Carnatic Music

My devotion to country and bluegrass music has been complete and confirmed for most of my life - except for a quick dabbling of Lil Wayne and Akon on the iPod in the gym, I have rarely ventured away from steel guitars and banjos. I happily grew up with John Denver and "Ramblin Man" being played by the guitar and banjo lovers in my family and haven't really gone far from that. I once took an Indian and Arabian music class for a fine arts credit and barely got a B - needless to say I was not inspired.

So when I heard that Prema's son and daughter in law are Indian musicians, I was not struck in any way by the significance of what I would soon discover is their genius and gift for the art of Indian carnatic music. Carnatic music is traditional South Indian music, originating soon after the 5th century A.D. and evolving with major contributions made by the saints of the 15th and 18th centuries. It is based on a 22 note scale, as opposed to Western music which is based on the traditional 12 note scale. Carnatic music in the Tamil Nadu state is likened to a religion - its followers are devoted, respectful and adoring. And when I arrived here, I had little knowledge of the fact that I was entering into the world of the First Couple of Carnatic music. Prema's son and daughter in law, T.M. Krishna and Sangeetha Shivakumar, respectively, can be compared to the Tim McGraw and Faith Hill of this genre, equalling the country music couple in charisma, popularity, and certainly talent.

Being a bit skeptical of this style of music due to my unfavorable experience with my Arab and Asian (Indian and Arabian? Asian and Indian? who knows) music course, I did not expect it to be any different this time around. My first experience, actually, was to see T.M. Krishna in concert on a movie screen. He has ventured away from the traditional live performance and put out a two hour film of a Carnatic concert - to skeptical audiences who are subsequently blown out of their seats by his performance. I was one of those audience members who thought I might get a two hour nap out of this movie trip and came out in a daze. When other audience members found out it was Krishna's mother in the seat next to me, they literally dropped to the ground at her feet, praising the genius and talents of her son. Like their religion, Indians are devoted to their music, and its deliverers. The national response to this movie, his now worldwide tours, and his book on the art has been huge in every corner of the country.

For me as a Westerner, listening to a Carnatic music is less like a religion and more like a massage and a yoga session all in one. I can only describe it the way The Hindu reviewed it: "the haunting sound of T.M. Krishna's perfection washes over the viewer like the waves of oasis." I am not sure if an oasis has waves, but the jist of this line was right on. The sound of his voice almost carried me away from the movie theater and into another world - the music was the perfect culmination of instrument and human sound. A sound that on first listen one would think could only be made by an instrument because no human voice can sound that perfect. Then yesterday I went to the Indian Fine Arts Society to see Sangeetha perform live and was equally surprised - her sound was just as perfect, this was not a studio made phenomenon. To consistently match and repeat a sound this pure takes extreme skill, and my reaction was as it should be - pure amazement.

I don't think I will necessarily be bringing home a CD of Krishna or Sangeetha's and playing it in my car. My appreciation is more about the experience - sitting with their families at concerts and being surrounded by an audience of admirers who have followed Carnatic music for decades. My understanding of their devotion or the art itself is far from complete, but one thing I am sure of is this - I have landed smack dab in the middle of the Indian dream.