Article in the Business Economics
Business Economics Posted by admin on Jan 28, 2013 in Culture
If a film has to have a weeping scene, get a violin! In 1952, after hearing violin maestro Padmashri M.S. Gopalakrishnan perform Carnatic music on the violin in Madras, the great western violinist Yehudi Menuhin hugged the artiste and said, I have not heard such violin in all my travels! How superbly this young Indian is playing our instrument! – Abhijit Ganguly. In India, the violin, which is an adaptation of the western model, finds a very prominent place in the south Indian classical Carnatic tradition.
It has a prominent place also in north Indian classical composition. But the present scenario for this superb instrument is not encouraging. Kala Ramnath, one of the outstanding instrumental musicians of North India and the contemporary torch bearer of the Mewati gharana, feels, The situation in north India is really bad. First, it is a difficult instrument. There has been no good teacher and the instrument has always been portrayed in a melancholic scenario.
For a majority of Indian’s, violin music is taken as something to do with a sombre mood. Quite the contrary, it is in-fact the most complete instrument. It can do anything that a voice can do and more. Kala is the only violinist to have been awarded the Rashtriya Kumar Gandharva Sanman instituted by the Madhya Pradesh government.
Kala began playing the violin at the tender age of three under the strict tutelage of her grandfather Vidwan Narayan Iyer and simultaneously she received training from her aunt Dr. Smt. N. Rajam. For fifteen years she put herself under the training of Mewati vocal maestro, Sangeet Martand Pt Jasraj. According to Kala, “The Guru shishya parampara tradition is important for the simple reason Indian classical music is such that it cannot be learnt from the books”.
This is because the music is not on fixed notes like western music. In Indian music our ears are our eyes. This can only happen under a Guru.
Connecting to the masses Kala feels, Unfortunately in yesteryear Gurus made it difficult to popularize our Indian classical music among the common masses as it was taught within families and not to outsiders due to a combination of the tradition as such with sumptuous support from the media as well.
Unfortunately we don’t respect what we have with us due to our mentality of bowing down before the West. When the west appreciates it we start appreciating it. Its a pity that most people in India do not know that Indian classical music is the mother of all music.
There is no music which is as old as this and anyone who can play Indian classical music can play any music of the world.
