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Book Review
Through the prism of modernity
V. SRIRAM
NEW MANSIONS FOR MUSIC — Performance, Pedagogy and Criticism: Lakshmi Subramanian; Social Science Press, 69, Jor Bagh,
New Delhi-110003. Rs. 425.
The first three decades of the 20th century were significant in the history of Carnatic music. The effects of English education, the emergence of Madras as an important cultural centre and the rise of a politically and socially aware middle class in the city, all combined together to leave a lasting impression on the art form. The art itself changed, to some extent, in response to this, but the impact was felt more in the social context in which the art was performed and r
eceived. This book analyses the key influences and their impact on Carnatic music.
Three aspects
The author looks at three important aspects — the changes made to the concert format, the rise of music criticism as a concept, and the fading of the gurukula system giving place to university based music education. The concert format changed with the tastes of the audience. While earlier concerts were venues for the display of vidwat by way of complicated pallavis with rhythmic complexities dominating, concerts by the 1920s were meant to entertain. The emphasis changed to melody and this in turn meant the search for a larger repertoire. The compositions of the Trinity were readily at hand and came to dominate the bill of fare.
The concert format which had begun its metamorphosis around 20 years earlier, acquired its final shape in the hands of Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar and he is today credited with the entire change. The author’s views on the role of the music critic in Carnatic music need to be read particularly by present day music critics. She astutely points out that Carnatic concert reviews rarely go beyond a few vacuous expressions on the music and then go on to many generalities none of which leave any scope for deeper investigation into issues of musicality or voice culture. Many critics became larger-than-life stars and as mentioned in the book, writers such as Subbudu became more interested in what was smart and snappy in print and did not bother much with the content of their review. Articulating the aesthetic has a long way to go in Carnatic music.
Transmission
The third section of the book deals with music becoming a part of university curricula and traces the moves behind it. While this may have been done with the best of motives, as the author herself points out, the intention behind this kind of reform was more to create an informed audience and more jobs. It did not concern itself with creating first class performers, who still continue to be brought forth from the guru-sishya tradition, a remnant of the old gurukula system.
The book has a few factual errors. It states that the Madras Music season began in 1926. It was actually in 1927. Similarly, 1929 is given as the year of founding of the Music Academy, which was inaugurated in 1928. The Krishna Gana Sabha of George Town is credited with being the first Sabha of Madras (1895) while the Tondaimandalam Sabha had existed from almost a decade earlier. V.Raghavan is referred to as a Theosophist when in reality he was a staunch Advaitin.
The author also laments that Veena Dhanammal (rather debatably classified in the book as the most outstanding woman musician of the 20th century when she could have been better described as the most written about woman artist) was not invited to be a member of the Experts Committee of the Music Academy. Dhanammal was in fact a member from 1928 till her death in 1938. That she chose to be derisive about the Academy and not attend any meeting is a different matter. There are also errors that could have been eliminated with careful proof-checking. Thus T.V. Subba Rao is referred to as V. Subba Rao in many places and Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer as Maharaja Viswantha Iyer (he would have been pleased). The phrase “kanakku vazhakku” becomes “kanaka vahzakku” in the book and there are similarly other errors in writing Tamil terms in English. Besides, a whole passage by Margaret Cousins on her first impression about a Carnatic concert has been repeated in two different contexts in the book, when a mere reference to it the second time would have sufficed .
Its faults notwithstanding, the book is a scholarly work which looks at music in the context of changing social trends. It fulfils a long felt need in Carnatic music where hagiographies are the norm.
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