Statement condemning the attack on classical musical expression in south India #FOE
Voices from across the civil society come together to condemn the harassment of Carnatic Musicians T M Krishna, O S Arun and Nithyasree Mahadevan
New Delhi, Sept. 20, 2018
In a shocking development affecting the acclaimed musicians of the carnatic tradition, it has come to light that artistes like T M Krishna, O S Arun and Nithyasree Mahadevan have been harangued by some fringe groups in India and the US for performing songs on Christian or supposedly non-Hindu themes.
It has been reported that many musicians have received threats by right wing Hindu organisations, for bringing people and religions together on a musical platform. Some of them have been bullied into making apologies and cancelling concerts. O. S. Arun was invited by T. Samuel Joseph, a long time student and teacher of Carnatic music to render Carnatic compositions on Christ. Arun was attacked online and pressure was put on him to cancel. Within days, WhatsApp and social media clippings of Nithyasree Mahadevan rendering a Christian song also began circulating with comments to establish disapproval. Reportedly, the SSVT Temple in Washington DC which had invited T.M.Krishna to sing, cancelled the invitation at the behest of self-appointed Hindu gatekeepers.
A statement condemning these attacks and asserting the freedom of speech, expression and religion of all these musicians (and the aficionados of their music) signed by about 200 eminent citizens has been released today. The statement initiated by Ashok Vajpeyi and Aruna Roy has been signed by former judges Justice A P Shah and Justice K Chandru and several senior personalities from the arts and culture fraternity. Girish Karnad, Shyam Benegal, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Anand Patwardhan, Leela Samson, Shubha Mudgal, Malavika Sarukkai, Mallika Sarabhai, and Tripurari Sharma also figure among the signatories.
The statement endorsed by Romila Thapar, Amit Bhaduri, Rajmohan Gandhi, Ashish Nandy, Ramachandra Guha, Shiv Visvanathan, Mukul Kesavan, Syeda Hameed, Abha Sur, Prabhat Patnaik, Jayati Ghosh and several former diplomats, senior bureaucrats and lawyers like Indira Jaising and Prashant Bhushan says, “We, the undersigned, register our strong protest and condemn this continual harassment, intimidation and the use of other undemocratic methods to silence voices. These are expressions of creativity, unity, humanity which are helping shape the building of a modern syncretic tradition in Indian classical music.”
It is worth noting that the Tamil writer who was harassed by cultural fundamentalists for his novel Madhurobhagan (One Part Woman) and whose verses have been sung by T M Krishna has also signed the statement that says – “We cannot allow the intimidation and threat of violence by a (small) group which arrogates to itself, the role of being the keeper of culture, tradition and heritage.”
Musician T. M. Krishna defying all these attempts to coerce him, said: “Considering the vile comments and threats issued by many on social media regarding Carnatic compositions on Jesus, I announce here that I will be releasing one Carnatic song every month on Jesus or Allah.”
The statement ends with an appeal to all Indians to join hands and stand up against this cultural dictatorship that is being attempted to be established. It says, “We reassert the universal truth that music is not and cannot be denominational, and an exclusive domain of any one religion. All music is open to participation to people of all communities, and musical heritage belongs to humanity. We condemn the nascent attempts to limit and stifle free expression and invite you to join in voicing your protest.”
STATEMENT
In a recent occurrence in South India, eminent classical musicians have been
intimidated, their concert engagements cancelled, due to pressure from intolerant forces
that claim to speak on behalf of Hindus; thereby seeking to dictate the content and
nature of cultural performances and music. We, the undersigned, register our strong
protest and condemn this continual harassment, intimidation and the use of other
undemocratic methods to silence voices. These are expressions of creativity, unity,
humanity which are helping shape the building of a modern syncretic tradition in Indian
classical music.
In the climate of social policing and restrictions on writers, thinkers and artists, the
recent attacks on Carnatic musicians of repute, has again raised the sceptre of fear. This
reflects the failure of the rule of law and constitutional guarantees. It is alarming that
neither independent institutions such as the courts nor the governments whose duty it is
to protect democratic space and freedom of expression, have stepped in to take decisive
steps to end this menace.
It therefore falls upon artists, civil society groups and citizens to come forward and
protect the democratic and constitutional right to creative expression. We cannot allow
the intimidation and threat of violence by a (small) group which arrogates to itself, the
role of being the keeper of culture, tradition and heritage. This has largely gone
unchallenged by the rest of civil society, except by some musicians themselves.
Music is an expression of the universal truth of harmony of existence and connects
people through its appreciation. It has the capacity to be understood and bring together
people across boundaries. It underscores the cross-cutting links amongst religions,
blending the plurality into the oneness of sound and its appeal to all human beings and
has reinforced beliefs in plurality and tolerance. While the content and the lyrics bring
in the varied perceptions and understanding of people and communities, music
establishes the universality of a multi-cultural society.
Carnatic music is a system of classical music which over the centuries has absorbed the
cultural milieu of contemporary times and while the compositions were composed in the
classical style, they celebrated differing perceptions of divinity. While the majority
religion and its composers have predominantly occupied musical space, there have been
composers whose lyrics have been in praise of different religious denominations. That is
how it should be.
Many musicians have received threats by right wing Hindu organisations, for bringing
people and religions together on a musical platform. Some of them have been bullied
into making apologies and cancelling concerts. O. S. Arun was invited by T. Samuel
Joseph a long time student and teacher of Carnatic music to render Carnatic
compositions on Christ. H e was attacked online and pressure was put on him to cancel.
