The big bias barrier!

In a recent interview given to NDTV, this year's Sangita Kalanidhi designate Smt. Sudha Ragunathan had opined that gender bias in carnatic music has come down but not gone.

TRINITY OF SORTS! (From left: MLV, MS & DKP)

She is absolutely right. Many accompanists of yester-years did not prefer to perform alongwith female musicians. We needed path-breakers like Vidushis D K Pattammal, M S Subbulakshmi & M L Vasanthakumari to not only take up this field but also be pioneers of sorts. T M Krishna in one of his recent articles says "DKP’s music was called ‘man’s music’ and the brahmin woman was accommodated in the kutcheri world, but many male musicians would not accompany her. Only those who did not find a footing in the male world would do so. When Palghat Mani Iyer (1912-81) accompanied her and, much later, M.L. Vasanthakumari, on the mrdanga, it was a gracious personal gesture rather than a conceptual acceptance of women as important musicians. This meant that DKP’s kutcheris had to be attractive enough with just her name on the invitation. She could not depend on the names of her accompanists to attract more people".

Violinist Jyotsna Srikanth observes.... "I faced gender discrimination at the age of 9 when I started accompanying Carnatic artistes on violin. Once in a Thyagaraja Aradhana conducted by a city-based organisation, I was asked to get off-stage as I was not eligible to accompany a male vocalist for he did not prefer a female accompanist. When this incident took place, I was only 10 years old. Since then, many episodes have gone unsaid. This encouraged me to find my own path that would not be dependent on male chauvinistic artistes.”

Habeeb Tanveer in an article on Vidushi Gangubai Hangal writes "Gangubai’s her journey in life was beset by the hurdles of poverty and caste and gender discrimination". For every Gangubai who managed to overcome these obstacles, one wonders how many fell by the wayside, buried under the burden of deprivation and discrimination. Gangubai commented on the entrenched gender bias in the world of music: 'A male musician will become an ustad or a pandit, but a female musician, even one of the calibre of Kesarbai or Mogubai, will always remain a bai!' "

Reasons for the gender bias in the past can be considered as an extension of oppression that women underwent in general in their lives, and male chauvinism. Reasons for hesitations in accompanying female artistes commonly given are strain in the accompanying instruments because of high pitch of the main performer, attention on women performer (the attire etc) rather than on accompanists and so on. However, the same accompanists do not hesitate to perform alongwith female artists during the initial stages of their career (given the same conditions).

But can we simply blame the previous generation and get away with it? Though the bias seems to be waning away, we need to make alpha changes in such a way that egalitarianism is brought about. The question is not of mere sympathy but of empathy. Giving fair and due chance to the deserving sans all prejudices is the key.

- R Shridhar (marggoindia@gmail.com)