A Great Survivor

Carnatic music has never been gharana based largely because the composers whodefined the art never attached themselves to any princely court. Importantpractitioners of the art developed what was called a bhani (or style)that was unique to each one. There was, however, a powerful gurukula systemwhereby aspiring musicians attached themselves to a Guru's household and learntmusic systematically. Even under such a system, the emphasis was on the passingdown of the songs and the manner in which they were to be sung. The extemporeelement was largely left to the disciple to develop on his own with the Gurusimply laying down the fundamental rules. The students had to decide whether toreplicate the Guru's style or develop an interpretation of the art bythemselves, thereby creating a new bhani. A classic example of this was G.N.Balasubramanian (1910-1965) or GNB as he was popularly known. The GNB bhanibecame so popular by the 1940s that it posed a serious challenge to all othermale singers. His disciple, M.L. Vasanthakumari (1928-1990) was first aperformer in the GNB mode, but later branched out with her own MLV bhani. TodaySudha Raghunathan is a top ranking performer who learnt from MLV and istherefore a representative of that style.

The modern day concert format in Carnatic music, comprising several songsinterspersed with extempore renditions, is generally attributed to AriyakkudiRamanuja Iyengar (1890-1967), but even within that, musicians have made severalchanges to suit their own natural styles. Ariyakkudi's disciple K.V.Narayanaswami (1923-2002) evolved his own style of singing. Semmangudi SrinivasaIyer (1908-2003) who was deeply influenced by the nagaswaram traditionincorporated more of extempore music in his performances as did GNB and MLV.M.S. Subbulakshmi (1916-2004) on the other hand included several bhajans andshlokas which heightened the beatific atmosphere in her concerts. The Ariyakkudiformat with its shorter duration and a variety of pieces was however notconducive to the nagaswaram practitioners. Nagaswaram performances, usually heldduring temple events and festivals, were largely all night affairs with ragaexpositions lasting for several hours at a stretch. The general quickening inthe pace of life, together with a reduction in the importance of the temple as aplace for social interaction saw the waning of the nagaswaram and the declinehas continued. Its best years were when giants such as T.N. Rajarathinam Pillai(1898-1956) dominated the stage.

The development of sound amplification techniques led to voice modulationbecoming important for the microphone could pick out the smallest tonal effects.It also resulted in the dropping of the pitches of male musicians. Individualfeatures such as Ariyakkudi's wonderful tremolo, GNB's microtonal shadings, M.S.Subbulakshmi's glides and M.D. Ramanathan's (1923-1984) deep low voice could nowbe enjoyed by all. With the coming of recording techniques in the early 20thcentury most musicians recorded for the gramophone plates. The boom in the 78rpm recording industry further popularised the musicians which in turn increasedconcert attendances and therefore further boosted the sale of records. It was avirtuous cycle of growth. A simultaneous boom in printing technology saw largescale availability of song books with notations.

Carnatic musicians tried their hand at cinema as well with several such as MSSubbulakshmi, GNB and Musiri Subramania Iyer (1899-1975) donning the greasepaint. Others such as MLV and M Balamuralikrishna (b 1930) shone as playbacksingers. It helped that one of the earliest music directors in south Indiancinema, Papanasam Sivan (1890-1973), was also one of the greatest composers inCarnatic music. Carnatic music was also not immune to Western classical music.Instruments such as the violin and the clarinet made their entry into Carnaticmusic as early as 1799/1802 from western classical orchestras. Composers such asTyagaraja and Muttuswami Dikshitar were sufficiently impressed by orchestralmusic to compose songs based on their tunes. Later instruments such as theguitar, the mandolin and the saxophone have also made their entry.

The dominance of cinema music saw a general waning of public support forCarnatic music in the 1970s. However a new audience was emerging in the westwith NRIs and a few Americans who became serious listeners, arranging concerttours. Teaching opportunities too emerged with the Wesleyan University inparticular having an unbroken tradition of several great Carnatic musicians suchas T. Brinda (1912-1996), T. Viswanathan (1927-2002) and that unique Americanbhagavatar, Jon Higgins (1939-1984) teaching music there. Overseas concert tourswhich till the 1950s had largely been restricted to countries such Burma and SriLanka now came to include visits to the US and Europe. Today, most top rankingmusicians such as Aruna Sayeeram, Sudha Raghunathan, Sanjay Subrahmanyan and T.M.Krishna spend many months of the year on overseas tours.

The new breed of Carnatic musicians is extremely communicative, tech-savvyand market-oriented. Several have experimented with cinema and also fusionmusic. All of them are able to explain the nuances of their art in fluentEnglish thereby attracting lay audiences. Some, such as Aruna Sayeeram, areproficient in several foreign languages as well. Aruna has also broadened herrepertoire to include several folk items and songs from other Indian languagesto attract a larger audience. The purists may cavil at this, but MS did the sameseveral years ago.

The internet has become yet another vehicle of propagation. Almost allmusicians have websites and several teach music to students overseas using thelatest techniques in audio downloads. The e-gurukul has arrived.

All this has resulted in audiences increasing for Carnatic music, somethingthat is evident during the annual December season in Chennai. Carnatic musicevidently, is a great survivor.

V. Sriram is the author of Carnatic Summer: Lives of Twenty GreatExponents. He lives in Chennai.