Everyone ’ s in a hurry to get on stage ! How to reinstate the importance of investing sufficient time in learning to a fame and accolade hungry generation ?
To become a doctor , you have to do 12 years of schooling , 5 years of MBBS and then 2 years of MD . To become an engineer , you have to again do 12 years of schooling , 5 years of engineering . Music is an equally , if not , more challenging profession . You do 12 years of schooling – practice and learning , a few years of graduation to accumulate the knowledge . When you invest so much time , there is more depth and knowledge and you can sustain for a longer time . Performance is incidental . I know , with all the shows that people watch on TV , children want to perform and parents want to put their children up on the stage - performing becomes an urgency . But this is just temporary happiness .
For permanent happiness , you need a deep knowledge into the system . Once you are really ready and your guru thinks you are ready , then when you perform , the beauty is very different and your sustainability is at a different level . If you don ’ t , art becomes a casualty . It is like asking a first year MBBS student to perform a surgery ! Similarly , until you complete your lessons and you are ready , take your time to appreciate and enjoy the art , the journey is more important than the destination .
Being amidst a generation of audience who are impatient , restless , and lack the appetite for such music , what are the limitations you face in conveying the grandeur and beauty your instrument ?
Luckily , I have been blessed with wonderful audience always . It has been people who have acquired an inherent taste for this beautiful instrument , Veena , who love its microtones , its tonal quality . If it ’ s a totally uninitiated audience , they are open to listening to this instrument and appreciating it . There are times when we go to schools and colleges , where young minds are not used to listening to classical music . At these times , we will have to tailor the presentation in a way that is interesting to them from the beginning and it does not expect a great amount of prior knowledge to appreciate . Music is generally appreciated by everybody – who doesn ’ t tap their feet , sing in the bathroom or click their fingers to a beat ? So , when we present to a totally uninitiated audience then we present the music in such a way that is appealing to them . I think our music and our instruments are so rich both in their content and quality , that just by presenting it in an attractive manner we are able to win over the audience .
Your biggest take away from your international experiences
When I tell somebody here in India , “ Oh I ’ m performing in Paris , I ’ m performing in Norway ”, they immediately ask if there are so many Indians in Paris and Norway who will attend the concert . Then I tell them , “ No , these are the local people there who come ”. Then they ask if local people understand Indian Music . Well , they know to appreciate music , they don ’ t have to know the technical aspects of music . Sometimes ignorance is bliss . They just open out their hearts to the music from India , they like the sounds , the gamakas , the philosophy , the energy on stage , and the presentation of Indian music , so they appreciate it . My biggest takeaway is that you don ’ t have to get to the bottom of things and understand everything to appreciate it . Just accept it and enjoy it for what it is and in a way that you can perceive it . The way an Indian may appreciate the ragam Lalitha may be very different from the way a Westerner appreciates the same . Both are beautiful .
So , you don ’ t have to have a template of how to appreciate Carnatic music .
How do you find the right balance between creative expression and commercial showmanship ? Or is there a balance that one must find between these two ?
An artist , learns from every concert , learns every day about himself , about the art form and about the audience . You become one with what you are communicating and then you become one with the people who are listening to it . So , you cannot demarcate and say , “ Ok now let me do a bit of commercialism ” and then “ ok now let me do a bit of creative expression ”. That ’ s not the way music works . The entire presentation becomes a part of your being , through your years of performance and you knowing how to be creative while making it appealing , being yourself , and also being a part of the audience . The essence of the whole thing is to be a communicator wherein you don ’ t lose your originality , at the same time you are one of them , but telling them from a different point of view . I think if you are in a stage where you have a make a balance and say , “ now let me be creative or commercial ”, you are different and the art is different . It then becomes a commodity .
The minute that ceases to happen and it becomes an art form where you become one with it , I think it is your expression and your communication that will win the hearts . If I ’ m wondering how I should package it for you , it is still not the real thing . If you are yourself completely , and your self has evolved over the years of experience , over what you take away from the audience about how they feel and what you want to express . These are the four things - what you are , what your experience is , what you think they feel , and what you think they have shown you in all these years . All these make you perform in a way that they can understand and resonate with .
You and Kumaresh come from such different schools of thought , tell us about your confluence and the journey so far . How are your dynamics on and off stage ?
I have been hearing Kumaresh ji and Ganesh ji from when I was five years old and I have attended several of their concerts . Their music was not new to me . Our collaboration happened incidentally when Tirupathi Temple Board asked us to perform at the Alamelumangapuram Brahmotsavam . When we wanted to find a common path to present our music , we thought we should create something new that both of us can play . So , we created several raga based compositions and combinations that we play together called “ Strings Attached ”. Over time , we have created quite a bank of our own compositions . Of course , we do play masterpieces and existing compositions but the majority will be compositions that we have composed and created for “ Strings Attached ”. Kumaresh ji is an amazing team player and to play with him is sheer joy . He brings out the best in the person who collaborates with him . I really enjoy playing “ Strings Attached ” – so we are quite strings attached , on and off stage !
Your efforts in making Carnatic music more appealing and inviting to the youngsters ? Your opinions about being relevant to current times ?
I recently came up with a web series called “ Cup O ’ Carnatic ” that was done to reinvent teaching methods . It was a season of 13 episodes , with each episode no more than 3 minutes , where different topics that a student of music or a common rasika would want to know , like How do I buy a new Veena , how do
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