Address At The Centenary Celebrations Of Bangalore Gayana Samaja

MUSIC ELEVATES THE MIND

I am delighted to participate in the Centenary Celebrations of the Bangalore Gayana Samaja. My greetings to the pioneers who conceived and established this Gayana Samaja, artists, music lovers and distinguished guests participating in this function. I am happy to note that this cultural organization is promoting and propagating and preserving all forms of fine arts including Carnatic classical, Hindustani classical, devotional music, sugama sangeetha, dramas and dance in all forms.

For promoting the cause of music among children the academy has initiated competitions among children and talented budding artists. I would like to congratulate the award winners who have excelled in various facets of music. Music generates peace, happiness and harmony which I have experienced in my own personal life while playing Veena. When I play certain ragas in Veena or listen to a great exponent Ustad Bismilla Khan, the bliss of music enters into my body and soul and creates a feeling of profound peace and happiness within. As a scientist, I am convinced that the nature functions as a rhythm whether it is a rhythm of heartbeat, movement of electron in the orbit or the high/low tides of the sea. Everything is rhythmic and musical.

Composite Culture Enriches our Tradition

During my visit to different parts of the country, I find that the rural folk and the tribal communities are nurturing the love for music and dance since ages. Many times they just need an opportunity to break into song and dance. It is here that I find our tradition and culture are being put to effective use by smoothening the rough edges of life in our countryside. Also, they are helping us in preserving, propagating and developing our cultural traditions since centuries. In fact, I might say that the evolution of our music, dance and theatre has been woven by our rural folk into the very history of our nation. It gives meaning to the life of our people. The intermingling of diverse streams which make up our composite culture has fully enriched our tradition of artistic expression and should be actively encouraged by Gayana Samaja.

Music Unites

Music unites. What better proof we need than Carnatic music. Its trinity sang their kritis in Telugu and Sanskrit in Tanjore district; Purandaradasa in Kannada. Annamacharya in Telegu. Arunagirinathar in Tamil. But for music lovers, the language never mattered. Music establishments at Travancore in Kerala, Tirupati in Andhra, Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu and Mysore in Karnataka; all of them dazzled like gems in a necklace. The thread of music united these beads. I believe that music itself is a great communication, and language can never be a barrier.

Kannada kritis in Carnatic music

With their divinely compositions, Purandaradasa and Sadasiva Brahmendra continue to uplift the minds of millions even this day.

Rashtrapati Bhavan Experience

To pay a tribute to the India's Cultural heritage we have started "Indradhanush" which organizes cultural events in the art theatre of Rashtrapati Bhavan. The aim of "Indradhanush" is to acknowledge the contribution of the renowned as well as the young budding artists. So far, we have organized eighteen such programmes. Although most of the programmes are held in the Art Theatre, a flute performance by Maestro Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia organized in the Moghal Garden Lawns on a full moon night was an elevating experience. He was accompanied by Tabla Maestro Ustad Shafat Ahmed Khan, who is not with us anymore. I pay my tributes to this great artist.

We had a similar programme in November 2004 with Maestro L. Subramanian, a famous Violinist. Recently, a Ghazal performance by Shri Jagjit Singh received an overwhelming response from the invitees. When I interact with the audience after the programmes, they have expressed that it is a life time experience to listen to the maestros. It was an elevating experience to listen or witness the performance amidst their busy schedule, especially in the Mughal Garden environment and peace descended on me. I would like to share with you my experience with two Nadaswaram Vidwans ? Sheikh Mahboob Subhani and Smt. Subhani. They gave an excellent Nadaswaram performance to the Rashtrapati Bhavan audience. After the recital I requested the couple to perform for the differently abled children, whenever they get an opportunity. They made it a point to perform for some of our special children in Chennai and I understand that it gave lot of happiness to these special children. This is a very noble cause and I would request the artists assembled here to follow this example whenever they get an opportunity.

In addition, we have also organized five cultural programmes of young prodigies on various important occasions. I still remember the unique performance of Master Siddharth Nagarajan a seven year old boy who played the drums and I understand he holds the title of "Youngest Drummer of India" in the Limca Book of Records. Apart from this, sixteen year old L. Athira?s violin performance mesmerized the audience. Let us encourage our children and youth to participate in arts and culture and demonstrate their abilities which will not only motivate the other children to perform better in their field of expertise, but also bring in societal harmony.

Fusion of Music

When I visited South Africa I attended a cultural programme at Chatsworth. There I saw a fusion dance in which Zulu dance form, Bharatnatyam and Ballet was presented in an excellent fashion. The coordination between the artists and the rhythm of music stole the show. In the same programme, one native African Patrick sang a Carnatic music kriti in Hamsadwani raga. It was a beautiful rendering. Such fusion demonstrates the principle that music and dance do not have any borders. In Indian environment, I have seen such beautiful mingling of different art forms in fusion presented by Dr.L.Subramaniam, Raja Radha Reddy and Maestro Bismillah Khan.

Conclusion: Music, Dance, Drama for Unity of minds

I had the opportunity of witnessing to great exponents of music and dance. The experience of listening and seeing them leads me to the think that whether music and dance can be used as an instrument for ensuring global peace and act as a binding force. In recent years, terrorism is taking a heavy toll of many innocent lives. I was thinking whether there is any alternative solution other than military, economic and judicial approach to end this problem. I am now convinced that one of the important tools in our country could be music and dance for containing terrorism. Fortunately, we have a rich civilisational heritage of 5000 years blending literature, music, dance and dramatics.

The other day I was reading Appar's Thevaram. In one hymn the Saint says:

Meaning, the feet of Lord is comparable among other things, to faultless rendering in musical veena. Saint Thirunavukkarasar placed, music of Veena first than any other joy that humans can dream of enjoying.

I am happy to note the Bangalore Gayana Samaja has completed a century of service for music. I wish you many more centuries in the service of fine arts. I congratulate the winners of Gayana Samaja Centenary Award. My best wishes to all the members of Gayana Samaja in their mission of promoting music and dance among the youth of Karnataka.

May God bless you all.