Spirit of raga music is equality; I will keep pushing to achieving this: T M Krishna

The renowned Karnatik vocalist has been chosen for the Sangita Kalanidhi award by the prestigious Music Academy.

Renowned Karnatik vocalist T M Krishna has been chosen for the Sangita Kalanidhi award by the prestigious Music Academy, Madras. Krishna, who had stopped performing during the music season for the past nine years, told DH in an interview (before the controversy over his choice broke out) that he accepted the award as he believes in engaging in robust and difficult conversation to achieve equality in the music world. 

Excerpts from the conversation:

You have not been performing at the Margazhi Festival since 2015, but you have now been chosen as the Sangita Kalanidhi 2024 by the prestigious Music Academy, Madras. How do you see this honour?

As a Karnatik musician, this is an important landmark for me and I thank The Music Academy, Madras for bestowing on me this honour. 

I stopped singing during the music season in 2015 as I felt I was aesthetically, socially, and philosophically disconnected from the festival. It is important to recognise that some things have changed (in the sabhas) in the past 10 years.
My choices as a musician and as an individual are there in the public domain for everybody to see. I believe in continuing to have complicated conversations and move forward musically, aesthetically, and socially to come together to realise what we all want to be as people living together.

After your decision to not participate in the music festival, you began performing before a diverse group of audience, in buses, in metro trains, and before fishermen. How do you feel coming back to the Music Academy?

My relationship with the sabha ecosystem was never cut off completely. I only withdrew from the December music season. I have performed in several sabhas across the country in the past 10 years, so I have always been an insider-outsider.

The fact is I grew up in the sabhas, heard so many concerts and lectures and drew my musical inspiration from there. Hence, I will have to engage in robust conversations with everyone concerned as these conversations cannot be held in convenient spaces alone.
 As I sang in different spaces by collaborating with people from diverse backgrounds, I also engaged with the sabhas. I have organised nadaswaram and thavil kacheris during the music season in many sabhas for the past seven years, because I felt such forms of music should also find a place during the festival. Music belongs to everybody, that is the reason I feel I should be working with everyone.

You say some things have changed in the sabha environment. Could you please elaborate on what has changed?

The world has changed in the last decade and the younger generations are playing a huge role in these transformations. Let changes happen as they do. Young musicians are far more conscious about society and are thinking about equality and fraternity. When I was their age, I was passive.
Young artistes are asking questions in their own way. I also see organisations becoming more conscious. Of course, more needs to be done.

Everything can’t be and should not be tied to me, because I am just one player. The way music is produced, and shared is entirely different now and young people have diverse platforms to showcase Karnatik music, more than what they had 10 years ago. These are some of the progressive things that are currently happening. They're not enough, but we should let the water flow freely.

Do you also think social media has played a major role in this transformation?

I completely agree. When #BlackLivesMatter trended on social media, it became an important moment for people to talk about discrimination leading to many people asking questions about several forms of discrimination.
Another example is the #MeToo movement which was not only about calling out perpetrators of sexual harassment but it gave people an opportunity to understand the social nuances of sexual harassment.
In my opinion, none of these technologies are evil or good on their own. It is what we do with them. I think social media has helped us recognise several problems in human behaviour and understand them better in order to find solutions.

You have been batting for pushing out caste elitism from the Karnatik music system. How has the industry changed in the last 10 years when it comes to caste elitism?

Let us be honest and accept that caste is a social problem that is affecting every corner of our society. Young people are definitely far more aware of this. Young musicians from across the country who come from privileged caste positions have reached out to me over the last decade.
And I believe that’s the starting point and an initiator for musical exchanges between people from different social backgrounds. My job is very simple, to keep pushing consistently. I believe that the spirit of ‘raga music’ is equality and we should strive to realise that experience in tactile reality.
Will it not be beautiful to witness a concert with a hundred people belonging to diverse gender and caste, both on and off stage. It is like a dense forest where a variety of trees intermingle and share space. But they are not homogeneous.
That's how music should be. To arrive there, we have to ask difficult questions. Much like we can’t talk about environmental concerns wearing gloves, we can’t bring about a change without confronting complex problems.

Will you be performing during the upcoming Music Season?

Yes, the Sangita Kalanidhi does sing. I will perform on December 25 morning, and my concert will be free.

Will you continue to perform at unconventional spaces like you did in the past?

We had the Urur-Olcott Kuppam Vizha recently after six years with more than a thousand people watching us perform. You can expect me to keep pushing, prodding, and finding new avenues where we can share art and allow it to reach  everyone. When you speak about equality, you should also talk about other art forms. We should live true to this phrase — people are equal, cultures are equal, places are equal, and art is equal.