By Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan
The reply dt. 21st March,2024 from Mr. N Murali, the President,Music Academy to RaGa is a candid confession that the President/Academy, in whichever order, is now not just approving/recognising what T M Krishna stands for as the ‘respected senior musician’, but seemingly associating themselves with all his egregious and outrageous pronouncements, over the years. By suggesting that RaGa’s comments were ‘vituperative/defamatory’, the holier than thou President ( of Academy not Bharat) has failed to fact-check in the ‘highest’ traditions ( now forgotten) of The Hindu stable. If he had, he would have noticed that the ‘vituperative’ ‘defamatory’ utterances were truly the Sangita Kalanidhi designate’s . The letter is a complete give-way that the choice was knowingly deliberate, except that the Academy did not anticipate this blowback.
The President a.k.a. Academy assumed that the artistes/rasikas would be the ever supine pushovers . They did not bargain for these sharp responses. One thing is clear and evident. The Academy/Committee chose who they chose, aware fully well that he was famous ( read notoriety) for the ‘extraneous factors’. Could the President and Academy please detail/identify those ‘extraneous factors’ which they excluded from the zone of consideration. They wont. They dare not. Therein lies the gravumen and nub of reasons for the ‘withdrawals’.
Beginning with 1929 awardees
Shri T.V. Subba Rao, Vidvan T.S. Sabhesa Iyer till 2023 awardee Bombay Smt Jayashri Ramnath, it is humbly requested of the President/Academy to affirm/confirm whether there were at all any ‘extraneous factors’ impinging on the value set of those awardees, that the Academy had to grapple with.Even one?
And if even one of the said awardees had or could be accused of using crass language against Saint Tyagaraja, MS Subbulakshmi or the Paramparyam in the divinity of Carnatic music traditions. Our friend, the designate, ‘overwhelmed’ by the recognition, has ‘overwhelming’ lexicon in oral and written forms recalled and recorded all over the place, in the last few days itself. The ‘musical excellence’ and the ‘accolade’ for which he was chosen by the committee includes usage of the term Poromboke for Parambaryam, as a pejorative.
The President/Academy/Committee wants us to believe that this genius was chosen for his musical prowess and not the ideological nonsense he vomits. T M Krishna the ‘respected senior musician’ cannot be divorced from the man/politician/public intellectual he claims to be, among his admirers,which we now know include the Academy and its President. Bravo!
RaGa had sent a polite, pointed, suave letter imbued with ‘respect’ to T M Krishna the ‘musician’. But, exposed the chinks and warts, as chips on the shoulders of the singer, as they were, are with convulsed moral compass. Yes, they are ‘extraneous factors’. But, they are intrinsic to him. He cannot be divorced from them. He is not the T M Krishna that Academy wants to adorn, without them.
As for the poser from His Excellency the President on the ‘intents’ and ‘purposes’ behind the missive being posted/shared on social media contemporaneous to being sent to him, can’t he see the reason? Simple. Of course, We the Rasikas matter more. For the Academy, we may not. You and your Academy’s self-anointed troopers trot during season time as if the Lords of all they Survey, including in the canteens and restrooms. But artistes know that ‘it is the rasikas who make them who they are’ as MS Amma generously acknowledged
RaGa kept this protocol in sharing the letter Live with us. These artistes know who ‘made’them. We. Not the Academy platform by itself. The Academy too is a product of our passion and attendance. But, you may not care. So, you are entitled to your misplaced surprise why the letter was shared with us.
All in all, the reply dt.21st March,2024 from the President, reaffirms his love for the man in the designate. How the Committee fell in line as lambs for…. is no mystery. They love to be Academy Officianados. It has become a cosy club of likeminded parasites. You don’t expect any better.
Surely, the Acdemy has proved itself to be among the UNESCO networks as a ‘creative’ city. The least we rasikas can reciprocate is to shun the Academy during the 2024-25 Margazhi season by attending all the other sabhas and concerts of artistes ( and not just mouth platitudes) who nobly withdrew to show they were men and women of much better value!
(Writer is practicing advocate in the Madras High Court)
Also Read: Hypocrisy thy name is TMK!