There comes a Saturday and a Sunday every week and you would find me diligently squatting on a mat and singing. You know, I go for music lessons (in Carnatic music). Its kinda funny – to constantly slap my laps, at the same time sing the song right, with some lyrics I don’t exactly understand nor know how to pronounce. I need to get right a plethora of other things. Shruthi, Swara, Laya, Bhava …… Huh. My friend sometimes mistakes them for being nicknames of cute South Indian girls !!!But singing is an exercise in grandeur. I strive to strike a balance between things of which I know nothing ! But I’m learning – on how the same line can be sung in different Shruthi’s with the minutest discernible difference.
Singing in unison is another treat to the eyes and the ears. The gang of girls singing with me. One raises her voice when she needs to infact keep low and the other slaps the thighs of the next girl instead of her own !! One fine day she plans to slap the teacher’s thighs pretending ignorance and proclaiming to be immersed in singing 
And you know, it so happens that one even mixes up some swear words and passes it off as the lyrics. Excuses are ever ready. I know not the language I sing in. And it is my birthright to make mistakes. Say a Hindi girl sure does’nt know if pani (snow/fog in Tamil) is different from ‘panni’ (a pig in Tamil). So it goes … But there is no choice. Most of the Carnatic music compositions are in Telugu and I’m blissfully ignorant of the language. Oh yes, I hear you say – Music has got no language blah, blah, blah …. I accept. But the people who teach Carnatic music must put in efforts, find some Tamil songs, put them to tune in Carnatic ragas and then teach. It will sure increase the reach of Carnatic music to a wide variety of people.
And there was a movie in Tamil – “Unnal Mudiyum Thambi”, which exactly professed the same point. Simplify music. (Simplification is not dumbing things down). Sing it for the audience. Sing it in a language they will understand. If you wanna drool and melt over Lord Krishna with some lyrics in some alien language, do it in your prayer room. You say – If you don’t wanna see me drool and melt, why do you come ? Stay away. And stay away will I and thousands of others too. There are people out there who are interested in learning music and they find the language a deterrent. Though it is the least of deterrents.
But let us say the same Hindi girl comes and says – I wanna learn this Carnatic stuff. Teach me with Hindi lyrics. Now that presents a problem to the teacher. ……..
The war in the Carnatic world is always between Telegu and Tamil. Some proponents say Carnatic music must be taught in its original form. Some say it is okay to adapt it to Tamil songs. Of course there are songs in Tamil that my teacher teaches. But a better tradeoff I ask for is – Teach me the base raga with a song written in original lyrics ( Say a Thyagaraja song in Telugu). But thereafter we need to move to Tamil songs. More of it.
Coming from the IT industry, I love to keep the data and the program design/code seperate. Muddling data with design is a flaw. Why don’t we follow the same in Carnatic music learning ? Moving away from the notion of binding the raga to the lyrics in some alien language. There are numerous unexplored Bharathiar songs that can be set to tune in Carnatic ragas. Why not infuse more of them in Carnatic teaching ?
Aside to all those brain-wracking issues, I still enjoy the singing. And my weekends fly in bliss ……
