The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : There should be more Carnatic songs in Tamil, says Minister Durai Murugan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 03, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

There should be more Carnatic songs in Tamil, says Minister Durai Murugan

Staff Reporter

Bharat Sangeet Samrat title for Madurai T.N. Seshagopalan

CHENNAI: Music is that which integrates and gives peace to the mind, said Durai Murugan, Minister for Public Works.

Surprising the audience at the Narada Gana Sabha with his knowledge of Carnatic music, and the fact that he has listened to about 600 Carnatic music CDs so far, the Minister vouched that he listened only to Carnatic music.

He was conferring the Bharat Sangeet Samrat title on Madurai T.N. Seshagopalan at the Bharat Sangeet Utsav 2006, organised by Carnatica.

He said that though he does not know anything about the nuances of Carnatic music nor had he learnt it, he was nevertheless able to enjoy the music, which according to him had evolved from the natural elements, animal and bird life, and through the human voice.

Expressing regret that the crowd coming to listen to Carnatic music was dwindling, he said that the reason was that music had not been simplified and taken to the masses.

"There must be more songs in Tamil," the Minister said, pointing out that music first has to attract people.

For this, they must be able to understand what is being sung, he said.

CD released

A CD titled `A Meeting of Minds' was released on the occasion.

A new scheme that enables Airtel mobile users to download Carnatic music ringtones by dialling 7477 was also launched by the Minister.

Dialling the number he placed the mobile near the microphone and enabled the audience to listen to a piece of `Asai Mugam Marandu Poche' by Rukmini Rajagopalan.

Mahesh Thampy, CEO, Airtel, said that music had now become an important part of the telephony business.

The downloadable ringtones of Carnatic music songs may also be passed on to friends through messages, he said.

Musician Alleppey Venkatesan called T.N. Seshagopalan a `mahavidwan' who was most complete and comprehensive in his repertoire.

N. Murali, Managing Director of The Hindu and President of The Music Academy, complemented the Carnatica team for digitising and propagating music through modern technology. The programme was a comprehensive mix of Carnatic, Hindustani, jugalbandhi and lecture demonstrations, he said.

T.N. Seshagopalan said awards meant additional responsibilities placed on the musician's shoulders. "Music is the easiest path to attain salvation and `shruti' and `laya' are the two oars of the boat of music to cross the ocean of existence.

"Even though, classical music is meant for (people of) class, it is our responsibility to turn the mass into class," he said.

K.N. Sashikiran, founder-director of Carnatica, said the programme was open to all till the valedictory function on November 9.

A debate on the future of Carnatic music, and `Raganubhava - An Experience of Thodi' were some events organised by Carnatica, which was recently awarded the ISO 9001 certificate.

Ramanathan Narayanan, Director and Editor, Carnatica.com, compered the programme, which was folled by a concert by T.N. Seshagopalan on the compositions of Oothukkadu Venkatakavi.

He was supported by M. Chandrasekaran on the violin, Guruvayoor Dorai on the mridangam and D.S. Purushothaman on the kanjira.

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