Wednesday, September 01, 2010

CARNATIC MUSIC AND GOLF: So Diverse & Yet So Similar?

By Narayan Krishnamurthy, M.D.

It was a beautiful spring day with a mixture of brilliant sunshine and a cool breeze across lush green grass, underneath a striking blue sky. Fortunately, such splendor of nature was enough to overcome the frustration of my poor golf swing at the 17^th hole of the golf course. As I walked alone on the fairway, I pondered about the concentration, balance, timing and in-synch between body and mind that is needed for even an average golf swing.

At the same time subconsciously humming a kriti as a recent student of Carnatic classical music, my mind diverted to the determined attempt I was making to perform at the forthcoming Thyagaraja Aradhana. I was suddenly struck by similar attributes to a precise rhythm, along with mental focus and physical balance needed to deliver the music composition or a Golf swing. As I struggled with both the tasks on hand, I felt humbled as the recent professionally rendered music kacheri at the Hindu temple and the world class artistry at the recent Golf tournament flashed across my mind. However, while it was easy to console myself to be realistic about my ability, a sense of deep appreciation descended on me. I felt fortunate even to be able to taste the magic of both of my co-existing endeavors which conceptually seemed similar enough to raise my curiosity. It prompted me to look up the origin and the course of two very diverse skills over centuries, to its current forms.

We know that modern day golf has existed for at least 500 years because James II of Scotland, in an Act of Parliament dated March 6, 1457 demanded that "fute-ball and golfe be utterly cryed down and not to be used." He had golf and football banned because these sports were interfering too much with archery practice sorely needed by the loyal defenders of the Scottish realm! The name golf itself may have been derived from the old Scots verb "to gowff" meaning to "strike hard." There is general agreement that the Scots were the earliest of golf addicts, but who actually invented the game is open to debate. A golf-like game is recorded as taking place on 26 February, 1297 in the Netherlands, where the Dutch played a game with a stick and leather ball. Recent evidence unearthed by Prof. Ling Hongling of Lanzhou University suggests that a game similar to modern-day golf was played in China 500 years before golf was first mentioned in Scotland. There are also other reports of earlier accounts of a golf-like game from continental Europe but no firm evidence exists.

It has been suggested that the bored shepherds tending flocks of sheep near St. Andrews, Scotland became adept at hitting rounded stones into rabbit’s holes with their wooden crooks. And so a legend that persists to this day was born! Early golfers played the game for many years without any thought of forming a society or club until finally a group of Edinburgh golfers in 1744 formed a club called the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. At this time, the first rules of golf, 13 in all were drawn up for an annual competition between sportsmen from any part of Great Britain and Ireland. The first golf club formed outside Scotland was Royal Blackheath (near London) in 1766. Reportedly, the first golf club outside Britain was in Bangalore, India (1820). 18th century golf in the United States while known to exist did not catch on to be a major sport. It was in Canada that golf first established firm roots in North America. The Royal Montreal Club was formed in 1873 and it wasn't until 1888 that golf resurfaced in the United States.

From those austere beginnings, golf literally soared as a new national pastime in the United States. A modern jewel, Shinnecock Hills, was founded in 1891 on Long Island and by the turn of the century, more than 1000 golf clubs had opened in North America. On the darker side, the social and racial prejudices at the time were successful in engulfing the realm of Golf as well. Fortunately the intrinsic strength of the game could gradually reform the game during the 19^th century based on skill and etiquette. It soon developed to its current professional form as a unique sport of mental and physical skill and poise with a blend of explosive action, leading to an opportunity for fierce competition. Golf is universally accepted as much a mental as a physical challenge. The key to the mental game is to understand that while one part is in place the other part falls apart. It may not appear outrageous to suggest a similar description to Carnatic classical music as well!

Most scholars believe that Carnatic music as it is understood today is felt to be about 500 to 600 years old. Carnatic Classical music may have originated as a form of reciting eulogies to the Gods. Exactly when that process began is uncertain but along with other arts, music was popularly linked to the Vedas (Holy Scriptures), which date back to at least 2000 B.C. (The Rig Veda could be as old as 3000 B.C.). Along with drama and dance, music is associated with Bharata Muni's Natya-Sastra, to between 100 AD and 200 AD. Scholars differ over the validity of linking it to the ancient form of music, as Carnatic music's ancestry cannot be taken too far back due to lack of credible evidence.

