Artistes need to ask the right questions: TM Krishna
T. M. Krishna
Carnatic musician T.M. Krishna says artistes were subservient to all power structures
In explaining the unquestioning nature of many artistes in the country, T.M. Krishna draws a connection back to the feudalistic nature of Indian society, in which everyone, including artistes were subservient to all the power structures.
The Carnatic musician spoke at length on related issues in the music field at a panel discussion on ‘Music as a means for social inclusion’ as part of the Spaces fest, organised by the DC books here on Sunday.
“Indian society is fundamentally a feudal society. We have not managed to take out that mindset. Many of us don’t see our vote as our right. It is seen as a way to win some favour. We hope that this part or the other will do a favour by building a road or a bridge. We look at our leaders as benevolent, as we used to look at kings. This notion of feudal favouritism is essentially in our psyche, which will also manifest in our artistes. The art world in India has always been subservient to the power structures, never bothering the status quo,” he says.
However, contrary to that, the world of marginalised art has always asked the right questions, says Krishna.
No other choice
“That is because they have no other choice. They are being attacked and oppressed everyday. So they need to fight and sing songs that fight the reality of life. The songs of the socio-culturally privileged refuse to deal with it. The closer you are to the king, the more subservient you are as a human being,” he says.
To a question on why there are only few public intellectuals like him among artistes, Krishna says that there many who do the role of public intellectuals through their art too.
“Isn't art itself an exercise of public intellectualism? The whole notion of art is about raising questions in the inner and the outer world. Many artistes who don't speak are also public intellectuals. We have reduced art to a delivery system of pleasure. I don't think art’s primary purpose is just pleasure. A certain form of questioning is part of the purpose too. Hidden in the pleasure is thus a lot more,” says Krishna.
Speaking on the notion of discipline associated with the rigours of art training, he says that discipline in cultural classrooms is often an enforcement of imitation, of set patterns. “No cultural classroom really wanted you to think. Culturally, we don’t believe in the questioning process as a society. When they talk about discipline, they are often talking about imitation. This is how we have been learning everywhere. Music was no different,” he says. He talks about how it was not just music that was taught in the music classrooms, but also the way one dresses, the folklore, the stories they are told and the images on the walls, all contributing a part of the student becoming subservient to a certain mechanism.
Marginalised
“If this has to change, multiple things have to change. The space is important. What kind of an environment the class is taking place? We never think of art as a normal thing for marginalised communities, but only as therapeutic for them. Can we normalise the availability of art to everybody? Can we bring in multiple narratives, have different people on the wall and in the stories?” he asks.
posted by Satish Sharma at
16:23
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