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Music Season
Are instruments marginalised?
CHITRA SWAMINATHAN
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It is vocal that dominates the scene, with a sprinkling of veena, violin, etc. Why?
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Pushed to the background: Thanjavur veena, the modern version (digital veena), violin and flute.
You can barely hear the strings (of violin and veena) resonate or the wind (flute) blow… Only the voices (read vocalists) are heard, loud and clear. This is no poetic verse but a jarring reality. A few hundred sabhas, thousand kutcheris and lakhs of rasikas… but you don’t seem to have enough of it in Margazhi. In this ambience of plenty, instrumental music is increasingly marginalised.
“Young learners and talents are aplenty, but there is certainly a dearth of performance opportunities. So most are not inspired to continue,” says flute maestro N. Ramani. “A few of my students have joined All India Radio, some others have gone back to their academic careers and a handful who want to hang on are struggling to make their presence felt.”
Acclaimed veena artiste E. Gayathri, though perturbed by the situation, does not believe in popularising the veena. “It’s pointless, if those who take it up are not ready to walk the time-tested path of hard work.”
She says that when you start learning the veena it might appear like child’s play, but gets tougher as you progress. “You have to devote all your energy and attention to make it sound closest to the human voice. That is the challenge and the appeal.” According to Gayathri, instrumentalists cannot hold the audience with mere technical-play. They need to bring out the soul of the sahityam.
“Lack of lyrics means triple the effort in learning and performing. Most instrumentalists first learn vocal music to reproduce the sahityam flawlessly on the instrument,” says violinist M. Lalitha, who along with her sister Nandini presents concerts, lec-dems and fusion works across the globe.
Counters Nandini, “Once we move out of India, this disadvantage (of lack of words) works in our favour as westerners take to our melody instantly. Also, violin is an integral part of all music — be it Carnatic, Western, Hindustani, Irish or Hungarian. This makes collaborative works easier.”
“Jamming with other artistes may be a fine option especially for those who don’t get to do enough kutcheris. But I personally feel that there is little scope for improvisation when playing in combinations,” says V.V.Subramaniam, senior violinist.
He strongly advocates the traditional “fool-proof” method of being an accompanist for some years and imbibing different vocal styles before emerging as a soloist.
“You need time to develop your own distinctive style to sustain and also to make your violin strings bring out the subtleties of a ragam or a composition,” says Subramaniam.
Sabha support
Odds notwithstanding, artists should have the perseverance to go through the grind. Many get disheartened and opt out when opportunities to perform don’t come their way, says Ramani. “What they need is the support of sabhas and rasikas. Of 100 vocal concerts, sabhas should reserve at least 15 to 20 for instrumental musicians.” Veena artiste Rajhesh Vaidya agrees: “Sabhas’ encouragement is vital to keep us going.” Rajesh, a disciple of Chittibabu, has been in the field for long but only in the last two to three years has he been invited by some sabhas to perform. He now has his own fusion group that plays Rajhesh’s compositions besides the traditional pieces. “I am elated that the response has been really good.”
The weight and the size of the veena also make it difficult for artists to go around the world performing. Yes, there is this type that can be dismantled, but Gayathri is not for using it. Rajhesh on his part is working on a new flat veena. He finds Radel’s electric veena easy-to-carry, giving out the same sound effect. “Also, unlike the vocalists it’s impossible for us to perform 15 to 20 concerts. So, maybe the lack of visibility too goes against us,” she smiles.
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