So many channels dishing out their fare on 24x7 basis inundate us. These are necessarily audio-visual products. Let me request my readers to ponder on the audio part of these. There are many occasions when background score is required to be provided like a cookery show, title graphics scrolling, during a soap etc.
The present trend is to use electronic instruments like drums, synthesizer, etc. instead of traditional instruments like Flute, Veena, Violin, Mridangam, Santoor, Shehnai, etc. Even though the electronic instruments are capable of producing melody, the output generally resorted to is loud and garish.
It hardly needs to be told that the help of Carnatic or Hindustani ragas, which have a vast repertoire of specific ragas for specific moods, are not taken while setting the score.
Take any channel e.g. Gemini, ETV, ZEE, Sun TV, etc., every serial soap must have whiplashes for background score. They are so harsh on ears, monotonous and amount to plagiarism. The irony is that they give themselves annual awards for best this and best that.
The soap producers have to deliver their daily installment of the soap with tight schedule and on a shoestring budget. Hence quality must necessarily suffer. Thus they resort to such shortcuts and there is little scope for either aesthetics or quality. But this can be overcome with a little thought and effort.
The channels are in business for making money and not to promote any particular culture or tradition or our immense heritage. My suggestion is that without sacrificing their commercial interests, these channels can do their bit to our heritage by adopting the following:
a) wherever background score is needed, please use Indian instruments only.
b) Please use soothing ragas, tailor-made for the mood to be conveyed or light music. Even if old hits are used suiting the mood it is not bad or wrong.
c) Encourage and financially support traditional/folk/rare instrument players who are Artistes of great caliber lacking financial support if not in dire straits.
d) Spare the audience from noise pollution.
e) Cultivate and channelize the taste of the laypersons, without overtly compelling them but subtly through non-intrusive soothing music.
Ponder....
3 comments:
I do appreciate the points raised through this column. Music becomes noise if it surpasses audible limits with respect to loudness and pitch. The very atmosphere conducive for music no more exists on date. How best we innovate, it can never be nearer to the originality under any circumstances. The modern synthesizers cannot produce the same quality that original instruments can produce. Due to the extensive use of latest instruments, the coming generation may not be aware of what the original instruments were like. It is correctly said that lack of moral and financial support would be responsible for the untimely demise of the Indian classical music.
It may not be practically feasible to use the traditional instruments for playing the opera background score due to both time and money factors. The man power required to churn out quality music from traditional instruments would be quite more and hence the amount of effort and money spent would be quite a lot whereas a person alone can play modern instruments namely synthesizers which involves less cost and effort for the background music that needs to be played for hardly 2-3 min. Hence with such amount of overhead involved traditional instruments may not find their place in opera.
However, television channel can come forward for telecasting programmes like “West meets East” wherein both modern and classical instruments can be played to compose a hybrid score what they usually call “jugalbandi”. This can help in bringing about distinctive differences between modern and traditional instruments and help the younger generation know about the real value of traditional music and that how traditional instruments are used. In the past too efforts were made in conducting programmes like “north meets south” that clearly showed how different instruments vary with each other.
Secondly television channels can also telecast shows involving famous traditional artists and classical players. This would increase awareness in the modern generation about the traditional gems and would encourage them to value and respect the traditional Indian culture and music.
Afterall they must realize that no matter how much the technology might advance, originality cannot be achieved. My father once met with a scooter accident and sustained some fractures in his left hand. The best doctor in the town operated him. Though he fully recovered, still his left hand continues to have some limitation and cannot function as freely as the right hand. Today, so many mimic artists and duplicate singers and actors try to imitate the original artists and try to recreate the magic once created by the original legends. But, no matter how hard they try, they would never be able to take the place of the original artists. Similarly, the modern instruments can never replace the traditional instruments.
A good article that is thoughtful and raises a few points albeit successfully.
As unfortunate as the situation may seem, one has to accept the fact that the western musical forms has successfully percolated in to the indian musical industry. Many a time, it has often been detrimental to the the growth and sustainance of indian classical music. However, one must note that even the western classical musicians has been facing the same problems.
Sometimes, one is left pondering why millions and millions of fans throng to a britney spears concert when only a few attend a indian classical concert or a western classical..?
Its hard to justify that the mostly keeravani and shankarabharanam based pop songs are much better than than the variety offered in a jesudas concert or a Bach recital?
A critical analysis of why the youth are attracted to the pop and rock genre would lead us to quite a few reasons:
(1) Indian classical music and western classical music stir the soul, while all the pop songs move the body..
(2) Indian and Western classical concerts are poorly packaged and badly advertised. As good as the music may be, it may be not so attractive for the youth to see a few middle-aged people belting out a number that is rhythmically complex and is filled with unqiue, divine prayogas.
(3) What goes on during a indian classical concert is poorly or often not explained for the audience to appreciate...For example, How many in audience know the intricacies of a thania varthanam, alapana, kalpanaswaramulu, raagam taanam pallavi and things like that..
As soon as these reasons are taken care to the best of our ability, classical forms of music will be alive and kicking..
Unlike pop music and rock music which express or is attached to a certain emotion such as love, hatred, success et al., classical forms of music expresses nothing. They only expresses themselves..
Classical music grows on people.. and it is my strong belief that one tends to appreciate classical music with age and maturity..Thats the reason we see young guns dancing to a pop song while older people enjoying a subbulakshmi,DKP, palghat iyer or a prasanna..
Nice article, uncle and thought-provoking..Keep it coming
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