Christianity and Carnatic Music - The Flip Side !

Disclaimer : Multiple mentions of caste names but unfortunately I have to.

Anand has discussed with me multiple times about his experience in one of the Carnatic music reality shows and how his talent was sidelined but he was still kept in the show to portray a false inclusivity. Anand was apparently the only non-brahmin, not-so-posh contestant. Not one of the pleasant experiences I would say, but he gets so excited every time he talks about it. “Its all about the Brahmin community bro, that’s where all the judges were from, they wanted to promote only their candidates”.

My Madurai days, in terms of Carnatic music was quite an eye opener. I understood a lot on how the entire mainstream Carnatic music is controlled by a single community. My guru was a Isai Vellalar and we have had extensive chats regarding this. “Okay Ashwin, now tell me one mainstream Carnatic singer who is a non-brahmin”. I tried a few names, just to realize that they are not tamil brahmins but phalgats, still from the same community. “Okay, tell me any accompanist who is a non- brahmin”. I failed but he came up with a couple of them.  And here we are – the stark reality is that none of the mainstream Carnatic musicians or their accompanists is outside the community. “Does it mean that others don’t learn Carnatic music?” I was quite shocked. “What happens to the others that pursue Carnatic music degrees in colleges?” The answer is simple; they end up applying for professor cadre jobs in the same colleges and hardly ever make it to the stage. That’s exactly what Anand ended up doing, but for a change joined a Christian Missionary College!

The other day he was comically mentioning to us that how all the nuns and fathers struggle with pronunciation. “mohana kara muthu kumara will be sung as muttu kumara. All they want is to learn the song, muthu and muttu makes no difference to them” he chuckles. Honestly, this took a while for me to digest. “Do they actually wear their robes and other paraphernalia and sing songs on rama and muruga?” I was getting curious. “Oh yeah bro, they don’t mind” It did not matter much to him but I was so sure something dramatic is going to happen in years to come. Just that I did not realize it would happen so soon.

Well there are two sides to this issue now. For ages, the Brahmin community has been sabotaging the Carnatic stage and all the limelight when so many others like the Isai Vellalars and the Devadasis have not been given credit. In fact, there would not have been a temple for Thyagaraja at Thiruvaiyaru today if not for his Devadasi disciple. Also, as TM Krishna mentions, even an enormously talented MS Subbulakshmi had to shed off her communal identity and present herself as a Brahmin to get their approval. It is high time that Carnatic music becomes truly global, and not limited just to the global Brahmin community. It has to happen and it’s happening right now with fire and smoke.

When I read TMK’s tweet that he will compose a song on Jesus or Allah every month, I felt like making whistles and claps and giving him a hi-five! But unfortunately I have seen, rather heard the bitter truth myself. Thyagaraja’s and Dhikshatar’s krithis being plagiarized with the names of the hindu gods being replaced with others. This is something I strongly condemn and I feel the whole Carnatic music community should rise against. Though the sarcastic me would actually challenge them to spot all the Hindu references correctly.

Christianity in south India is being constantly captivated by all the Hindu practices and customs. Is it because they miss all these complex rituals in Christianity proper? Or is it just a means to attract more people into their religion? From kodimarams to kamatchi vilakku and even kalasa kumbam, they have imitated everything and now the timeless Carnatic compositions! I wish we could stop them, but we are just so powerless in front of the fierce drive with which these religions operate, aren’t we?

Coming back to the topic of the day, as long as they stick on to original compositions on Jesus or Allah, I would be one of them who would buy a ticket for a multi-religious Music Academy concert. The rational me only begs to differ as the motive behind this christian carnatic drive is not benign as it might seem.