Raaga reloaded

It8217;s a skill that Gurucharan honed during his brief stint as a radio jockey with World Space8217;s Carnatic music channel and his blogging days. 8220;Musicians are nowadays making a conscious effort to reach out to the audience. I started a blog because I wanted to have a writing space in the virtual world where I could share some of my experiences,8221; he says. There have been efforts like Madhirakshi too, an album where he has collaborated with pianist Anil Srinivasan and sung to the notes of a piano, in an effort to reach out to the younger generation.

8220;The concept really struck a chord with me because it did not require me to change my style of rendition. Now I feel glad when people come up and tell me how much they are touched by this form of music. They have acknowledged this as a classical form too,8221; he says.

Gurucharan is part of a growing breed of classical artists that is challenging existing notions about its art and reaching out to newer audiences8212;without being uptight about the changes. Up north, this contemporariness finds a face in Hindustani classical vocalist Vidya Shah, a student of Shubha Mudgal and Shanti Hiranand. When she takes the stage, you don8217;t find her in the traditional get-up of heavy Kanjeevaram silks and make-up; she often slips into the more cosmopolitan jeans and kurta. Sometimes, it8217;s a conscious decision, says Shah. 8220;We keep complaining about the apathy of the younger generation towards the classical forms, but in my experience, if you approach music in an interesting way, it will always find an audience,8221; she says.

Shah has spent considerable time in documenting the history of local music in Bhil and Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh and used it as a tool for activism. She has recorded alongside a group of underprivileged kids earlier this year, delved into the traditions of Sufi and Bhakti music, collaborated with musicians of various genres, but her most popular effort till date has been the album Hum Saab, which celebrates cultures of resistance in India and abroad. 8220;It8217;s important to see how communities have addressed music and poetry because then it makes apparent the power of the medium,8221; she says.

The need to innovate is not limited to musicians. For example, the number of women performing Koodiyattam, one of the oldest surviving theatre traditions in Sanskrit and a staunchly male form, has grown significantly. Natanakairali, an organisation based in Irinjalakuda, Kerala, has largely been instrumental for this change. Artists like Usha Nangiar and Kapila Venu have subverted pre-existing diktats and staged performances with women as protagonists.

Often, artists say, the urge to create something anew is born out of the greatest passion. Twenty-one-year-old tabla player Rimpa Siva, of the Farrukhabad gharana, hailed as a child prodigy by stalwarts like Ali Akbar Khan and Zakir Hussain, will bear testimony to the fact. Tabla, the classical percussion instrument, was never considered a woman8217;s forte till Kolkata-based Siva8217;s tryst with the instrument began when she was three. Sitting at the daily taalim sessions that her father and guru Swapan Siva imparted to his male students, the girl would try them out on her own later, and as her father soon realised, to greater perfection than his older students. 8220;It8217;s strange but I have never felt the need of a friend, or even had a close one. I have always been so consumed by the instrument that it took up all my time,8221; she says.

In a career that has already spanned over a decade, Siva has performed with artists like Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and Pandit Jasraj on their overseas tours besides scoring over her more established male counterparts with countless solo performances at world capitals. Her concerts have taken her to far-flung places across the world, with a following that spans nations. In fact, the French were so impressed by her recital at the prestigious Festival de Saint-Florent-le-Vieili in Paris, that a documentary film was commissioned on her, titled, Rimpa Siva, Princess of Tabla in 1998.nbsp;

One of the stories that Siva8217;s ardent admirers never tire of recounting is her first interaction with Zakir Hussain. The maestro had seen a video of her performance when she was about seven and mistook her to be an 18-year-old. When he came down for her concert at Netaji Indore Stadium in Kolkata, he was floored by her solo. Siva was all of nine then. Hussain is a mentor that Siva holds dear. 8220;He told me if you are true to your art, gender doesn8217;t matter and it8217;s true. When I go on stage, all I think of are my instruments and what I can do with them. Only the musical exchange of emotions with my audience makes sense to me then. There are no rules in it,8221; she says. There are other lessons too that Siva has picked up from her idol: the need to be open to change. 8220;I would love to do fusion work with other forms of instruments. In fact, those are the challenges for any modern day artist,8221; she says.

Vidvan TM Krishna, one of the most acclaimed of contemporary Classical vocalists, and a disciple of stalwarts B Seetharama Sharma and Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, is another artist trying to widen the catchment area of his form. The 32-year-old, who formally debuted at the Chennai Music Festival in 2002, has in his nearly two-decade-old association with classical music hosting interactive music workshops for corporates, where ideas on creativity were exchanged between leading business executives and artists. He has held music sabhas in remote villages in Kerala, invited students and pupils from these far-flung nooks, promoted it through attractive coffee table books as well as discussions on music. 8220;I think the beauty of our Carnatic music is that our audience is a wide section of society, from the elite to the common man in a village in Kerala. The diversity gives us artists totally different experiences as performers and enriches our music,8221; he says.

In some ways, this pack is following in the footsteps of artists like Hussain and Pandit Ravi Shankar. 8220;If Ravi Shankar and George Harrison can co-exist together in such beautiful symmetry, why do we need to be prudish about experiments?8221; asks Shah.

But Shah, who is researching the repertoire of women performing artistes of the 20th century, is quick to add that experiments can never be an alternative to pure traditional renditions. 8220;Your raagdari can8217;t change even when you are experimenting, and I am always very careful to keep a balance between the two. We are fortunate to be the transitional generation. There are no guidelines for us and it8217;s up to us to make it work,8221; she says.