Purandardas Vyasatirtha (1460-1539), also called Vyasaraya or Vyasacharya, is acclaimed as one of the three spiritual lights of Vedanta, i.e., Sri Madhvacharya, Sri Jayatirtha and Sri Vyasathirtha. He was born in Bannur in the Mysore District (present Karnataka) and was a prominent scholar in the Vijayanagara Empire. He was a master at debate and an icon of philosophy and spirituality. He was the spiritual guru of king Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara Empire. It has been said that the King’s admiration for the saint was so high that he regarded Vyasatirtha as his Kuladevata or family God. Reportedly it was under Vyasatirtha’s guidance that Carnatic music’s revolution was initiated in south India. His independent, objective and visionary thinking is testified by the fact that both Purandaradasa (later regarded as the father of Carnatic music) and Kanakadasa belonging to a non-Brahmin kuruba caste, a musician-saint, were his students. He defied the social norms of the day by accepting Kanakadasa as his student and nurturing him.

Subsequently, the modern phase of Carnatic music was anchored by Purandara Dasa (1484-1564). Born in Hampi (now in Karnataka), the capital of the Vijayanagar Empire, he was a wealthy diamond merchant who was known in his early life as a frugal merchant. He experienced a “spiritual awakening” following a life changing divine intervention. He spent the rest of his life as a composer, singing the praises of god. He composed Gitas, believed to be a divine grace since he had no formal musical guidance. It is felt that we have only a small percentage of his work available to us, reflecting the magnitude of his creativity. His devotional songs are termed Devaranamas and it contains the essence of Puranas & Upanishads. In a simple language using Kannada or Sanskrit, his compositions convey high morals with inspiring thoughts aimed at social reform of the time. It is believed that he was instrumental in laying the foundation by devising a form and idiom to his compositions. Using the distinct notes of mayamalava gowla as the primary raga and adi tala as a timing mechanism, he organized a schematic framework for teaching the basics that is the standard even today. He structured the Swaravalis (graded exercises), Alankaras (exercises based on Sapta Talas) to formulate the basics of Carnatic Music.He set the standards to learn music and achieved what no one had thought of earlier; a complete theoretical system of melas, the scales of a raga. His descendant, another iconic seventeenth-century musicologist, Venkatamakhi, further enhanced theprocess of systematization. He wrote the chaturdandi Prakasika,and is credited to an ingenious methodology by devising the 12 swaras to 16 swara sthanas.

By applying the arithmetical principle of the time called katapayadi suthra, out of these 16 swarasthanas he derived a precise total number of 72 primary ragas called melakartas or janaka ragas. This calibrated scale of sounds opened up a whole new world, for the janaka or primary raga could give birth to hundreds of janya, or derived ragas. For the first time in the history of South Indian music, there was an element of scientific basis and mathematical precision to the art of music.

