Carnatic music moves from concert format to open mic

We have forums that are poetry exclusive, stand up comedy exclusive and even storytelling exclusive. But no such forums that cater to Carnatic music. To bridge this gap, Carnatic music enthusiast Balaji Vijayaraghavan along with Prithvi Kannan (co-producer) and Vaishnavi Soundararajan (curator) are organising a first of its kind Carnatic Open Mic in the city on April 7 at Backyard.

“There is lack of platforms that give an opportunity for upcoming Carnatic singers. The city being the capital of Carnatic music, we need to honour our legacy and uphold the reverence of this genre of music. I think it’s time for facilitating the Carnatic musicians their much-needed stage time,” says Balaji.

During the last Margazhi season, Balaji attended a Carnatic music concert at one of the prominent sabhas. “It was a performance by an NRI artiste, who had come all the way from the US during the Margazhi season. Unfortunately, he had a bad day and couldn’t perform well. A few people present at the sabha were annoyed and started saying, ‘someone like him got a chance and how can he mess it’. This incident made me think that how can a rasika judge an artist because of one bad performance,” he reminisces. It eventually led him to come up with the open mic concept for Carnatic music.

We all know how the Sree Krishna temple in Guruvayur, Kerala, didn’t allow legendary singer Yesudas to enter the temple premises for being a non-Hindu for many years. “Finally, he got a stage after years of waiting. We all know how tough it is to get a sabha stage for a débutante. Through the open mic, we wanted to provide a platform for interested singers. There are no rules or constraints here. 

We aren’t following the conventional Carnatic concert format. The first performer can start with a mangalam and the last performer may try two varnams as well. This is a ground just like net practice for cricketers. It’s okay to deviate from the shruthi, it’s fine if you slip a note from a raaga, and it is absolutely fine if you can’t manage your higher/lower octet pitch. This is a stage to do mistakes,” he assures.

TM Krishna graciously pulled the Carnatic music out of its control from an elite class and introduced to less privileged people. “We need to constantly fight with the communal forces in Carnatic music and get better only by improvising ad improving from nowhere,” he sums up.