A week back, the Madras Music Academy announced that the 2024 Sangeetha Kalanidhi award was being conferred on T M Krishna. I was happy for him. There is no question that his musical talent and vidwat more than deserves this. I remember thinking that if he could have just spent the past many years singing instead of making various ridiculous pronouncements, he might have won it earlier. And that was that. I did not think about it till Wednesday the 20th when Ranjani Gayathri announced that they would not be participating in this year's conference and their reasons for doing so.
Before I go any further, I need to set a certain context. I am totally apolitical. I have zero interest in the shenanigans of various politicians either in India or worldwide. I am not a social justice warrior. Irrespective of whether it sounds callous or uncaring, I do not jump up to defend the disenfranchised or the underprivileged. I do not subscribe to most of the current woke ideologies and since I do not want to waste my time arguing about these things, I keep quiet and go my own way.
After a lifetime in the corporate world, I want to be left alone in my urban cave. Where I do my various Isha practices, practice my music, practice my konnakol, deep dive into Dikshithar krithis, and Sanskrit and Hindu dharma so as to understand the various references, visit his favourite sthalas and blog about them.
However, I was forced to emerge from my cave this last week, when something this momentous that is central to my being was happening in the world.
I have been this huge fan of TMK's music. There are things that he sings that can move me to tears. I have heard many concerts repeatedly and know every nuance that he will bring out. Given that, I ignored most of his other statements. Maybe I was blind. Or I was naive. However, the quality of his music eclipsed everything else for me. I wished that he would just shut up and sing. But I forgave him. I told himself that maybe he was just bored and needed to amuse himself by singing with transgenders or in a fishing village somewhere. And again, before I am accused of being a transphobe, I have nothing against transgenders. But the quality of that music was abysmal.
I have also always believed that one should separate the art from the artist. This gave rise to a hugely vituperative discussion some time back when the popular opinion was that one cannot assist an artist in monetising his art when it is being used to propagate a criminal unjust agenda. I was asked where I would draw my line. I had said then that I did not know . But I would inform that person when that line was imminent for me.
I have spent that last 72 plus hours reading and watching everything I can on this issue. I am no expert. This is research in progress. Starting with TMK's full length 2015 essay in Caravan, which many believe is one of his first salvos. A very cunning piece of writing which belittles her in many ways under the guise of an informed article. I believe this is the main source for the anti MS propaganda that artists refer to. The politics of Tamil Nadu and the anti Brahmin movement starting with Periyar's pronouncements. Now this is a vast subject. I need to read Periyar's directives for myself. What I have is various people's comments on his statements and views.
And again here, my whole life, I have believed that I am not religious. I am a Hindu. I am a Brahmin. But it was just something that was always so. Like the colour of my skin. Or the shape of my eyes. Nothing to be proud about. Nothing to be ashamed about. I believed, and continue to believe , that all that matters is a person's thoughts, words and deeds in this world. I have never known or tried to know the caste or community of co workers or employees or friends. I do not celebrate festivals except when I feel like it and visit a temple only when it is a Dikshithar sthala or a visiting relative wants to visit Sidhi Vinayak. I was your typical laissez faire Hindu willing to allow and include all manners of views on a variety of issues. To each his own as I phrased it. Or as Shakespeare said " To thy ownself be true. And it shall follow as the night the day. Thou canst not then be false to any man".
But today this has forced me to rethink who I am. And accept that the way I have defined myself is based on who I was in a different time under different circumstances. And my "remembered history" is no more valid in defining my current experienced experience. I need time for that.
But getting back to TMK. He has once more done me a huge favour. For forcing me to examine my core beliefs and values.
The simple fact is that Carnatic music has Bhakthi as a core component. The Trinity , as well as various other vaggeyakaras did not sit down to compose for fame or fortune. Their compositions were an outpouring of their love and adoration of the Divine. Many of them were mystics. The sahithya and the music poured out as one wonderful homogenous entity. They did not bother to even write it down. Their shishyas did so that it would not be lost to posterity. They did not care about caste or community or politics. Many would not compose on any king except their ishta devta even when they were in deep penury. That was the extent of their vairagya and their devotion to a higher cause.
Those are some of the songs we sing today. How do you exclude bhakthi from such a piece. Even if you do not feel the same fervour in your heart( understandable), how do you say bhakthi has no place here?
And what is this Brahminical hegemony that is being referred to? Some of the greatest musicians whether Veena Dhannamal and her progeny or Purandaradasa or Yesudas are not Brahmins. Nobody gives a damn. Nobody whether it be a Dalit or a tribal is prevented from learning Carnatic music and performing.
And why is TMK accepting an award from the Academy when he has distanced himself from performing in the Chennai season? And why does his award citation refer to him using music for social reform while the reply by Mr Murali to Ranjani Gayathri says that he has been selected only for his musical abilities and not his political views?
And is there any merit in Dr Gautam Desiraju who calls him an useful idiot and implies that the Music Academy might have been arm twisted into giving him this award for political reasons. And goes on to his inclusion in various associations that have anti national interests. Honestly I do not know.
But yes, too many loose ends. Too many unanswered questions.