The English term 'Carnatic' was initially used by the Portuguese and then continued by the British. The origin can be traced back to the geographical area called Canara and the people Canarese, who spilled over language walls. The term Carnatic thus came to symbolize a pan-south conglomeration of all the linguistic streams i.e., Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. When India gained independence in 1947, 'Carnatic' continued in English discussions with reference to the south's musical school. Some believed that ‘Carnatic’ denoted the word Karnataka which means ‘ancient, that which was already there'. More widely, the term was said to acknowledge the pioneering contributions of Purandara Dasa who hailed from the present-day Karnataka state. Whatever the origin, the term never referred to the geographical-political state of Karnataka to the exclusion of others, as the essence of Carnatic music came from all four linguistic segments of the south. The word is a testimony to the combined geniuses of Purandara Dasa and his successor Venkatamakhi who were Kannadigas, Annamacharya (1408-1503), who attained fame as the 'father of the kriti form', belonged to the Telugu region, Arunagirinathar (a fifteenth-century musician), who perfected a 108 tala system, was a Tamil poet. After the foundation was laid on the basis of the creativity that marked the fifteenth to seventeenth century period, the modern Carnatic music was raised by three other men of genius who are known with veneration as 'the Trinity' even today. The first, Thyagaraja (1767-1847), considered by popular acclamation as the greatest musician of the trio, was a Telugu composer and musician, while the other two, Muthuswamy Dikshitar (1776-1835) and Shyama Shastri (1762-1827), were Tamil composers and musicians. It is astonishing that by extraordinary coincidence or perhaps due to some divine force, all three were born in the same village, Tiruvarur, located in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu. Malayalam's direct contributions to the Carnatic mainstream began with Swati Thirunal (1813-1847), the maharajah of Travancore, who dedicated his life to music. A poet, singer as well as a composer, Swati Thirunal created Carnatic kritis in Sanskrit, Malayalam and Telugu and explored Hindustani ragas. Over the next few decades the evolving music sabhas took connoisseur status with formation of Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha (Madras 1900) and the Gayana Samaja (Bangalore 1906). Membership of a Sabha became a status symbol. After the Madras Music Academy was established in 1928 by leading residents of Mylapore, Carnatic music acquired an instant symbol of recognition. The academy's approval could build and disapproval could destroy careers. It gave way to control of the art and somewhat restrictive regimentation by a few.

The art that initially developed over several centuries under the inspiration of Purandara Dasa and his contemporaries and later by the Trinity had tended to be too technical to appeal to the general public in more recent times. The compositions of the Trinity became the mainstay of the kacheris presented by professional musicians and reflected the prevailing concept of music as something meant only for knowledgeable aesthetes. Afour-hour concert built on eminent technicalities became too tedious for easy listeners to popularize. As if to prove that, “necessity is the mother of invention”, there was a movement towards a simplified format for the easy listener. Perhaps arguably the most significant musician since the Trinity, Ariyakudi Ramanuja lyengar (1890-1967) was not just a singer but also an innovator. Ariyakudi was convinced that classical music needed to be simplified and made appealing to the general public. He had both the knowledge and the stature to embark on developing an entirely new framework for the kacberi. Essentially, he reportedly introduced more variety by structuring a “three-tier” shorter version. The first segment consisted of a varnam and a few quick songs setting the tempo for the kacheri. The second segment usually comprised heavy songs with elaborations of ragas and the all-important ragam-thanam-pallavi. Popularly termed RTP, it is the most elaborate and creative part of traditional Carnatic music. Lasting an hour or more, RTP offers limitless opportunities to the singer's ingenuity and imagination. This is the stage where the singer's manodharma come into play and the artist comprehensively delineates the same raga in three styles; pure raga visthara followed by freestyle thanam and then a thala-bound pallavi. The third segment focused on light compositions or tukadas aimed at evoking lighter, soothing mood, concluding with mangalam, an auspicious benedictory valediction.

As soon as Ariyakudi presented his format in a kacberi or two of his own, both audiences and other musicians adapted quickly realizing the virtuosity of the concept and the practicality of it all. Ariyakudi, Semmangudi and Chembai rose to the pinnacle as the modern Trinity in the 19th century. It is notable that none of them were composers, as were the original Purandaradasa or the classical Trinity of Thyagaraja, Muthuswamy Dikshitar and Shyama Shastri. The new structure appealed to specialists and ordinary listeners alike. This led to explosive burst of an entire generation with talent. They flourished and explored with widely differing styles and schools, but admirably within the realm of 'Carnatic'. Their idiosyncrasies were further complicated by the discrimination against women, rampant at the time engulfing all facets of life including the music forum. No male artist would accompany a female artist. The women themselves accepted it as their natural fate. The situation was indeed ironical because the protector and deity of India's musicians was a Goddess Saraswathi. Finally after a long deliberation the establishment “awakened” and opened its doors to women after a first major concert where Chowdiah agreed to accompany M.L .Vasanthakumari. The ultimate recognition came from the listeners, who would speak of Vasanthakumari, Pattammal and Subbulakshmi as a Trinity in themselves. Fortunately, the intrinsic strengths and core values of Carnatic music flourished over passions and prejudices.

