Musicians Ranjani and Gayathri had withdrawn their presence from 2024 music conference arranged by Music Academy. Their letter says the story for what.
We have communicated our decision to withdraw from participating in the Music Academy’s conference 2024 and from presenting our concert on 25th December.
We have made this decision as the conference would be presided over by Mr. TM Krishna. He has caused immense damage to the Carnatic music world, wilfully and happily stomped over the sentiments of this community and insulted most respected icons like Tyagaraja and MS Subbulakshmi. His actions have tried to spread a sense of shame in being a carnatic musician and has been exhibited through his consistent denigration of spirituality in music.
He has vilified the Carnatic music fraternity that has collectively contributed millions of hours of artistry, hard work and literature.
It is dangerous to overlook Mr TM Krishna’s glorification of a figure like EVR aka Periyar who
- Openly proposed a genocide of ‘brahmins’
- Repeatedly called/abused every woman of this community with vile profanity
- Relentlessly worked to normalize filthy language in social discourse
We believe in a value system that respects art and artists, vaggeyakaras, rasikas, institutions, our roots and culture. We will be in moral violation if we were to bury these values and join this year’s conference.
Ranjani Gayatri