He cancelled citing personal reasons. Within days, WhatsApp and social media clippings
of Nithyasree Mahadevan rendering a Christian song began circulating with comments
to establish disapproval. The SSVT Temple in Washington DC which had invited
T.M.Krishna to sing, cancelled the invitation at the behest of self-appointed Hindu
gatekeepers.
T. M. Krishna in a statement said: ” Considering the vile comments and threats issued by
many on social media regarding Carnatic compositions on Jesus, I announce here that I
will be releasing one Carnatic song every month on Jesus or Allah”.
We want to express our support and appreciation for the very positive efforts of these
musicians and register our protest against stigmatising them. We reassert the universal
truth that music is not and cannot be denominational, and an exclusive domain of any
one religion. All music is open to participation to people of all communities, and musical
heritage belongs to humanity. We condemn the nascent attempts to limit and stifle free
expression and invite you to join in voicing your protest.
- Ashok Vajpeyi
- Aruna Roy
- Justice A P Shah
- Justice K Chandru
- Shyam Benegal
- Girish Karnad
- Adoor Gopalakrishnan
- Anand Patwardhan
- Rajmohan Gandhi
- Devaki Jain
- Romila Thapar
- Mallika Sarabhai
- Leela Samson
- Shubha Mudgal
- Kiran Seth
- Tripurari Sharma
- Ram Rahman
- Malavika Sarukkai
- Charul Bharwada
20.Vinay Mahajan - Prabhat Patnaik
- Jayati Ghosh
- Anand Teltumbde
- Satish Deshpande
- Abha Sur
- Amit Bhaduri
- Zoya Hasan
28.Ashish Nandy - Perumal Murugan
30.Ramachandra Guha - Shiv Visvanathan
- Syeda Hameed
- Indira Jaising
- Prashant Bhushan
- Shantha Sinha
- N C Saxena
- Wajahat Habibullah
38.Julio Ribeiro - John Dayal
40.Maj Gen S.G. Vombatkere - Namita Gokhale
- Abha Bhaiya
- Mukul Kesavan
- Babu Mathew
- Somasundar Burra
- Jagdeep Chhokar
- Devasahayam MG
48.Shabnam Hashmi - Bezwada Wilson
50.Harsh Mander - Medha Patkar
- Henri Tiphagne
- Dunu Roy
- A K Shivakumar
- Shekhar Singh
- Swami Agnivesh
- Kamla Bhasin
- Teesta Setalvad
- Rudrangshu Mukherjee
60.P Sainath - Rosamma Thomas
- Pamela Phillipose
- Keshav Desiraju
- S Parasuraman
- Mary E John
- Bela Bhatia
- Irfan Engineer
68.Nityanand Jayaraman - Lakshmi Krishnamurthy
- S. Anandalakshmy
- Vasanth Kannabiran
- Imrana Qadeer
- Nareshwar Dayal
- Ashok Kumar Sharma
- Uma Pillai
- Kamal Jaswal
- Uzramma
- Dipali Taneja
- Anjana Mangalagiri
80.Brijesh Kumar - Anjali Banerji
82.Radha Gopalan
83.Ishrat Aziz
84.Nagal Samy - Niranjan Pant
86.Ashok Sharma - C Balakrishnan
88.Dr. M A Ibrahimi
89.S. Y. Quraishi
90.Fabian KP - Abhijit Sengupta
- Deepak Sanan
- Nilanjan Hajra
- Vinoo Bhagat
- Rajni Bakshi
- Alok Perti
- Bhanumathi Sharma
98.Arani Roy - Mamta Jaitly
- Rekha Bezboruah
- Nisha Malhotra
- Jyothi Krishnan
- D K Manavalan
- P Bhattacharya
- V Ramani
- Salahuddin Ahmad
- Hirak Ghosh
- M B Pranesh
- Lakshmi Pranesh
- Shanti Kakar
- Geetha Thoopal
- Vibha Puri Das
- Ardhendu Sen
- Madhu Bhaduri
- S P Ambrose
- Arun Kumar
- Sushil Tripathi
- Ravi Budhiraja
- Narendra Sisodia
- Vineeta Rai
- Anna Dani
- Vappala Balachandran
- Amitabha Pande
- Lalit Mathur
- Kalyani Chaudhuri
- EAS Sarma
- Aftab Seth
- Nitin Desai
- Deb Mukharji
- K.R. Venugopal
- Noor Mohammad
- Subodh Lal
- Shivshankar Menon
- Trilochan Singh
- Sanjivi Sundar
- Pranab Mukhopadhyay
- Gopalan Balagopal
- Meenakshisundaram SS
- Aditi Mehta
- Meena Gupta
- Sujatha Rao
- Umrao Salodia
- Dr. Raju Sharma
- Ravi Vira Gupta
- Anita Agnihotri
- Vikram Vyas
- Basant Hetamsaria
- Arundhati Dhuru
- Gabriele Dietrich
- Krishnakant Chauhan
- Kamayani Bali Mahabal
- Poonam Muttreja
- M Y Rao
- Ananya Vajpeyi
- Hindal Tyabji
- M N Roy
- A. Selvaraj
- Suhas Kolhekar
- Ramesh Gangolli
- Moyukh Chatterjee
- Anand Murugesan
- Devram Kanera
- Dipak Roy
- N K Raghupati
- Samantha Agarwal
- Ahona Palchoudhuri
- Lekha Bhagat
- Durgesh Solanki
- Sidharth Rattan
- Purnima Singh
- Paras Banjara
- Nachiket Udupa
- Swarna Rajagopalan
- Anant Nath
- Sumita Mehta
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