SI 5 - Inaugural session - Address by Guest of honour Dr. Sumathi Krishnan

Swadeshi Indology conference-5 titled ‘Karnataka Shastriya Sangita - its past, present and future’ held at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bangalore on 30th March 2019.
Dr. Sumathi Krishnan, Secretary of the Madras Music Academy, begins by drawing our attention to the greatness of the ‘oral tradition’ and ‘guru-shishya parampara’ in Carnatic Music whereby it is not just the ragas and technicalities of music that are taught, but a whole lot of ethos that gets transmitted. She goes on to explain how the oral tradition was slowly replaced by the textual tradition in the form of musical notations, but it has its own limitations. Quoting from Naradiya Shiksha, she explains the importance of early morning sadhana that has always been emphasized in our tradition, unlike the late night culture of the West. She then goes on to elaborate on how quality of music will take a backseat in a mindless effort to take Carnatic music to the masses. She finally brings out the indispensability of ‘Bhakti’, ‘religion’, ‘spirituality’ and ‘sahitya’ in Carnatic music.

[gvbhnnnnnnhh]

Beautiful explanation Mam I learned a lot from you.

[manishapande]

🙏 thank god for such discussions. “We are not poor we are rich in culture and we must preserve it”! Lovely takeaway and uplifting !

[bhargavchiru]

Thank you for your work, and great speech about our traditions Sumathi-garu :)

[srinivasangokul]

சபாஷ்.Sabash.
Lively, short and sharp speech.

1. Basic tenets/rules of Karnatic music should be followed and within that there is nothing wrong in singing about Jesus or Allah.

2. Sadly, we ( also the west ) lack this rigor to stick to rules and this “anything goes in Karnatic music” attitude of people like TM Krishna would only ruin our tradition.

3. Am reminded of both Ilaiyaraaja and L Subramanian.

4. Ilaiyaraaja has sets songs to western, Karnatic (mostly) and fusion; but when setting “Nee Days Radha” Krithi in Sindu Bhsiravi movie - no gimmickery. It is as MUST be sung on any Kantatic music stage.

5. L Subramanian the pioneer in western-Karnatic music fusion; plays music on Karnatic music stages the way it traditionally should be. Without any frills or unnecessary nail scratch sounds.

6. Sadly, the same cannot be said about some classical musicians today and hence we do have a need to (A)PRESERVE KARNATIC MUSIC AND (B) PREVENTS IT SET FOR ABRAHAMIC THEMES.

Very insightful speech. Thank you.