By Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan
June,2015- Music Academy, announcement on Sangita Kalanidhi designate for 89th Conference:
Sanjay Subramanyan is the unanimous choice of the executive committee of the Academy and in selecting Mr. Subrahmanyan we have restored the practice of awarding the title both to veteran and young musicians who are at the peak of their career. The practice existed till the late 1970s. Mr Subrahmayan is a vocalist par-excellence and torchbearer of his generation of Carnatic musicians- Music Academy.
Facebook Post dt.June,2015 of T M Krishna
I would like to inform all of you that henceforth (beginning December 2015) I will not be singing in Chennai’s December Music Season… Unfortunately at the place I am today I am unable to reconcile my musical journey with that of the December 2015.
The two are unrelated. If you attribute peeve to TMK, you are peevish.
Origins of Sangita Kalanidhi
On the origins of Sangita Kalanidhi and connect with MS Amma- Considered the highest accolade in the field of Carnatic music, it came into existence in 1942. Prior to that, a senior musician/expert was invited to preside over the Music Academy’s annual conference. In 1942, it was decided that the musician so invited would be conferred the title of Sangita Kalanidhi, the award comprising a gold medal and a birudu patra (citation). Since 2005, the Sangita Kalanidhi also receives the MS Subbulakshmi Award instituted by The Hindu. This cash award has seen its value enhanced by generous contributions by P Vijaykumar Reddy, son of past Vice-President P Obul Reddy.
MS Subbulakshmi Award
Now, note that TMK would be honoured with ‘M S Subbulakshmi Award instituted by The Hindu, where he writes his ‘erudite’ pieces.And TMK said this on being ‘overwhelmed’ by the recognition: It is ….humbling because the recipients of the awardees include my teacher Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, T Brinda, MS Subbulakshmi who you admire and look up to for inspiration”.
It was no new found love for MS Amma. TMK had written this long ago. Yes, true:
TMK on MS Amma
“G N Balasubramanian’s love for MS has been underplayed, thanks to the latent patriarchy of Mylapore. The free-spirited young woman was to become the embodiment of the ideal Brahmin housewife, seen among the elite as the epitome of purity and devotion. The story is unsubstantiated, but even concocted tales can reveal something of the inner workings of the environment that produced them”.
He had said more. But, we need not.
Intellectual (Dis) Honesty
Well, TMK says he has always been ‘outspoken’. Never ‘Arrogant or Hypocritical’. He has been hypercritical of Carnatic music echelons as ‘elitist’ ‘chauvinistic’ and ‘Brahmin dominated’ a k.a. racist. Critiques/Attributes associated with Music Academy, across turfs (TMK unexcluded) for decades.
Now, TMK is ‘overwhelmed’ by the award/recognition from Music Academy and it is coming with M S Subbulakshmi award too. Perfect icing on the cake. How can he be called upon to reject it? He is not a fool. He is surely smart and intelligent to know which side of the bread is buttered.
If you think he is a hypocrite to accept the award, during Margazhi Season,which he has been boycotting since 2015, and would be Presiding over the Music Academy Conference in 2024-25 and possibly perform too (who knows, knowing his (lack of) balance and consistency), it is You & and I who would be peevish, petulant,racist – read brahminical, and worse.
(Writer is practicing advocate in the Madras High Court)