Ghatam’s link to Sanskrit literature
V. BALASUBRAMANIAN
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Relentless work has fetched Ghatam Karthik a doctorate.
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PASSIONATE: Ghatam Karthik.
S. Karthik plays the instrument with such proficiency that ghatam has become the prefix to his name, which now gets an addition with the artiste obtaining a doctorate from the University of Madras. This big-built player could easily be mistaken for
a full back of a South American football club or even a shot putter. Only difference is that he plays in the music field accompanying artistes with fidelity.
Karthik might probably be the first percussionist in the State to have done so. His thesis on ‘Musical Instruments in Sanskrit literature’ has been the culmination of efforts spanning a decade.
Karthik says he owes it all to his mentor and guide S. Ramaratnam, Retired Principal and Head of Department of Sanskrit, Vivekananda College, Mylapore, who has a doctorate himself.
Spotting Karthik’s penchant for Sanskrit literature even while he was doing his Bachelor’s and Master’s, Mr. Ramaratnam made Karthik go for M.Phil and the topic was ‘Percussion in Sanskrit literature.’
Between his M.Phil and Ph.D there was a big time gap as he was too busy playing in concerts within the country and without. He says his wife Anjana’s solid support helped him script the thesis, hours together, in the computer.
Karthik’s thesis has a lot of references to the Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads, and Tamil Literature. He has also made a comparative study of the ancient world cultures like those of China, Tibet, Egypt and Africa. The thesis probes the therapeutic aspects of music.
Karthik, however, does not remember how it all started. When he was in the eighth standard, he told his father that he wanted to become a professional ghatam player once he grew up. His father was surprised but put his son under the tutelage of T.H.Vinayakaram and T.H.Subhashchandran.
Karthik reveres both his Gurus whom he says are very large hearted and broad minded. Even though he has been busy hopping concert platforms, Karthik steals time to go to his Gurus to hone his skills further.
However his eyes turn moist as he talks about his father, E.V.Subramanian who supported him a lot but kept stressing the importance of qualifying oneself academically.
No great lineage
Except for his mother Padma who was a graded artiste of AIR, Karthik has no great lineage. He vividly remembers his first ever concert at the Luz Nava Shakthi Vainayagar temple, where he accompanied his mother in her vocal concert and he has not looked back. He has accompanied veterans including M.S., MLV, DKJ and D.K.Pattammal to name a few, and of course is a regular in the concert platforms of contemporary musicians.
The composer in him slowly emerged, inspired by Ilaiyarajaa’s film songs in rare ragas and also by the musical works of the legends like M.Balamuralikrishna and Lalgudi Jayaraman. Karthik started composing songs in Sallabham, Bhujangini, Srothasvini and Rathipatipriya.
His sound knowledge in Sanskrit and Tamil helped in writing lyrics for them. And the outlet? ‘Heart Beat’ came into being.
The orchestral group has performed world over and has released two albums — Thaka Dhimi Taka Jhunu and Thana Dhirana Jam.
Apart from painting, Karthik also is a regular at humour club meetings. He involves himself in promoting social causes canvassing for eye and blood donation. He attributes his success to the blessings he received from Sri Sathya Sai Baba in his childhood and signs off smilingly saying that his dream would be to project Romance through Carnatic music.
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