PLAYING SECOND FIDDLE?

Classical music is shifting from the sabhas to catwalks, as Indian classical musicians try to find a new mantra for space and survival. But in doing so, are they cheapening the art form?

One night recently, Pandit Umayalpuram K Sivaraman ended his 60-minute mridangam recital in Chennai with a grand flourish. You could be forgiven for thinking that it was just another day and another Kutcheri (performance) at one of the innumerable sabhas that are synonymous with Chennai. But that wasn’t the case: the percussionist wasn’t playing to a hall packed with sari-clad matrons well-versed with the intricacies of Carnatic music. For Sivaraman was only providing the backdrop for an evening of haute couture with models sashaying down the catwalk modelling Satya Paul's latest creations. The performance outraged many in Chennai. Was it a fashion show or a music recital? Was Sivaraman denigrating the classical art form in any way? Traditionalists bemoaned the ‘commercialisation’ of Carnatic music; several questioned whether musicians should stoop to this level. Welcome to what looks like the emerging new trend in Indian classical music, as musicians move from the confines of staid sabhas to the worlds of high fashion and entertainment.

Umayalpuram Sivaraman is not the only one to do so; take Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, the flautist, who performed at a fashion show in Mumbai. Or vocalist Shubha Mudgal who recently played at a jewelry show in Delhi. Or sitarist Shubhendra Rao and his wife Saskia on cello who have performed at product launches. Or vocalist Nityashree Mahadevan who sings for TV serials. It’s a trend that has been luring classical musicians for some time now - both Carnatic as well as Hindustani. The younger musicians make no bones about it; they’re not defensive in the least about venturing into the worlds of fashion and entertainment. “A classical musician isn’t the kind of entertainer youngsters are looking for. So you need to make them feel that we can be ‘cool and trendy’ too,” says percussionist Bikram Ghosh, who has composed music for fashion shows.

Not surprisingly, the purists are shaken. “It is an insult to classical music and is only a gimmick to promote oneself. In the quest for fame, musicians are ready to make any compromise and in the process our classical music will suffer,” says rudra veena player Ustad Asad Ali Khan. Master percussionist Karaikudi R Mani is even more blunt. “The new trend is eroding the purity of classical music. If it continues, I won’t be surprised if Carnatic musicians start performing at striptease and cabaret shows,” says the mridangam player, who once refused to play at a dinner concert in Australia even when the tickets were sold out.

Trendde mari poiduchu. (The trend has changed.) It’s a lament that’s heard every now and then. A violent debate raged in the 1930s and 1940s was to do on whether musicians should use microphones. When some of the most celebrated names in Carnatic music - M S Subbulakshmi, G N Balasubramaniam and M L Vasantakumari - acted and sang in films, there was an uproar. Should they be diluting on the screen what is considered sacrosanct on the stage? “This discussion is linked to the blinkered perspective on the role of music itself,” says Sadanand Menon, a cultural commentator. Those who talk about a certain kind of puritanism in style have not been able to sustain it over time - with respect to changes in society, training, financial sustainability and stage practice.

Historically, classical music has always been determined by the structure of patronage and the availability of space. Today the patrons are no longer temples and maharajas or the feudal landholders. The patrons today are the corporate sector or a middle class that wants to listen to music while it is dining at five-star hotels. It feels doubly ethnic, consuming Indian food and Indian music together. Sociologists believe that such a trend is indicative of the changing mindset unleashed by the twin forces of liberalisation and globalisation. And the musicians are not complaining. Along with corporate patronage comes the big bucks. Top businessmen and big companies think nothing of forking out Rs 5 lakhs for a recital -the going rate for a top musician. Lesser lights of the music world get anywhere between Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000. “Many corporations have supported musicians over the years, so the relationships also matter. Depending on the scope of the event, it could go up to a few lakhs of rupees,” says Punnet Nanda, creative director at Satya Paul Design Studio, whose fashion shows often feature classical musicians.

The music sabhas, by contrast, pay a pittance. Till a few years ago, some music sabhas in Chennai used to pay artistes just the bus fare and Rs 250 for a recital. In local parlance, musicians referred to it as the thenga mudi performance (meaning they were paid peanuts for their efforts). It is only now that some sabhas have loosened their purse strings; top musicians can command up to Rs 10,000 depending upon the season and the venue. “So why wait for the logic of a gharana when the hotel next door is summoning you,” asks Shiv Visvanathan, a social anthropologist working on science and other forms of popular culture

As the culture industry casts its web on the classical musicians - to the consternation of the traditionalists - some experts have a word of caution. “Today musicians have no staying power. The market is running and ruining all established classical arts and making them cheap entertainment,” says Ashish Khokar, a cultural historian. Experts say that those who are taking up the cudgel of purity of classical music must first improve their own systems. “I don't know why the top 50 Carnatic musicians cannot take a stand and say that they will not perform unless the music sabhas improve the systems. That would be looking into the purity of music,” says Menon.

“Purists always worry about prostitution. I am worried about innovation, hybridity, improvisation which combine the classical and the popular,” says Visvanathan. The controversy over Sivaraman and others of his stature playing at fashion shows is not the only one plaguing Indian classical music. Another bugbear of the purist is so-called fusion music, especially when it involves radical experimentation and innovation. “There is no harm in experimentation, as long as one does not compromise on the style and form and maintains one’s identity,” says vocalist Aruna Sairam, who has done a series of fusion concerts with French musician Dominique Vellard. Sivaraman has a similar opinion. “If I have to play with Michael Jackson, I will adapt my technique to bring out the best,” he says. Shiv Visvanathan puts it succinctly. “Given the family monopolies in the musical arena, new musicians are searching for new avenues, while willing to co-exist with the paler imitations of musicians such as Pandit Ravi Shankar, Pandit Jasraj and Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. It’s a live-and-let-live model.”

So when Sivaraman tunes his mridangam for what will probably be another round of fashion shows, the question once again arises: is he diluting the classical form? It’s not an easy question to answer. Perhaps we should take a cue from the Hindu religion itself, which, just like music, is gloriously pluralist. Over the years, it has assimilated so many foreign influences without losing its core identity; in fact one may say it’s been enriched by the currents and cross-currents that it has had to encounter over the millennia. For the lovely thing about music is that it is redolent of the milieu and culture around it. As Bismillah Khan once said, “My music must smell of kebabs.”

New Indian Express, May 2, 2003