For
a long time, we
have talked about style in carnatic music. There is a huge fan-following
for not only music but also various styles in it. Style in carnatic
music can be briefly defined as the way of musical development and its
consequent presentation by an individual that distinguishes him / her
from ways of others. Style and Bani can be used synonymous, or the
latter can be considered as an extension of the former.
The
most well known styles / banis in carnatic music would be those of
Ariyakkudi (Ramanuja Iyengar), Semmangudi (Srinivasa Iyer), G N
Balasubramaniam, D K Pattammal / Jayaraman, Parur (Sundaram Iyer),
Lalgudi (Jayaraman), Thanjavur (Vaidyanatha Iyer), Pudukottai
(Dakshinamoorthy Pillai). And of course, the names are indicated inside
brackets to highlight the personalities to whom the respective styles
"belong to". So Ariyakkudi style, GNB style, Thanjavur style, Pudukottai
style and so on.
Hence, we can come to a conclusion that styles give musicians their individuality.
Style "wars"?
As we admire the
unique styles, we do know that there is a clash between most of them.
This might either have been created by the vidwans to whom the styles
belong to or by people around them.
The causes of such "wars" between carnatic music styles can be:
- The Vidwan
himself: The vidwan to promote himself can prop up his own way of
singing. He may also restrain his/ her students from listening to any
other vidwans (vidwans of any other style).
- The students at the behest of their respective gurus may clout around them and prop up their style. In this process they may not get to listen to other styles.
- Rasika fans ("wars" between fans on superiority of the style they follow).
Modern relevance of style:
Inspite of having all the access due to internet and technological revolutions, several factors prevent a person from utilizing various styles to his advantage.
- Distinctive approaches of established musicians of yester-years have inspired one and all of us. The musicians of today have evolved their own styles by drawing inspiration from them.
- It's better not to war / clash on styles. Appreciate and cherish the variety provided by them. Then a music student and a musician can improve upon; they can derive new insights on how to explore more new / unexplored areas in music.
- Utilize the variety in various styles for your growth, thereby contributing to better performances and experiences.
- A word for gurus.... Do not force your style on your students. A style that suits their vocal system is the style they must imbibe and practice in; it may be your style or may not be one. They can still remain under your tutelage, imbibe certain musical nuances of it, and continue to explore music in their own way.
Impediment to growth:
Excess stress on style to an extent of creating "wars" / clashes
between them is one of the biggest impediment to growth. Utilizing
styles to bring variety, improvement of self and for creating more
variety is the key. Wars and conflicts are an impediment to growth of
the self as well as the ecosystem.
Conclusion:
There
is a need to redefine the way we look at style. We must accept the
goodies of other styles, try and imbibe some of them in ours.
We cannot say if somebody or some people in the past erred with respect to the styles they followed or not. But having said that, we need to be loyal
to music, not style!!
