By the time you, my dear faithful reader, have this piece of timeless prose in your hand, the December Music Season will be over – by which the Man from Madras Musings means that festival where a small group of people will go from venue to venue to listen to the same artistes, most often without buying tickets. And in most venues artistes will perform for less than minimum acceptable wages. It is a matter of eternal wonder to MMM that this is the one economic activity which beats all economic trends – while everywhere we worry about inflation, spiralling costs and rising wages, Carnatic music has stagflation all the while. The art has managed to get by on less and less.
The appellation ‘divine art’ seems to be the culprit. It therefore is believed that god takes care of performing artistes and so the listening public need not really worry. MMM also thinks that the hagiographies regularly spun about the great composers where god came at appropriate moments and set right the balance of payments position are also to blame. Even assuming that this worked for the composers, it need not for the artistes of today. Audiences and organisers need to get into the discipline of paying, and paying well at that so that aspirants feel there is a future in pursuing this art.
Carnatic Music After the Pandemic.
The post-pandemic scenario is the worst that the art has faced. During lockdown artistes began uploading performances for free on YouTube and other such platforms and audiences have come to expect it as a matter of right. Is there any other business where consumers can expect services for free? And yet this is the norm in Carnatic music.
MMM notices that hardly does a musician announce on social media about a performance, giving date, time and venue when he/she is flooded with queries about whether it will be uploaded on YouTube or even worse, as a matter of right asking for the online link to view the same. Such requests even if they come from the physically challenged or the aged are still not understandable as nobody seems to ask how they can pay to view. Free broadcast is acceptable if the audience is below poverty level, and that, a Carnatic music audience is not.
No Minimum Rates in Carnatic Music.
And so it goes on. In MMM’s view, lack of unity among artistes is a huge barrier. There are no standards as far as rates are concerned and between one performer of a certain stature and another at the same level there are enormous differences in what they charge. The organisers take advantage of this and if all fails they can always fall back on the notorious lack of security that artistes suffer from. None but the most fearless would risk being blocked by an organiser.
And you also have some organisations that seem to think it is their right to have artistes perform for free, or near about, and then also accept that the same performance be put up on social media for free. After all, the argument goes, the artiste does get publicity. The point is, how much publicity for free does anyone need? Beyond it there is the vital necessity for good economics which everyone seems to overlook.
Religious Rewards in Carnatic Music
In this context MMM feels that religious establishments can do a lot better in their patronage of the art. Apparently, the standard remuneration is an apple and some cursory blessings by the head of the monastery. This MMM is told is uniform operating procedure across all maths – in this they are united though in matters theological they have differences that have been ongoing for centuries. That such a sad state of affairs persists even when musicians themselves are in charge of organising performances at such establishments makes it doubly sad. Surely they ought to have enough spine to speak up for their fellow professionals.
An Apple (the fruit that is) is Enough
Recently, MMM met up with a musician after one such performance at a religious institution. He made bold to ask if there was any remuneration. The answer was that the artiste had received a fruit that would do for the next day’s breakfast and that there was also the satisfaction that by eating it the doctor could be kept at bay!
This was published in the Madras Musings. CLICK HERE to read the original.
The word hagiograghy if we go down the future lane will also perhaps be applicable to you. Remember the three composed and sang not for public consumption or accolades. If the artistes want to make business out of carnatic music one has to be a kbs, sg kitappa, gnb, ms. Only of the present Sudha and Sanjay have succeeded. It is the nature of the music that attracts a cliche, though inclusiveness is the buzzword. State sponsorship is a key element and as long as the state identifies carnatic music as taboo, however much you beckon the common man, you will have a footfall as long as it is free.