Can a goal be thrust on Carnatic Music ?.

[Shivadasan]

Can a goal be thrust on Carnatic Music ?.

What should be the goal of Carnatic Music and which way it should be going has been a subject of very hot debates, discussions and arguments . In order to obtain a clearer vision of what the goal of CM is and should be, I went deeper into the subject I came across a multitude of information leading to different answers which were confusing and leading me to suspect whether there should be any goal at all for CM. I am sharing with the members of the forum the information I have collected. The ideals and practices have been varying from generation to generation. The following is a brief analysis of the same.

The present generation

There is a tendency in some of the present day musicians to think that CM has become prosaic and unattractive and that the Pallavi has lost all its charm and status. Empty halls for CM concerts had created a sense of panic whether CM would survive the decade. So many started giving Importance to attracting audience ( who are not regular concert goers) even though it might mean that tradition would take a back seat. Some try to give it a shock treatment by adopting totally unorthodox practices. Other forms of music like Abhang etc. are being included so that it will attract lay audience. In order to cater to the multitude of audience musicians had to take resource to note books lacking time to memorise a phenomenal list of songs.

There are also a set of people who question the practice of giving a spiritual status to the CM. They also feel that CM should adopt harmony and introduce more foreign instruments. May be they would also desire that new forms of composition take over from the krithis.

Another set of musicians think that CM as it is sung today should be appreciated the world over and so they experiment with jugalbandhis and fusion music. They feel that it will have no future if it is not appreciated by the modern youngsters and for that reason, modern electronic gadgets and drums should be introduced. Perhaps they would not mind if the music gets a flavour of Hindustani or Jazz music, so far as the purpose is served.
.

The previous generation

Most of the musicians of this generation followed the successful Ariyakkudi pattern of short rendering of a large number of krithis. At its best period it became Laya pradana with a lot of duels between the vocalists, vioinists and the mridangists. Sahitya lost much of its importance particularly because very few musicians knew the Telugu or Sanskrit language and, swara singing was dominating the scene. Tukkadas gained importance. Consulting notes was looked down upon by audience as well as the artists because they felt that when the kritis were memorized their rendering becomes more intense. Further most musicians learnt by hearing and not by notations. Microphone and loudness became very important factor in the concerts . The pitch of the vocalist came down because the mike facilitated audibility of the music over a large audience.

The Dhanammal generation

This period had great masters like, Sarabha sastrigal, Madurai Pushpavanam, Harikesanallur Muthaiah Bhagavathar, Dhanammal, Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer, Thirukkodikaval Krishna Iyer, Tiger Varadachariar , Nayana Pillai, Malaikkottai Govindaswamy Pillai, Pudukkottai Dakshinamurthy Pillai, Mangudi Chidambara Bhagavathar and other greats. Ascending the stage was possible only for musicians of true caliber and child prodigies did not have any chance.

In those days microphones were not being used in concerts and so the musicians had high pitched voices in order to reach large audiences. It appeared that importance was given to sahithya and chowka kala. There were laya pradhana performers too but generally musicians preferred sowkyam to aggressiveness in music. Katha Kalakshepam played an important role in popularizing kritis. Many musicians knew Telugu and many of them did justice to Saint Thyagaraja’s songs. Musicians who knew Sanskrit did justice to Dikshitar Kritis. Dhanammal was considered to represent the best in CM at that time and her concentration was so intense that she got very upset if the trend was broken by extraneous sound and so the audience maintained absolute silence.

Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer days

These were the days when Maha Vaidyantha Iyer reigned supreme. It is said that he had one of the most melodious voices with astonishing range and fantastic speed of execution. It was also powerful enough to be heard by thousands according to reports. He lived a life of a dedicated musician not even touching money. Patnam Subramaniya Iyer was equally great in a different way. He had a majestic thick voice. He had mastered all the aspects of CM. I lack information on chronology and therefore am unable to quote more names. It appears however that the musicians of those days were doing intense practice and were able to expound even rare ragas for hours together. For them music was the result of long years of arduous sadhana. Money was farthest from their thoughts. But they did desire respect for their achievements, name and fame. In those days there were also musicians who specialized in tala prasthara and challenged top vidwans with difficult pallavis. So a musician had to be very competent both in raga and laya. Touring musicians challenged the local musicians and after winning over them took away their tanpuras !

For all these artists, music was a passion in life and they dedicated themselves to practice and perfection. Those who heard them were often stunned by their perfection. Public concerts were conducted in temples and private concerts in palaces. Food was plenty everywhere and they had no desire to earn through music. The music of those days centered round perfection and feats of extra ordinary talents.

Even though many of them were grand disciples of Saint Thyagaraja, it seems that for them music and spirituality were two separate aspects of life not one and the same as recommended by Thyagaraja.

Disciples of Saint Thyagaraja

There is a dearth of information on the styles of singing of these disciples. However there is some information that Saint Thyagaraja had told his disciples that singing swaras destroys the sweetness and character of the krithi and asked them to desist from them. This was conveyed by Neithanam Rama Iyengar, who, though and expert in swara singing, avoided singing swaras while elaborating krithis. The same was the case with Umayalpuram Krishna Bhagavathar and Sundara Bhagavathar, disciples of the saint. It appears therefore that in those days swaraprastharam could have been done only during the singing of Pallavis.

