Nadathur Foundation is organizing the Nada Sambhraam concert series, a Navratri concert that will feature Carnatic classical singer Sikkil Gurucharan. Singer Ustad Bismillah Khan is a recipient of the Yuva Puraskar Award and is considered a youth ambassador for Carnatic music. The singer spoke about his passion for music from his residence in Chennai.
Coming from a family of famous flute players, the Sikkil Sisters, haven’t you ever thought of becoming one?
I’ve been asked this many times and I always say ‘no’. Maybe because I showed no interest in learning flute, they didn’t teach me or vice versa. I am happy with where I am today and so are they.
You have a master’s degree in commerce and have also acted in films Sarvam Thala Mayam And Putham Pudhu KalaiIf you had not become a singer, would you have adopted these?
Perhaps. My family environment instilled in me a love for art. Everywhere I turned there was either music or theatre. My father was into theater and conversations at home revolved around the performing arts. I didn’t face any pressure when it came to my education. I enjoyed studies, even more so after class 10th when I studied commerce, because I enjoyed income tax law and business. During my college days I realized that music would take up a major portion of my time, and rightfully so.
You credit your school for encouraging you to take up music. How important is it to include the arts as a part of education?
School plays an important role in promoting art. When performing at home, only your closest family will appreciate you, no matter what. In school, you are in front of hundreds of students and address different sections of the audience, it is almost similar to what you will face later in the world when you do not know what kind of audience you will face at each place. Will have to. When performing in school, they will not scold you, but will give you constructive feedback, which will help you become better. Performing in front of my peers, seniors, juniors and teacher helped me overcome stage fright. Because of the encouragement in school and college, it was easy for me to perform from graduation to public performance.
Can you tell us about your work with children to promote the arts?
I am actively involved in SPICMACAY, which promotes art among children. I am also on the board of Rhapsody, which aims to provide curriculum to school students through music. It was founded by my dear friend Anil Srinivasan, who is a pianist.
Being a part of these, I believe that the interest towards classical music among children is gradually increasing as they realize that it is a serious art, which should be given the same importance as you give to film songs or other popular music. Give while listening to music. music.
Today a school child is equally familiar with BTS and Carnatic music. The prestige that Carnatic music is getting among children today is much better than it was a few years ago. The Global Carnatic Musicians Association has recently launched the CAR (Create a Rasika) project, which places Carnatic musicians like me in various schools across Tamil Nadu. Here we spend an hour with the children with a PowerPoint presentation, telling them what Carnatic music is, inviting them to a live concert because they cannot experience the magic of a live concert on YouTube or through recorded music. Can.
Why don’t we see the same enthusiasm for a classical music performance as we do for a rock concert?
Carnatic music evolved centuries ago and you will not see rapid changes in this genre every few years as we see in film music, rock or rap. You need to stay close and true to the traditions of this art. Nevertheless, it is a form that is not steeped in rigid traditions.
What began as Carnatic music in the 18th century gradually evolved into something different in the 20th century. Even today, this style works very well with Hindustani or Western classical music. We see a lot of experiments happening and we have an audience for every experiment. Change in Carnatic music is steady but slow.
Furthermore, Carnatic music receives much less exposure than other forms of music. For example, if I do a concert in Bengaluru, I might get two to three interviews, but on the other hand, if there is a rock or film concert happening, they are almost covered in the media.
This can either work in favor or be detrimental, as the more media coverage you get, the more diverse the opinions will be and this can affect performance. Having said that, I also feel that it is unfair to compare Carnatic music with film or rock music because the form has existed in India for centuries and has a timelessness to it.
after Shakrabharanamwhich celebrated Carnatic music, we rarely see films that attempt to promote Carnatic music. Still we see Hindustani music being used in film compositions. Do you think the film industry ignores Carnatic music?
I wouldn’t say that form is being deliberately ignored. I hope you like the movies Sarvam Thala Mayam Come out more often. The film was released in 2019 at a time when people were talking about the popularity of music content in short reels.
Rajiv Menon made a film based entirely on Carnatic music. It celebrates the spirit of the Indian rhythm, Mridangam. The film had elements of Carnatic live music and talked about the relationship between a mridangam student and a traditional guru. That film received good viewership upon release.
Now, five years later, we were in Japan for a concert and the kind of reception we saw for this film was amazing. We had five concerts in Japan and before each concert the audience watched Sarvam thala mayam. Most claimed it was a repeat watch, which was enjoyable.
After watching the film, he used to sit for two hours and listen to our live concert. I think we need to do something like this in India too so that people can connect with music like they did in Japan. We have many theatres. I wish we had more films that talked about Carnatic music as a way of life.
The kind of creations we deal with, the improvisations we do on stage are all linked to our lifestyle and management skills. We do a lot of stage management and there are a lot of human emotions and human dynamics involved. If there is a film or theatrical production on these lines followed by a live concert, it will bring more people to the Carnatic classical genre.
can you talk about this Janal Oram,
This is a YouTube series in Tamil with English subtitles. The content is aimed at a diverse audience to appreciate the nuances of Carnatic music, be it through the framework of film, day-to-day exercise music, mobile ringtones or anything that is taken for granted in their daily lives.
Following the pandemic, many artists have intentionally carved out a niche for themselves online, where they regularly offer content explaining what they do on stage and why they do it.
You will be performing at Nadaswaram in Bengaluru. What do you think about classical music as one of the mediums to celebrate Indian festivals?
Classical music is the soul of Indian culture. We have many occasions where classical style is used to celebrate a festival, be it Dussehra, Navratri or Vinayaka Chaturthi. Celebrations are not only done through concerts, even at homes, people sing songs with kriti or bhajans to celebrate.
Navratri is a busy season for musicians as many concerts take place across the country. Bengaluru is a city that is traditional as well as cosmopolitan. They enjoy a good mix of old and new.
Gurucharan will perform at JSS Auditorium on October 5 at 6 pm. It is open to all.
