When Carnatic music finds a place in koothu

Koothu legend-playwright P Rajagopal and his wife Hanne De Bruin are collaborating with Carnatic musicians TM Krishna and Sangeetha Sivakumar for a performance titled Karnatic Kattai Kuttu for the first time in Chennai.Hanne and Krishna open up about the collaboration and what audience can expect from it.

 “We wanted to take Kattaikkuttu and Karnatic music outside their regular contexts, introducing them to new audiences that might have never heard or seen them, showcase their intricacies and make a political statement that art has no boundaries and is of everybody,” says Hanne. The performance features an unprecedented musical dialogue between Krishna and Rajagopal. They reflect on the different perceptions of Karnatic music, Kattaikkuttu, the social and caste-based differences that separate them, the nature and role of language and the artistic intricacies that define both forms.Krishna and Rajagopal have performed in each others’ festivals (i.e. the annual Performing Arts Festival organised by the Kattaikkuttu Sangam and the Urur Olcott Kuppam Festival) and there was an immediate bonding of ideas resulting in a long-standing talk about ‘doing something together’. “When we finally sat down to do so, we did not anticipate perhaps the length and depth to which this would go. One of the wonderful things of this artistic collaboration is that it has been full of surprises — in particular about what we share and where we differ, and creative adaptations. It has been like a mirror helping you to reflect on what and why you do. Finding common time to discuss and rehearse was the most difficult part of the collaboration, which involves a large group of people all of whom have busy schedules,” she says.Hanne and Rajagopal are running a performing arts organisation called Kattaikkuttu Sangam in Kanchipuram. “After rehearsing intensively over a one-year period, the artists have worked to bridge distances between these two art forms that have always existed at two ends of the social spectrum, melding Karnatic music and its aesthetic with Kuttu’s inherent capacity for satirical, comedic, and sharp commentary,” muses Hanne. 

Krishna feels that the performance is a conversation between two art forms that occupy different spaces in Tamil social hierarchy. “Through this experiment, we explore our meeting points and at the same time recognise our respective aesthetic distinctiveness. We also hope to rekindle the musical links that Kattaikkuttu and Karnatic music have had in the past. Art is a passageway through which we can understand the cultures of people who participate in various art forms,” says Krishna.

Apart from the main performers, there are about 13 actors and musicians from the Kattaikkuttu Sangam and three other Carnatic musicians.