Cultural confluence for Fulbrighters at Chennai music season
CHITRA DEEPA A.
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Three Fulbrighters from the U.S. and two from India, discussed about music, research and cultural understanding. Chitra Deepa A.
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Photo: S. Thanthoni
A CULTURAL RENDEZVOUS: (From left) Roopa Mahadevan, Lakshmi Ramaswamy, Nicholas Higgs, Lalitha Muthuswamy and Preetha Narayanan.
Internationally, Chennai is the hub for carnatic music and traditional dance forms. The music season is unique with several high quality concerts organised in a month. So, it is not surprising that three Fulbright Scholars from America have landed in Chennai to pursue research in music. Nicholas Higgs, Preetha Nayarayan and Roopa Mahadevan are musicians and Fulbrighters who had the opportunity to perform in various sabhas in the Chennai musicfestival.
The trio met up with two other Indian Fulbright scholars who have done their research in the U.S. — Lalitha Muthuswamy (Lalitha-Nandini duo fame) and Lakshmi Ramaswamy (disciple of Chitra Vishweshwaran) — in Chennai this past week. They shared their experience with The Hindu Education Plus.
As professional musician and dancer, the Fulbrighters from Chennai, Lalitha Muthuswamy (Carnatic violinist) and Lakshmi Ramaswamy (Bharathanatyam dancer) pursued their research at University of Pittsburgh (2005-6) and Golden Gate University (1999-2000) respectively. While Ms. Lakshmi was awarded the fellowship in arts and culture management, Ms. Lalitha was awarded the fellowship in performing arts.
During the music festival, Mr. Nicholas performed along with Lalitha and Nandini for a fusion concert at Kamaraj Hall on December 22. This saxophonist, composer and ethomusicologist has been funded by a Fulbright Hays DDRA fellowship and is currently researching fusion and improvisation in Chennai for his Ph.D dissertation.
"Fusion music functions as a link between sometimes extremely disparate musical forms (Carnatic and Western) and I perceive it as a global phenomenon that is a historically salient part of a cultural encounter," says Nicholas. And working with Lalitha and Nandini (especially during the rehearsals) were incredibly inspiring, he says, adding that Carnatic music is more accommodating for fusion music.
"Music is on the tip of everyone's tongue in Chennai during the season. It is amazing, it is wonderful," observes Nicholas Higgs.
West meets East
According to Preetha Narayanan (presently a visiting American Fulbright Scholar from Memphis) to be endlessly immersed in music and to have access to the vast range of artists in the Carnatic circle is unique to the season.
"There is so much life, energy, celebration and spirit during this time of the year. With a bachelors degree in Western Classical Violin from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Preetha is currenly in Chennai on a Fulbright grant undertaking comparative studies in the two traditions of music in the light of their musical aesthetics as well as cultural context.
Preetha is learning Carnatic violin from T. N. Krishnan and Carnatic vocal from Seetha Rajan. Her first full-fledged Carnatic concert was held at Ragasudha Hall on January 6, and she says it was a totally new experience.
"Musically and personally, Chennai has made me grow. As an amateur in Carnatic music, I found it transcending and I have evolved" says Preetha.
Talking about her performance, she says that performer is the highlight of the event in this genre, whereas in Western Classical, the performer in the mediator between the composer and the audience.
Trained in both Carnatic Vocal and Bharathanatyam, Roopa Mahadevan, from California, is the recipient of the Fulbright award for advanced training in Carnatic Vocal music in Chennai. She is presently undergoing training under Suguna Varadhachari.
"I am here to add to my repertoire for krithis and also manodharma. My goal is to expand my performance potential and musical knowledge through the advanced training and numerous resources available in Chennai," says Roopa Mahadevan.
What Carnatic music means to other Indian Americans of her generation is also Roopa's focus and she plans to work out ways to make it more meaningful for culturally displaced Indians and believes that music can act as a tool for social activism.
A postgraduate in neuroscience from Stanford University, Roopa Mahadevan performed in eight sabhas during the Chennai season.
"I learnt a lot about stage performance, it was a learning experience. I also notice that audiences here are not positive in welcoming experiments in Carnatic music. I think the Season should provide opportunity for experiments."
Westward bound
A well-known Bharathanatyam teacher in Chennai (founder of Sri Mudraalaya), Lakshmi Ramaswamy's dissertation was titled "Learning arts and learning through arts' and it was based on arts education project.
"The guru-sishya parampara no longer exists. The cultural scenario has changed and institutions these days focus on management also. Apart from teaching one also has to look into PR, correspondence and fund raising.
Lakshmi had performed and choreographed a couple of productions at various Sabhas in December 2006.
"Composition writing for fusion music" was the topic on which Lalitha Muthuswamy worked as a Fulbrighter last year at University of Pittsburgh.
She is greatly interested in world music and fusion and had realised that there is no specific format for fusion music, combining elements from different style of music.
"Fusion music should bring out the colour of each instrument and bring together two different traditions of classical music," she says.
"Chennai has established itself as the centre of music and apart from concerts one also gets a chance to learn at the lecture-demonstration sessions. The music season is absolutely extraordinary," says Lalitha.
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Role of USEFI
The Fulbright Programme was established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the then Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas. The Fulbright programme aims at educational and cultural exchange and interaction. The programme moves into the area of cultural relevance with a mission of promoting cultural and educational exchange. In the recent times, the focus area has been issue related to agriculture and science and technology.
The programme is open not only for scholars and academicians but also for professionals, to share expertise, gain leadership and promote capacity building. In the academic year 2005-6 130 Fulbrighters had come to India and 115 Indian scholars pursued their Fulbright research at U.S. Universities during that period. A committee of experts selects the candidates for the programme solely on merit. The programme is active in 150 countries, with over 6,000 scholars per year. United States Educational Foundation in India (USEFI) was established in 1950 through a bilateral exchange agreement between the two governments (India and America) to administer the Fulbright Fellowships in India.
Interested candidates from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and all Union Territories in South India can contact USEFI regional office located at American Consulate Building, Anna Salai, Chennai- 600006. Phone: 28112049. Email: usefimas@vsnl.net.in For details log on to www.fulbright-india.org and www.exchanges.state.gov
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