T M Krishna performs at Margazhi festival, harps on freedom of expression

In his inimitable style, the Carnatic vocalist's performance encapsulated the quest for an individual’s “freedom to write, speak, sing, read, and listen.”

Chennai: Carnatic vocalist T M Krishna on Wednesday returned to the prestigious Annual Music Festival of the Music Academy, Madras after almost a decade by opening and closing his concert to a standing ovation.

In true Krishna style, his performance encapsulated the quest for an individual’s “freedom to write, speak, sing, read, and listen.”

Krishna performed on the Christmas morning along with K Shriramkumar, K Arun Prakash, and N Guruprasad in his capacity as the designate of the Sangita Kalanidhi award, who presides over the annual music season in the Tamil month of Margazhi (mid-December to mid-January).

The concert was special as Krishna did not perform at the Academy since 2015 after feeling “aesthetically, socially, and philosophically disconnected from the music season.”

In the last decade, the outspoken writer-activist had taken Carnatic music to unconventional spaces like the beach, buses, and even metro stations, to make it inclusive.

From Thyagaraja Keerthana to the lines of acclaimed writer Perumal Murugan to the verses of Sree Narayana Guru of Kerala, Krishna’s performance enthralled the audience, which was a mix of older and younger generation, for over two hours.

When Krishna sang the famous lines of Murugan, “sundhadhiram vendum, ethaiyum pesa, ethaiyum ezhutha, ethaiyum paada, ethaiyum padika, ethaiyum ketka (we need freedom to speak anything, write anything, sing anything, read anything, and hear anything)”, the packed auditorium broke into a lengthy applause, straight from the audience’s heart.

Music enthusiasts and supporters of Krishna, whose selection for the Sangita Kalanidhi award was detested by many singers who objected to the vocalist’s outspoken nature, thronged the Music Academy since morning. They also shared videos and photos of the packed concert – hundreds of people watched on a giant screen outside the hall where he performed -- on social media platforms like X.

Anand Sudha, a physicist based in The Netherlands, said Krishna drew a lot of claps when he invoked Perumal Murugan in his concert.

“It was quite an enthralling performance. He has always pushed the boundaries of Carnatic music and today’s concert is yet another testament that Krishna is liked by both the older generation who may disapprove of some of his actions and the younger generation who adore him,” Anand, who attended the concert on Wednesday, told DH.

“While sticking to the social messages, Krishna didn’t sacrifice the Carnatic music idiom. He didn’t move away from the raga. He was extremely sensitive to the contours of the music,” Anand, also an art and film critic, added.

Indu Chandrasekhar, a user on X, termed the concert as “glorious” and noted that the standing ovation at the end was “deafening — almost 5 minutes long.”

Krishna had told DH in March after he was named as the Sangita Kalanidhi that it was 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 realize what we all want to be as people living together,” he had said.