Those Were The Days: An age when Music Academy and MS hummed different tunes

It could be the most sustainable way to support art but the culture of paying for entertainment did not exist till the late 1800s. In 1885, the Governor of Madras, Duff (who gave Marina beach the name), listened to a recital of ‘native Indian’ music.

Till then music was contained in the walls of the sponsor -- either the kings or zamindars and entry was strictly by invitation only. This public performance at Pachaiyappa’s hall broke that stranglehold, though unintentionally.

As the royalty and its powers waned, so did the music and dance that they had benevolently supported. For some time, the rich merchant pockets of Chettinad supported Carnatic music, but the phenomenal growth of Madras attracted most musicians. Even here, the musicians initially depended on the newly rich elite of Madras.

The origin of organised music sabhas started in the most unlikely of places -- Mint Street. It was there the Tondaimandalam Sabha started. Much later, came up the Aradhana of Tyagaraja in Thiruvaiyaru.

Tired of depending on sponsors, the sabha tried another method to stay afloat. It sold tickets for a concert of Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan. This angered the artist who walked out in a huff.

The Indian National Congress (INC) adopted the Purna Swaraj resolution in 1927, on the dry bed of the Spur Tank (the Tercentenary Volume of Madras mentions the late lake as shaped like a spur) in Chetpet.

To entertain the delegates from all over India, music programmes were conducted in the evenings via the All India Music Conference that was held in conjunction with the Congress Session. 

So successful was it that a resolution recommending the setting up of an Academy for Music in Madras was adopted on the last day. An experts’ committee consisting of musical stalwarts was formed and the academy was inaugurated in 1928.

In spite of recent controversies on Christian contribution to Carnatic music, the fact remains that the YMCA auditorium in Esplanade hosted the first Carnatic music conference. And it being described as the Margazhi festival was just a build-up. 

It was thought that the music programmes would be well attended because the High Court closed for Christmas and lawyers would attend the concerts in great numbers.

Year after year, music conferences were held in the Senate House, Theosophical Society, in a park behind Ripon Buildings, in Old Woodlands Hotel, Sundareswarar Hall and at the PS High School grounds. 

To give due credit to the sabha, it has been holding programmes despite calamaties that fell in December. And in Madras, a fair share of tsunamis, floods and cyclones do occur other than the deaths of prominent leaders.

But then, it has had its share of controversies. In the 1930s, Carnatic music concerts consisted mainly of Telugu and Sanskrit compositions.

To the pro-Tamil protesters, the Music Academy was stubborn. Parallel organisations took up Tamil music and the academy even adopted resolutions to stop the ‘new disease’ — ‘Tamil vyadhi.’ Prime singers like MS Subbulakshmi were thrown out of the academy for insisting on singing Tamil songs.

But MS, unlike others, had the support of a big lobby. Her husband took over the Mylapore Sangeetha Sabha and advertised that ‘MSS SINGS FOR MSS.’

There ensued a race on who would have their own auditorium first  - Music academy or Sadasivam (MS’s husband). The latter was clearly ahead in fund collection. It was then that a compromise was worked out, MS was invited back and Sadasivam handed over every paisa of the money he had collected.

Twenty-eight grounds on Cathedral Road was bought with Rs1.12 lakh. GM Bhuta, a Bombay architect, was asked to design an auditorium to seat 1,500 people with a keen focus on the acoustics so that ‘the genuine voice of the musician could be heard without the use of microphones.’

But then, it was an impossible task set out for him. That the trustees willing to forego tradition in their quest for ‘good acoustics’ shows their attitude to a rewarding experience for the audience. 

Bhuta came up with a bell-shaped reinforced concrete edifice with a gorgeous split-level lobby. Realising the prominence of the academy, Nehru flew down and laid the foundation stone for the new building. And Music Academy continues to shape Carnatic music from its own premises ever since.