T.M. Krishna | The dissident vocalist

T.M. Krishna | The dissident vocalist

Subject: History

Section: Art and Culture

Context:

• The Music Academy’s award of the Sangita Kalanidhi to the vocalist T.M. Krishna has opened up rifts within the Carnatic music community, which have escalated into a war of positions on social media, with prominent artists, writers, celebrities, and political figures stating their sides, along with their reasons for doing the same.
• Critics of Krishna, irked as they are with his experimentation with Carnatic music and criticism of the community, were particularly aghast by a recent song he sang in praise of Periyar E.V. Ramasamy.

Idea of Music Academy:

• The idea of a Music Academy originally emerged in the All-India Congress Session held in Madras in December 1927 as an institution that would set the standards for Carnatic music.
• It was inaugurated the next year.
• In 1929, it started hosting annual conferences on music, which in turn spawned the December music festival of Madras, known popularly as the Kutchery season. 

About Sangeet Kalanidhi:

• Sangeetha Kalanidhi is the title awarded yearly to a Carnatic musician by the Madras Music Academy.
• The award is considered the highest accolade in the field of Carnatic music.
• The idea of the award was conceived in 1942 by the then Academy President KV Krishnaswami Iyer.
•  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 birudupatra (citation).
• On 1 January 1943, all musicians who had presided over the annual conferences between 1929 and 1942 were awarded the title.

About Carnatic Music:

• Purandaradasa (1484-1564), a prolific poet-composer and mystic of Vijayanagar, is considered to be the father of Carnatic music (Carnatic Sangeetha Pitamaha).
• Venkatamakhi is regarded as the grand theorist of Carnatic music.
• In the 17th century AD, he developed “Melakarta”, the system for classifying south Indian ragas. There are 72 Melakartas at present.
• Tyagaraja (1767-1847), his contemporaries SyamaSastri and MuttusvamiDikshitar are together known as the “Trinity” of Carnatic music.
• Composed of a system of Ragam (Raga) and Thalam (Tala), it has a rich history and tradition.
• Carnatic Sangeet has developed in the south Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. 
• These states are known for their strong presentation of Dravidian culture.

Periyar:

• Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy was born in 1879 in Erode, then a part of the Coimbatore district of the Madras Presidency.
• He later came to be called “Periyar”, which in Tamil means ‘respected one’ or ‘elder’. He was also popularly referred to as Thanthai Periyar.
• He was a respected Indian social activist and politician who started the Self-Respect Movement and the political party DravidarKazhagam. He is also known as the ‘Father of modern Tamilnadu’.
• His works against the Bhraminical dominance, oppression of women in Tamil Nadu, caste prevalence are exemplary.
• Periyar promoted the principles of rationalism, self-respect, women’s rights and eradication of caste. He opposed the exploitation and marginalisation of the people of South India and the imposition of what he considered Indo-Aryan India
• In the year 1919, E.V. Ramasamy joined the Indian National Congress (INC) but resigned in 1925 when he started feeling that only the interests of the few elite sections of society were being catered to by the party.
• In 1924, Periyar participated in a non-violent satyagraha in Vaikom in Kerala.
• From 1929 to 1932, he travelled to British Malaya, Europe, and Russia which had a great influence on him.
• In 1939, E.V. Ramasamy became the head of the Justice Party, changed its name to DravidarKazhagam in 1944.
• The party later split with one group led by C. N. Annadurai forming the DravidaMunnetraKazhagam (DMK) in 1949.
• He advocated for a separate, independent “Land of Dravidians” – Dravida Nadu while continuing the Self-Respect Movement