Choosing to remember

It is perhaps ones own ignorance that not until recently the truth of the mrdangam was revealed The percussion instrument so integral to Carnatic music is in fact made of three layers of animal skin goat buffalo and cow And yet it is the prime instrument of a community that exhorts the notion of purityI talk about this dichotomy a lot in the book says TM Krishna Carnatic musician and Magsaysay awardee about his forthcoming title Sebastian and Sons A brief history of mrdangam makers Westland The book is an over350page lesson on not just how the mradangam is made but also the relationship that its makers share with the players The book needed to be written says the 43yearold musician because the craftsmens contribution has been ignoredThe only mrdangam maker who was spoken of in any way was Parlandu S Parlandu son of Sevittan Sebastian after whom the book is named Most of the others were not really known I knew a few since they would at times accompany some colleagues mrdangam artists to concerts but I never spent any serious time with them Thats the truth Krishna admits It was while looking at the second edition of his previous book A Southern Music that in the chapter on caste he realised that he had not mentioned the mrdangam makers I had forgotten them while writing A Southern Music In my music ecology they didnt appear in my imagination This bothered me since they are an integral part of the art but I didnt know anything about them And so if I wanted to write about them I needed to spend time listening and learning from themOver the course of 50 interviews conducted over four years and after multiple visits to various cities Krishna heard their stories Important stories that needed to be told and the unusual relationship that the artistes share with the makers Nowhere else will you find such a relationship between individuals belonging to two spectrums of caste It is an aesthetic relationship they need to be close for the art and the training of the mrdangam and yet we know nothing about the contribution of the makers Its always the voice of the player that is heardKrishna says that the discrimination is true for other instrument makers too Yet in the case of the mrdangam it is stark because animal skin is involved in its manufacture It completely changes the dynamics of discrimination and hypocrisy Because skin is involved it means that only a certain community can work on it and they are pushed down the caste ladder But this instrument is worshipped as Nandis instrument and to make it Nandi must be hacked The irony here is spectacularly crazy And the community is doing everything in its capacity to purify the notion of skin for you and then produce an instrument that is worthy of worship Without the three skinsmdashgoat buffalo and cowmdashthe mrndangam wont existFresh buffalo skin drying in mrdangam maker Geethas yard The instrument uses buffalo goat and cow hideThe book which journeys into Thanjavur the city where Sevittans sons reside and make their famed instruments talks of the quiet instances of discrimination that have been normalised over time It speaks of players not being involved in the making until the last stages of food only being served to the mrdangam makers in their sheds sometimes leftovers But Krishna is not attacking the caste mentality only in the Carnatic music fraternity As he says its the Brahmanical nature of how we have shaped Indian culture that I am questioning Parlandus son Selvaraj adopted by Mani Iyer for whom he made mrdangams is quoted as saying I did not eat with him In Madras when Mani Iyer stayed at the Woodlands Hotel I used to eat his leftovers He knew that and would keep some for meKrishna asks how many of us give stale food to our house helps It is similar We dont want to waste food so we give it to them Its just wrong Why dont we eat that food for the next meal even if old But this is used as a trope for the closeness of the relationship To Selvaraj it showed that Mani cared And thats the most dangerous bit about caste It almost makes the oppressed grateful for the attention they are getting Its done so effectively that we all miss itGeethaKrishna says in the musical context that the makers contribution has been denied to the arts is problematic A customised mrdangam takes two weeks to manufacture once the wooden shell is procured and if the maker is free to dedicate time to it Else it could take months The player is not part of process until the final setting up The abstract notions of sound make the work of the mrdangam maker brilliantAll that the player will say is sound sariya illiye the sound is not good Or that the tone is dull Its not bright enough Its sounding stuffed And its because the player and the maker share a long relationship that the latter instinctively knows what particular sound the player needs And yet the monetary compensation doesnt compare The attitude being Your work I cannot do but its also not as great as me playing the mrdangamIts been eight years says Krishna since he first spoke of discrimination in the music world But much of the community continues to live in denial In all these years has a similar discourse occurred in the Hindustani music world It exists but no one is even breathing about it Let us also not forget that the Hindustani music world also remained absolutely silent when metoo was a burning issue even in the Carnatic world This tell us so much about how the Hindustani world is constructed and controlled As far as Carnatic music goes I have hope for the younger generation They speak to me privately and are consciousCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates