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Sanjay Subrahmanyan is an artiste in a class of his own. He was a forerunner among the tenacious generation of the 1980s and 90s which resurrected Carnatic Music, an art form which was then slowly fading into oblivion with the passing of its old stars, and infused it with fresh youthful energy. Known as a dealer in orthodox Carnatic music, his workhorse style is considered raw on the surface yet cooked to perfection on the inside.
Over the years, he has been the type to maintain a mature silence on large issues that the Carnatic milieu faces and preferred to let his concerts wear his beliefs and views on their sleeve. After close to three decades of being a professional musician, and at the relatively young age of 47 (the new 32, as he calls it), he has been conferred with Carnatic music's grandest honour in the present day: the Sangita Kalanidhi award. With the ushering in of the New Year, Sanjay will move into the pantheon of Carnatic music's doyens, whose memory is immortalised in the framed vintage photographs that adorn the walls of the Music Academy today.
To understand the magnitude of Sanjay's feat, we just need to look at the way he came up in the game. The mushrooming of organisations and Sabha banners today is said to have rendered the dais way more accessible to young up-and-comers, who just need money or contacts to be in with the popular Sabha. As the maverick vocalist T.M. Krishna has put it, “there is money being spent in the name of donations for concert opportunities, middlemen operating at various levels and the power of the dollar becoming more and more visible.”
Sanjay, on the other hand, climbed the ladder on the shoulders of his own hard-earned merit. Slogging it out in competitions with “hardly two or three boys in a field of over 150 participants”, Sanjay built his credibility brick by brick, competition by competition. The field is still as cut-throat as it was during Sanjay's youth. But for different reasons.
The infrastructure of Carnatic music is rich today. Sanjay helped set it up. Spurred by the “enthusiasm and fiery idealism” of the Youth Organisation for Classical Music, of which Sanjay was among the earliest members, Sabhas started having exclusive youth festivals in the late 80s.
It is customary for the Sangita Kalanidhi designate (as the prospective awardee is referred to) to deliver an address to inaugurate the institution's music and dance season annually. Sanjay's Presidential Address at the Music Academy earlier this week provided invaluable insights into key questions and accusations that Carnatic music faces today and has faced over the years.
Here are excerpts from his aggressively articulate yet humble speech which, characteristic of his musical approach, homed in on the core and peeled off layers of misconceptions with the clarity of his broken silence. Click on the orange tabs to find out how Sanjay put these in perspective...
Wondering what some of those terms used by Sanjay mean? Check out in the glossary below...
(Interactives: Dhivya Solomon & Ramakrishnan M.)
