a good place to be for a young fella. Just wanted to point that out to the OP.

The "sounds" of CM may have a parallel in the taste of vatha kuzhambu with sundakkai vatthal. For those lucky enough to have cultivated a taste by virtue of geography, birth or any other factor, it is worth dying for but it is not a spontaneously accessible or a "universal" taste like some others, including north Indian cuisine. Hence no Indian restaurant in the US serves vatha kuzhambu but practically every restaurant serves channa masala or daal maakhani.

[shankarank]

The last two were brought by Mughals along with tandoori. So like Taj Mehel they are a big draw!

[arasi]

Uday,
Well said. Nothing like food similes, however much folks frown upon them. Add a kalchaTTik kuZhambu to it, and they get even more miffed! Let's take collectors for instance--there are stamp collectors and baseball card collectors. How many match box collectors are there? In our childhood days, they were popular, the most available one called Cheetah brand. CM is like that. Cheetahs of a kind (wild feline) and some ordinary mortals like us crave it, and that's about it. I do agree with you and shankarank that Gautam has such an enormous amount of gnyAnam and dedication...

[rshankar]

Arasi, as long as kalcaTTi doesn’t become a stone vessel....