Age of the Trinity

People believe that Saint Purandara Dasa was the originator of today’s CM and as musicologists suggest, all his tunes had been lost and only his compositions, his saralivarisai and githams remain.

Saint Thyagaraja and saint Shyama Sastrigal were immersed in Bhakthi marga. They were very great devotees and they were able to communicate with their Ishta Devathas. Shyama Sastrigal has been credited with doing miracles whereas Thyagaraja gave all credit of the miracles that happened in his life to Sri Rama. Dikshitar was deep into Sri Vidya. It appears that miracles have happened in his life also some of them at his initiative. Devotion to God Almighty was the purpose of their life and music was just a vehicle through which they expressed their devotion.

We had also Swathi Tirunal and Chinnayya, Ponnayya, Vadivelu, Shatkala Govinda Marar and others in Kerala. Out of all of them only Govinda Marar can be counted upon for his spirituality.

Govinda Marar appears to have been a true mystic musician who was also highly respected by Thyagaraja. Govinda Marar was singing in the temples in the Kerala style of devotional music (sopanam which resembles CM). Devotional songs like Ashtapathi etc.were the main content of his music, but he was also a great exponent of CM. He held Thyagaraja in such great respect that after hearing one song of his, he walked all the way from Tiruvananthapuram to Thiruvaiyaru just to meet him. He sang before Thyagaraja and a sentence from the report written by direct disciples of Thyagaraja would enlighten us as to his great capabilities. “As he approached the fifth degree of speed, the entire audience was spell bound, and when he sang in the sixth degree of speed, Thyagaraja himself was taken aback by his laya sampat. and called him a mahanubhava”. He attained his Samadhi at the feet of Panduranga Vithala in Pandharpur. If he had stayed back in south and trained disciples, it is possible that his music could have eclipsed those of other composers. So great was his music.

We do not have much material on the style of the concerts by trinity but with whatever information that is available we can arrive at some conclusions. The fact that Shyama Sastri defeated Bobbili Kesavaiah an Andhra musician who challenged him with Simha Nandana pallavi by singing a Sarabha Nandana pallavi shows that in public concerts, ragam thanam and pallavis were the main item. Saint Thyagaraja sang for his disciples and the members of public and the report of his singing Thodi raga for eight days continuously showed the amount of expertise he had in music. There are no reports available that he ever gave public demonstration of a pallavi or swara prasthara. We can only conclude that his devotion was expressed through songs which were noted down by the disciples and his musical tradition was carried down to the generation through word of mouth.

An unusual feature noticed is that in those days the saints were singing krithis and the professional were singing Pallavis and other forms of composition. Somehow over the years the Pallavis got relegated to the background and krithis came into the fore.

From the above information one can derive many answers for the question “what should be the goal of CM?” There will be a number of different opinions and yet is it possible to arrive at a sensible answer ?

I could collect some information on what CM meant for Saint Thyagaraja and would be posting it soon for the benefit of those who do not have the time and facility to search for the same. I may please be excused for the extra long post.

[Nick H]

I wonder a few things, but here's one...

Would Thiagaraja have been horrified if he had known that people would use him to define carnatic music?

[rshankar]

If every generation of rasikas can find solace, enjoyment, or even entertainment in the music, and every generation of artists can find that their music, in addition to pleasing the rasikas of the time, gave them the opportunity to feel satisfied, quench their spiritual thirst, or even make a living, why should we try to set goals. The artists and composers who cut across generations are the ones who make it an uplifting experience for both themselves and the rasika at the same time. It is these artists and composers who inspire the millions of kids and other students to learn CM across the globe, and contribute to the survival of this art form. What other goal need it have?

[Nick H]

Agreed. It is an evolutionary thing, not a goal-oriented thing.

[narayan]

The answer to "Can a goal be thrust on Carnatic Music ?" would be "No", I guess. But reading Shivadasan's analysis, what struck me was that as for any art, the goal has to be individualistic and what happens in the field as a whole is a collection of the individual responses. There may be some dominant personalities who can define the field for some time, but even they are influenced by several forces defined by other individuals. So for me, it is a passive activity, to watch the flow, and the individual self-contained response (i.e. my own, with no implication for CM as a whole!) is of much greater relevance.

But being a classical art form, it is interesting to see the role of the system that emerges in at least one dimension. That dimension refers to how the form is taught and formalized and conveyed. Informally, I would assume that "classical" means having some timeless value, which means that over time people do theorize and formalize and attempt to teach. What I am able to see in the current generation is that the way Carnatic music is taught/learned is quite different from even one generation ago, and that would affect the performing style and listener tastes.

I would think that the evolution of CM is not just an analysis of the mass phenomenon driven by concert performers over the years (as reflected in the later time periods of Shivadasan's analysis), but also composers, theorists, teachers and lay practitioners (which is discussed in the original post to a greater extent for the earlier time periods). So that part also is of interest. Which are the composers of today, who may sustain and make a mark ten, twenty years from now. Are there any Vasudevachars or Papanasam Sivans (of one period) or Thanjavur Sankara Iyers and Spencer Venugopals and VVSrivatsas (of another period), in today's generation or the next?

[munirao2001]

The set Goals for Karnatic Music are :
1) Attainment of SAT-CHIT-ANANDA
2) Entertainment of Rasika.
Before the advent of cutcheri music, the second goal was used to uplift the tastes of rasika to aim for the first goal, along with the performer. The second goal is only the goal for the present modern cutcheri- offering excitement and instant gratification.