The austerity and splendor of Carnatic music further blossomed eclipsing the gender and social bias to the current form over the next 50 years. It allowed a flexibility enabling the performers to be innovative in exploring the space it provided. This resilience for individual self-expression and experimentation became its unique feature. Unlike in Western music where the composer was supreme (Mozart, Beethoven) followed by the conductor (Arturo Toscanini, Zubin Mehta), in Carnatic music the performer is the star whether vocal or instrumental. The quality and appeal of Carnatic music always depended less on the greatness of a Thyagaraja kriti and more on the way Balamurali or MS Subbalaxmi rendered it. To that extent, the mother-tongue of the composer was really not material to the appeal of a performance. The individualism of the singer is the greatest strength of Carnatic music and is aptly is summed up in the term manodharma, which literally means 'allowing the mind to seek its destiny'. Manodharma or imaginative improvisation enables a performer to soar freely on the wings of creativity. It is a celebration of originality. The manodharmic interpretation of a raga or mood ensures that one musician's rendering of a raga or a composition will not be the same as another's. Despite its conservatism, this characteristic makes Carnatic music an art form unique with regard to perception by the audience. It in turn elicits an element of intellectual curiosity in the performer and the listener alike. It has the capacity to turn, twist and incorporate new elements giving the performer room for improvisation and explore new avenues untouched before. It may seem a stretch of imagination but the same thing applies to modern day Golf as well. Similar to the variable pitch or sruthi, scale and speed in Carnatic music, depending on gender and level, there are a variety of different clubs, techniques and styles in Golf. But the final product is exquisitely depended on individual manodharmic fineness of the person delivering the music composition or holding the Golf club!

May be it is too simplistic or very complex, but the similarities between my two new hobbies seem inescapable to me. Both are perceptually similar in many aspects, having experienced it firsthand. Both originated about 500 years ago and evolved through a similar course, from a very primitive form into a technically dominant profession, tainted with gender and social inequality in the process. Both require years of sadhana or perseverance and rendered to a mathematical precision. Both need an element of mental and physical balance with rhythm, as the basis for execution. The mind game is all to do with focus; concentrating and being able to enter an “exclusive zone” in a sustainable fashion. This comes only with sheer practice and dedication but not out of some magic or gift. Malcolm Gladwell in his latest book “Outliers, The Story of Success” writes, “Based on several studies, ten thousand hours of practice is required to attain a level of mastery in anything…..” Writes the neurologist Daniel Levitin, “In study after study of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again.” But why some people get more out of their practice session than others do is perhaps best answered by American psychologist Henry Murray from Harvard. He suggests in his theory on human motivation that when a goal is reached some will feel a greater need to set higher goals. This increases the euphoria to replicate the moment of achievement with a new moment.

As I learnt more about the complexity and history of both my new passions, a sense of gratification dawned on me as, despite a late start I am able to have an avenue to satisfy my own “manodharmic needs”, if you will. After all, Golf and Carnatic music are one of the most competitive forms of professional sport and music respectively, needing decades of undivided dedication and sacrifice. A feeling of renewed interest and challenge is keeping me exploring ways to improvise my ability to heighten the euphoria of achievement!

Reference: (For parts related to facts and figures of Golf and Music history above)

http://secure.britannica.com/eb/article-222218/golf
MUSIC OF INDIA By H.A. Pople 1935
VEENA, SARVABHOWMA VADYA By C.K. Shankaranarayana Rao
MS: A Life in Music by T.J.S. George 2004
Voice Devine Calendar http://www.tvramprasadh.com/htm/home.htm

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About the author:

Dr. Narayan Krishnamurthy is a Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine Specialist at Tuscaloosa Lung & Sleep Consultants (Tel: 205-345-2255) and Medical Director of the DCH Sleep Lab. Dr. Krishnamurthy is a Fellow of the College of Chest Physicians, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (UK) and a Fellow of the American college of Physicians. He is a Diplomate of American Board of Sleep Medicine and a Fellow of the American Association of Sleep Medicine.