PLAYING THE SAME TUNES

Modern composers are yet to make a mark on the Carnatic stage as performers prefer 19th century compositions

- Chitra Srikrishna

"I have never heard this song before," an elderly audience member told me right after my recent concert in Bengaluru. The song he was referring to was Athi Saavadana, composed by the 17th-century Thanjavur Maratha king Shahaji I. While the raga (Paras) in which the song has been composed is not uncommon, the composition itself is rarely heard on stage.

In a typical Carnatic concert, or kutcheri as it is known in Tamil, one usually hears songs composed by the musicians referred to as the Carnatic trinity-Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Shastry, all of whom created most of their work in the 18th century. Beyond the trinity, the preponderance of composers whose work is heard in Carnatic concerts lived in the 19th century. It is rare to hear a contemporary composer's song in a Carnatic music concert. The recently concluded Chennai music "season" 2023 paid tribute to a similar line-up of familiar compositions.

Even dedicated Carnatic concert-goers can't be blamed if they assume much of the Carnatic repertoire is more than 150 years old because they rarely hear anything else. The good news is that they'd be wrong. Throughout the 20th century, Carnatic composers and performers have continued creating innovative and traditional pieces for vocal and instrumental performance. This begs the question why the works of modern composers don't see more airplay.