While I write this piece, I am engulfed in blaring loudspeaker noise from the neighbourhood. National holidays and festivities are often celebrated with high decibel levels these days and one tends to forget the core significance of events. As India walks into its 64rd year of Independence, I am amazed at the evolution of India’s classical music, how it has sailed through centuries, enriched itself over time like the flowing waters of the river with sediments collected over its course.
I particularly remember the patriotic songs, most composed during the freedom movement and which came to be known as swatantara geetam. Many years after the struggle and Independence, these songs have lived on. They got embedded in Carnatic concerts. I have heard many of these on the concert stage. They still remain in vogue. M.S. Subbulakshmi’s stirring rendition of Aaduvome Pallupaduvome and Bharata Desamenru still resonate in listeners’ hearts. I remember coming home one afternoon from college and switching on the transistor. I heard T.V. Shankaranarayanan midway through Parukkule Nalla Naadu Engal Bharata Nadu, a lilting melodic tribute to India or Bharata Nadu as the finest land on this planet. As a child I had learnt Chen Tamizh Naadu during my dance lessons. It was nicely choreographed by my guru and the music extolling the southern land of Tamil Nadu remains forever fresh in my heart.
Subramania Bharati, firebrand iconoclast poet of the pre-Independence era was the author of many of these poems. So rhythmic was the structure that several of them wound their way into Carnatic classical music and became an integral part of Carnatic cutcheris. Bharati, as records say, used to himself sing out some of his nationalistic poetry during public meetings and addresses. But he wasn’t the only one. Another composition, Jayati Jayati Bharata Mata in Kamas sung in two distinct styles by erstwhile stalwarts Madurai Mani Iyer and GNB remains one of my all-time favourites — Mani Iyer with his extremely melodious phrases that churn the profound beauty of Kamas raga and GNB in his racy, crisp mode. D.K. Pattammal, the legendary Carnatic vocalist, was also deeply influenced by the patriotic fervour that she sang for a few Tamil patriotic films. So strong was the pull of Pattammal’s singing, composed by the great Papanasam Sivan combined with the lyrics of Kalki, that the film Tyaga Bhoomi (1939) was reportedly banned by the British. Subsequently Pattammal sang other patriotic songs in films and some of these bore the stamp “banned” on the discs! Such is the power of music!
Carnatic music is very eclectic. We have age-old compositions coming down from time immemorial like the Alwar and Nayanmar poetry and over centuries right down to contemporary composers. Carnatic music is laden with bhakti compositions, philosophical compositions, sringara lyrics. It is music whose compositions stand testimony to sociocultural traditions over centuries.
However, today I recall those songs that are a homage to the nation. They enshrined hopes, vision, raw bravery and above all, the courage to dream and to dare. These songs don’t have the same function today as they did in the days of freedom struggle when they were written, which is evident. But their musical value remains evergreen; they still enthral and move listeners. Such wonderful songs on the Carnatic platform then and now add to the repertoire, widen its horizons and remind us of the past. They are relatively new in their creation and yet stunningly Carnatic. Today, India is free from foreign shackles — but have we awakened into “that heaven of freedom” that Tagore dreamt and prayed for? I have heard Pattammal sing Shantinilava Vendum several times in her inimitable bhava-soaked yet firm singing statement — the fervent plea for a land peace, for harmony, and a reminder of the ideals cherished by the likes of Gandhiji. Contemporary singers patronise it today. I sing it as often as I can too. Maybe this song too is a visionary’s reflection many decades earlier of our world today? Our music to me, however, represents ultimate freedom — to create, to improvise. It is manodharma sangitam as we often term it — giving a large margin to the artiste to lean on existing edifice to build his own.
Dr Vasumathi Badrinathan is an eminent Carnatic vocalist based in Mumbai. She can be contacted on vasu@vasumathi.net