Season’s greetings: Rasikas gear up for their annual Ragamalika race

The music season arrives with metronomic regularity in mid-November, which progresses rapidly in December and reaches its peak in the latter half of the month as Kalyani and Bhairavi rain torrential rains on the music halls of Chennai. As we celebrate the New Year in January, music lovers feel the anti-climatic desolation as they return home feeling bereft. So what else is new? To keep music fans happily engaged, columnists are invited to think outside the box. And there’s the rub, as Hamlet said.

Over the years, every possible topic related to the Chennai music session has been covered – the Sabha canteens and their mind-blowing menus, the strange quirks and prejudices of music lovers, the predictable NRI wave coming to the Sabhas in Chicago Bulls and Taylor Swift attire, the newcomers to the music scene, the crystal ball look at future stars, while social media goes crazy with the plethora of video clips and promos. The announcement of the Sangeet Kalanidhi Award winner by the Music Academy is enough to fill several columns with interviews, intimate profiles and reactions.

So, I’m left scratching my head, groping for stray stream-of-consciousness thoughts as they float through my mind. I am also painfully reminded of French Nobel laureate André Gide’s pithy comment, ‘Whatever needs to be said has already been said.’ But since no one was listening, everything will have to be said again. Not being as eccentric as Monsieur Gide, I write in the hope that what I have to say will seem fresh.

Take drones, for example. I’m referring to the tambourine, not those intrusive drones we have become accustomed to at wedding ceremonies. Tambura is a majestic musical instrument that simply asks one to move one’s fingers continuously on its four strings. It is prepared according to the scale or shruti with which the lead artist is associated. The singer may sometimes be off-scale (apaswaram) as the listeners narrow their eyes in pain, but this is not the fault of the instrument. Sometimes, during a performance, the artist will snatch the tambourine from its designated player and make an elaborate fuss over ‘re-tuning’ it – like shooting the messenger. This sometimes spoils the rhythm of the concert. And so, now, artists use electronic, fail-proof equipment (Itanpura, anyone?). They come in different shapes and sizes. Some performers use two tambourines – adding auditory and optical appeal. Tuning one tambourine to the artist’s scale is quite challenging, while two tambourines look pretentious. The next time you see a Carnatic musician walking around the airport with a compact, faux leather-clad satchel slung over his shoulder, it’s no laptop, but a tiny tambourine. A far cry from Tyagaraja’s devotional tribute to his inseparable companion, Seekoni Tambura, in his monumental Thodi composition ‘Koluvamare Gada’.

One issue that always bothers me is the plethora of brand promotion stalls that congregations contract to display in their corridors, and the ugly, advertising banners plastered on the stage backdrops and walls of the premises. Expensive digital messages are also an eyesore. As a former advertising professional, I fully appreciate that, in these difficult times, the additional revenue generated by these corporate houses cannot be ignored. However, whenever one walks out of the hall to head to the canteen or answer the call of nature, there is a roving sales representative pressing a brochure on your face to interest you in an upcoming block of flats, a newly launched mutual fund or a swank automotive brand offering a free test drive. Your patience is tested, your bladder sends alarm signals and Tani Avtaranam can end at any moment. Lest I offend the percussion brigade, I hasten to say that I enjoy the brilliant rhythmic exchanges but this forced break, especially for the elderly, is almost a time-honored tradition. It is what it is. From there it’s just a quick hop, step and jump to the canteen.

My random thoughts have come full circle. As I walk back to my seat, Ragam Tanam Pallavi is waiting.