Thiruvananthapuram: The popular notion about music is that it is a neutral art with no bias of caste, gender, class or colour. Dalit musician A. S. Ajith Kumar in his book Kelkatha Shabdangal: Pattu, Shareeram, Jathi (Unheard Voices: Song, Body, Caste) which deals with the ideology of sound and the influence of technology on music, tries to dispel this notion. He explains, in his book, how the classification of some musical genre as pure and some others as polluted was problematic. He draws a parallel between the performance of Shinkari Melam and Panchari Melam to highlight this. Shinkari Melam performed with a high volume, bass and energy by low castes using drums is considered a secondary type of percussion music compared to the Panchari melam which found acceptance in temples and school youth festivals. The book discusses how ‘classical’ music discourses ask the performer to control his body and voice.
The classical music tries to separate the voice from the body. It prevents you from shaking your body while singing. Contrary to this, Dalit music does not separate body from voice. The performers dance while they sing. They were loud and full of energy. In fact, the control of the body also has its gender dimensions. Mr Kumar says the attempt in the book was to understand how caste played a key role in determining the practices in music, how it defined and classified music styles and in determined music making, performance and listening habits. It also attempts to understand how musicians experience caste.
"It is not just about addressing the discriminations faced by musicians belonging to the lower castes," he told DC. "On the other hand, the book discussed the politics of classification of music, politics of sound and the body movements and the politics of the place where different art forms have their roots." The focus was on areas that have not found its place in the mainstream writings. "The book explores the problems associated with music studies," he says. "I have tried to understand technology in a historical perspective. I have also tried to discuss the relation between music and technology. The influence of technology on how people enjoyed and listened to music." "While there have been many studies on cultural politics which dealt with visuals and politics of films, there has been only a few studies on music and sound in Malayalam. In fact, the discussions on cultural politics have ignored how sound technology is also ignored in cultural politics," he added.
In one of the articles, he examines how the music of Usha Uthup even with her traditional attire is considered a polluted one as she performed western music that too in clubs.
In another article, he examines one of the folk songs from the time of temple entry proclamation and the songs of Poykayil Appachan to find a relation between Dalit assertion and music. In another, he tries to look into how mobile technology influenced music by emphasising the music of A R Rahman. Mr Kumar who is an independent musician has worked around the concept of Dalit pop in connection with Western music. He has composed the music for a yet to be released feature film besides documentaries and short films. They include ‘White Van Stories‘ by Leena Manimekalai, ‘Pestering Journey‘ by K.R. Manoj and ‘Trans’ by P. Abhijit. The book has been published by ‘Other Books’ and is priced at Rs 150. Actor Alencier released the book on May 7. Singer Pushpavathi accepted the first copy of the book introduced by Dr Varsha Basheer.
‘Concerts feel like a Brahmin laity’
As we learn compositions, the teachers explain the meaning of the lyrics. Since most of the Carnatic music is Hindu in content, we are also learning mythology. But it does not stop there. The composers are deified (avatar purushas), and folktales about their magical deeds are shared. At the end of a few years, we are convinced that they were superhumans who composed through divine benediction. Absolutely everything about them is perfect, morally correct and spiritually elevated. Missteps, if any, were only tests conducted by the divine overseer. A lesson for all of us!
"Our teachers are of course only passing on what was handed down to them; nevertheless, the impact is immense. Carnatic music becomes a symbol of chastity and purity. There is no room for the baser emotions of passion or sexual desire. Interestingly when we are taught padams or javalis (compositions that are erotic in content), the teacher would not bother to share their meanings! I wonder why. "This does not stop with the class. Attend a music concert, and the stage, the homogeneity of the upper-caste audience, the nature of conversations, the introductions by the impresarios and the appearance of the musicians will make you feel like you are attending a Brahmin congregation. Whenever Carnatic musicians speak about their art, they invariably invoke deities and present themselves as priests or Vedic scholars. A few musicians have gone to the extent of distributing vibhuti to their fellow artists on stage. Musicians will, more often than not, speak of the composer’s bhakti and the infallibility of these great souls.''
Ajithkumar A. S., however, has a different take on Mr Krishna’s critic of Carnatic music. "Many of the critics of caste in music have understood it as something which is outside the realm of music like discriminations faced by performers," he says. "People like Krishna have taken such a stand. These people see music as something pure and were above such divisions, and it was people and not music that discriminates. "My book tries to find out how caste is something that is embedded in the very structure of music and its practice. The perception of some genre of music as impure and some others as classical has to be discussed in this context." "The same was the case with the gender of music. The attempt was to understand how caste plays a key role in determining the practices in music, defining and classifying music styles and in determining music making, performance and listening habits.’’
