Sukkanya Ramgopal has been consumed by rhythm as far back as she can remember. Refusing to be cowed down by the many rules of the Carnatic music tradition in Chennai, she began learning the mridangam and moved to the ghatam at age 15 through the benevolence of her gurus. Since then, she has emerged as India’s first woman ghatam player bringing the instrument, percussion and the rhythmic prowess of women to the fore. She talks to Ralph Alex Arakal about stereotypes, the beauty of percussion and her Ghata Tharang...
Sukkanya Ramgopal's household was filled with the sights and sounds of Tamil classical culture, with a family full of trained musicians and scholars. Little Sukkanya fell in love with the damaru, a small, two-headed drum played like a rattle. She would covet these drums every year during pongal and Sukkanya learned to train it, along with her two sisters.
As is customary in most conservative households in Chennai, Sukkanya began to learn Carnatic music. She would head out to the intitute for vocal training and violin lessons but as much as she loved music, neither of these seemed to fit right. Instead, she would strain to hear the sounds of the mridangam played in the room next door. One day, she mustered the courage to approach mridangam master,Hari Hari Sharma, who owned the Sri Jaya Ganesh Talavadya Vidyalaya in Chennai, requesting him to add her to his disciple list. "He agreed and took me in, without any gurudakshina. I performed my first katcheri when I was 15," she says.
Sukkanya was soon accompanying a number of musicians on the mridangam but was intrigued beyond measure at the sight of T.H. Vikky Vinayakram play the ghatam. She approached him too, asking for training but to her disppointment, his response was "neither positive nor convincing." Fate intervened, however and Vidwan Vinayakram departed on a foreign tour as her first guru, also Vinayakram's father, took the leap and taught her how to play the ghatam as well. Nothing could stop her after and at the age of 15, Sukkanya set off to live her dreams.
The audacity of a female ghatam player wasn't likely to sit too well with Chennai's conservative circles. Sukkanya Ramgopal took on a slew of stereotypes to make her presence felt and holds the significant distinction of being India's first female ghatam artist - "Even my ghatam can sing songs." Her audiences were thrilled to see a woman play the ghatam and Sukkanya found herself greetted with many a standing ovation and word of support. "It has given me a responsibility to better myself, improvise and innovate my performances," she says.
The youngest of five children born into an orthodox Brahmin family, Sukkanya had two battles to confront: One outside and one at home. "My mother and sister were supportive of me taking ghatam lessons but my father was always concerned and reluctant about me taking on a percussionist's role. I was going against set norms! Deciding not not to contribute to a rise in his BP levels, I kept the ghatam classes to myself!"
In 1980, Sukkanya moved to Bengaluru after she married former BHEL employee V. Ramgopal. Her loyalties to Chennai aren't easily forgotten, however and she believes her hometown to be best location for a musician. "Chennai might be the musical hub but Bengaluru has been catching up, playing host to numerous music and art festivals around Ram Navami, the Ganesha Utsava and the like."
She might be a celebrated musician but the struggle of making it in a man's world is far from over. "Little has changed in people's attitudes towards percussionists, as they are seen as mere accompanying musicians. Many musicians, irrespective of gender, think twice before allowing the ghatam any stage space and I have been rejected at the last minute because of these prejudices," she says. These challenges have made her think, too, leading to innovation slike the Ghata Tharang, which she conceptualised herself. The Ghata Tharang is an exploration into the melodic aspects of the percussion instrument.
With over five decades of finding beats and synchronizing with various genre of music, be it Carnatic, Hindustani, Western or fusion styles, she also popularised the instrument across the world performing by alongside the best of the industry in more than 10 countries. “Overseas audience are more impressed with the rhythms of classical music and appreciate percussionists as much as or more than melodists. That the ghatam could ‘sing’ was a revelation to them,” she says. Also the winner of the prestigious 2017 TTK Award constituted by the Madras Music Academy, her book, Sunaadam contains fundamental lessons for learners, in four major thalas – Adi, Rupaka, Misra Chapu and Khanda Chapu.
Learning from more than five stalwarts of the industry and being a guru herself to more than 15 aspiring percussionists, Sukkanya is concerned that only one of her students is female. With that being a start and other such artists being encouraged all around, even though minimal, she looks at herself as a student more than a guru anytime.
Honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardee in 2014 for her contribution to Carnatic Instrumental Music, Mrs Ramgopal has also been instrumental in setting up an all-women ensemble named Stree Tal Tarang (STT) in 1995 with the basic objective of encouraging more female percussionists to follow their aspirations breaking patriarchal stereotypes. The STT will have their biggest ever performance with nine artists on stage together while they improvise cinematic songs on March 8 at Rasika Ranjana Sabha, Trichy as part of their International Women’s Day celebrations.
