Carnatic music gets a little loose

Classical music has always been a niche area around the world. Many consider it distinctive and inaccessible, with its stable and prominent and proper image, and strict rules for everything from dress to conduct.

But, over the years, Carnatic music in particular has been open to new ideas and exchanges. Musicians are excited to collaborate across geographic boundaries and genres. It has undeniably expanded its reach and appeal. Today, with a significant following around the world, many young Indian-origin youths have become serious enthusiasts, and Indian organizations abroad are promoting classical music in diverse and unique ways.

In Cincinnati, in the mid-1990s, Kanix Kannikeswaran facilitated extensive choral arrangements of Indian songs and ragas with Western ensembles and found an instant connect with large sections of the unmarried public. Over the past decade, Roopa Mahadevan, Aditya Prakash, Xeroclassical, Brooklyn Raga Massive and Indian Raga Labs have thought of several potential barriers to dissemination and systematically tried to make the art more accessible and welcoming to others. work done.

“I believed that if people had access to this music, they would love it,” says Arun Ramamurthy, Brooklyn Raga Massives (BRM). The Street Café in Greenwich Village is one of the best places in the world to hear jazz. It featured traditional kachri performed mostly by musicians of the Tri-State (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut) standard. The metropolitan audience consisted of many young people, South Asians and others, who were familiar with the music and those who were not. “These performances also doubled as workshops, with questions being raised in the middle of the concert,” says Arun.

radical approach

ZeroClassical, a non-profit organization, was launched in London to “provide a revolutionary approach to South Asian classical music by facilitating advances and experiments in the genre”. Its shows have also been mostly at alternative venues such as Cafe OTO, one of the country’s most progressive venues for music. In fact, some of the more traditional places have been resistant to them. Its founder Hardayal Rai says, “We are seen as the goons of the industry. Access without any barriers is of great importance to both Arun and Hardial, and such locations fostered a more welcoming environment for diverse demographics. “Gender, race, sexual orientation, nothing should matter,” says Arun. Traditionally, quality Indian classical music is rarely offered with refreshments. But organizations like BRM really like performance venues that offer food and drink. Born and raised in San Francisco, Roopa Mahadevan, headliner of Roopa Band at Flux, says, “Carelessly eating a plate of pasta and sipping a glass of wine while listening to Ragam Tanam Pallavi is very meaningful to second-generation indigenous people like me. Is.”

A closely related aspect is the dress code. “It was one of the first things we did away with,” says Hardayal. “We almost wanted to break a cultural imposition.” Wear what you normally do, he told the cast. “Why do they take that stuff to the stage? They don’t wear those clothes in daily life. It should only be about the music.” The casual dress code could very well make music more ‘normal’ and less ‘foreign’ in a country where, says Hardiayal, most South Asians view classical music only as restaurant music. However, “many parents insisted that their children wear traditional attire for events,” says Sriram Imani of Indian Raga Labs, explaining that they also encouraged casual clothing for their presentations. “They said you can do whatever you want as adults, but we want our kids to follow convention.”

Aditya Prakash Clothing | photo credit: Ivan Fuentas

It was Sriram’s desire to introduce average Indians to the fundamentals of Indian classical arts, which resulted in the Indian Raga Labs YouTube videos. Withstanding the ever-decreasing attention span of online viewers, short videos feature high quality sound and imagery. Indian Raga Labs (with London and Singapore chapters) now offers validation through certification, opportunities to jam with others, competition through monthly thematic competitions, performances for skilled musicians, and learning and teaching. BRM, an American non-profit organization, will soon enter local area schools with a tailor-made performance-based music curriculum as an outreach initiative.

The Vansh, variously known as Bani, Gharana and Vazi, is a linchpin of Indian classical music. However, that musical lineage puts a constant strain on the minds of artists, who are puzzled by how free they can really be in expression. “What is Karnataka to me? Is it impersonal, ancient, not mine? I think constantly,” says Los Angeles-based Aditya Prakash of the Aditya Prakash ensemble. decides when to release the student.” Xeroclassical strongly urges its musicians to break out of hierarchical shackles and become creatively unburdened of gurus and lineage. “We seek their authentic expression, feeling and emotion. “

Zeroclassical Team | photo credit: special arrangement

For artists born and raised abroad, creativity that bridges their performance with the art they learn is an important aspect of self-expression. Roopa Mahadevan was heavily influenced by “big voices with a lot of feeling” such as Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and the African American soul tradition. Inspired by the collaboration of Aditya Pandit. Ravi Shankar, dancer Akram Khan, Armenian jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan, Anoushka Shankar and more.

“Just rethinking the format opens up a different space in the mind. As TM Krishna says, if we remove all its baggage, Carnatic music is just raga, taal and sahitya,” comments Aditya. His work, ‘Lord of the Cave’, shows a fluid contradiction of traditional Carnatic elements with western instrumentation and the mridangam. It’s certainly unconventional but not inconsistent. Indeed, the format becomes amorphous for crossover artists. Roopa says, “For example, I can start with the cover of an English song, which is associated with Alapana.” Both Aditya and Roopa are full time musicians who have spent a significant amount of time learning directly from India’s renowned teachers.

Various implicit traditions are also prevalent such as discouraging women from expressing more through body language. However, Roopa takes her audience along through lively and expressive singing, taking lessons from her Bharatanatyam training. “We are constantly told ‘adakka odukkama irukkanam’ (one must exercise restraint in action). But it is very difficult to restrain ourselves amidst the creative flow.” Maybe why do some lead male singers walk fearlessly? That when I sing I do Abhinayam (the art of expression in dance),” she smiles.

Roopa Mahadevan with a group of musicians | photo credit: special arrangement

Xeroclassical funds musicians to create a repertoire with modern imagery and aesthetics. In 2021, more than 70 percent of his commissioned artists were non-South Asian in origin. As pleasant as this statistic is, it shows that South Asian diaspora are faced with the concept of tuning or arranging existing songs versus writing an entirely new work. Aditya says, “I find it very difficult to sing in English. For Roopa, “imitating others is not difficult, but creating is a challenge.” But the new repertoire depicting today’s problems and sensibilities is important, emphasize both Shriram and Hardayal. Bhartiya Raag Labs has already done original work depicting LGBTQIA, cancer awareness and mental health issues.

Incorporating a variety of instruments is a quick and easy way to bridge the gap between classical and popular music. In the early 1990s, Kannik Kanikeswaran realized his potential. He trained many singers for choruses featuring traditional Indian songs for classical ragas with Indian and Western instruments. Without predecessors, it was path-breaking. This soon evolved into ‘Peace’, where the universal theme of peace was explored with hundreds of participants who performed in the United States, Europe and India, along with visual elements such as dance roping in local orchestras. did. The programs were presented to a packed audience of South Asian descent and others. Clearly moved audiences said that ‘Shanti’ gave them hitherto unknown insights into Indian culture. Through several innovative, and often socially inspired projects that often feature star musicians, Kannik has consistently successfully brought diverse groups of people on and off the stage.

Travel really expands horizons and it can be easy to discover progress and change in traditional arts when away from the thick of things. With many such initiatives, Indian classical art is poised to reveal interesting new colors.

The author is Kalpalata Fellow for Classical Music Writing for 2022.