Tag Archives: Music and Musicians

The author has explored the relationship between psychology, aesthetics and pedagogy throughout the book. The relationship between the self and aesthetics according to her is a condition of stability and conformity where values of family and context are important. Humility plays a big role here. Her teacher Savita Devi told her that ‘the original tune and lyrics of a composition exist unaffected by time and space’.

Is Deshpande’s musical thought antithetical to the above? Like Tembe, Deshpande too is critical of the scientific method of classifying and categorizing musical knowledge. For example, the mathematical discussions on the microtones (shruti) in music. But, unlike Tembe, Deshpande celebrates the analytical attitude of Maharashtrian musicians. He interprets the last segment of the Punjabi proverb as a belittling of the analytical efforts of the musicians in Maharashtra. In a nutshell, his musical thought may be summarized as the celebration of individuality-identity framed by and simultaneously made possible by the musical form and its elements.

However, the last few decades have witnessed an unprecedented interest in the words and philosophy of these medieval poets. Today, multiple Kabir yatras are held throughout the country, flocked mostly by an English-speaking urban crowd. They gather to listen to the folk voices singing Kabir. More importantly

This is significant for it gives us access to different vantage points for looking at the musician. For instance, many articles argue that his practice marks a radical departure from existing musicianship and a pathway towards something new. Ashok Vajpeyi calls this a reinvention () of tradition, while articles of Pandharinath Kolhapure, Shriram Sangoram and Chaitanya Kunte try to defend his experiments as interrogations within tradition.

Most rasikas of South Indian Classical music do not often grow up understanding the finer points of the relationship between Carnatic music and the various traditions it is born from or relates to. In this book the author takes us on a journey from an appreciation of the complexities of its tradition. The Nagaswaram has played an important part of all rituals, but Nagaswaram players were lower in the caste hierarchy and subject to all the taboos

Tagore had considered his song-lyrics his best creative offering because in them he expressed himself spontaneously and unabashedly, freeing himself from the conscious process of literary crafting that marked most of his fictional writing which was subjected to stiff literary criticism. Written in chalit bhasha or conversational Bengali, he did not have to adhere to any expected literary standard. He could be inspired by classical musical tradition for instance, and yet defy its prescription for the individual ragas;

What do I mean by this? There are examples galore throughout the book; here are some: Laxmikant Kudalkar, the son of a mill worker and Pyarelal Sharma, the son of a renowned musician Pandit Ramprasad Sharma, were an unlikely pair. Laxmikant’s father sensed his son’s love for singing and entertainment and started classical music lessons for him. Pyarelal’s father was a Hindustani classical musician but wanted everyone,

Returning to the book. It is divided into two parts, the first part is a biographical study, which consists of three essays, one each by three of the co-authors. These three essays could easily have been one. The essays repeat very well-known basic biographical facts, including her date of birth that is mentioned several times in each essay, including multiple times on the same page. The replication is not confined to specific facts.