My recent visit to the Saraswathi Mahal Library in Tanjore, which contains several manuscripts of operas, Padams and other kind of compositions, was a revelation in more ways than one. I understood to the extent which royalty, during the reign of the Nayaks and Marathas patronized music.
The library a store house of immense musical wealth, still preserves the notations of a few compositions that are waiting to be revived.
The most interesting aspect of my study is that, it indicates the unbroken tradition of Carnatic music from the times of ‘Sama Veda’. But sadly very few songs of that period, before the advent of Trinity (Thyagaraja, Dikshitar, Syama Satri), are known to us.
Despite the fact that amongst themselves the Trinity have composed more than 1,500 songs, not more than 100 of them are being sung today.
It is not that the musical score for these songs are not available. The catalogue in the library will vouch for that. This indicates that it is due to the indifference of the present day musicians that we are losing a huge chunk of our musical heritage.
Nowadays a disturbing trait is becoming all-pervasive. At public performances there is a universal preponderance of often repeated songs. Probably filling the music halls with familiar sounds induces a sense of security in our audiences. Over and over again, the same number of limited ‘masterpieces’, are on display. But repeating these classics is definitely snuffing out liveliness.
I am not blaming the musicians. Sabhas, which claimed to have done a great deal to keep the tradition of Carnatic music alive, are also to be held responsible. Every institution, which is devoted to music, should insist at least one rare song being performed in each of the concerts during the music seasons/festivals.The world of Carnatic music has a lot to offer. We must make sure that we preserve for posterity that which our ancestors have strived to create.
I urge young musicians of merit to do all they can to make this possible. Now we have the enviable advantage of the presence of Musical Maestros P.S. Narayanaswamy, Trichur Ramachandran,, T.N. Seshagopalan, T.V. Shankaranarayanan and a galaxy of other senior musicians. They can share their boundless knowledge with the young musicians there by preserving a heritage that deserves to live on.
(The writer is a well known music critic who has won awards both in India and abroad for propagation of classical arts and music)
