NAVYA C
Women
Who Ruled
Carnatic Music
B
eing a classical musician is quite a daunting task in
a country like India which is more oriented towards
money earning and commercial perspectives- in
short,the success of an artist doesn’t come quite easily
as it involves lot of dedication, hard work and also
determination to prove their mettle. The struggle doubles
up when it is a female artist because they have to face
additional peer pressures, societal norms and battle many
challenges to make their path easy to tread on. Carnatic
music in particular is quite a gifted field where many
women artists proved their brilliance time and again- by
not just prowess but also on how strong minded they are.
Even when the times were tough during the pre-independence
era, a legendary singer named M.S.Subbulakshmi gave a
cult status to Carnatic music with her amazing renditions
throughout. Many temples of South India still see the sunrise
with her rendition of Venkateshwara Suprabhatam. Those
days, women were not even allowed to do solo concerts on
stage or share a microphone with a fellow singer but thanks
to people like M.S.Subbulakshmi, D.K.Pattamaal-Carnatic
music achieved a feminine divine touch. Instrumental
players like Gayatri (Veena), M.L.Vasantha Kumari
(Violin) made their magic felt through later. When Carnatic
music is performed by a female artist, the expressivity and
divinity grows tenfold with additional beauty added.
The idea of duo performing in Carnatic sabhas became quite
a norm and it did not stop with men alone. Priya Sisters
(Haripriya and Shanmukhapriya) have ruled the world of
classical music with great vigor and poise. Bombay sisters
have standardized the way a Carnatic duo concert has to
sound like! In this current generation, Ranjani-Gayatri –
the power packed duo is enthralling hundreds of audience
with their soothing and amazing vocals. Women in Carnatic
music are not just confined to melody alone but also got
into masculine professions like percussion playing. It is
usually believed that women lack the physical strength
required to play a percussion instrument like mridangam
or ghatam well. But Sukanya Ramgopal became the first
ghatam Carnatic percussion artist and also encouraging
more women to take up the profession. This only proves that
passion doesn’t have gender discrimination! Exclusive female
concerts hosted by Monsoon Nirvana also show the optimistic
scenario for women musicians to explore their best.
This indeed is a great sign for classical music to
expand and witness new realms of musical bliss.
The gender ratio in classical music field has been
growing quite impressively and gaps such as more
female percussionists should arrive as well.