Interesting but with dissonant notes

Title: On That Note - Memories of a Life in Music

Author: Sanjay Subramanian with Krupa Ge
ISBN: 9789360454043
Westland Books, 2024

   This book is an autobiography of Sangeethakalanidhi Sanjay Subrahmanian, as narrated by him and prepared with the the help of Krupa Ge, describing various transitions through his life -  in the words of the author: "as I break genre and change my bio from 'Carnatic musician' to 'singer'," the latter indicating big steps outside the confines of classical Carnatic music.  It gives a good glimpse of the man behind the celebrated stage personality, his wide range of interests from sports to reading, and, above all, his compulsive creative urges and inner push to go beyond erstwhile achievements, his personal insecurities, and challenges faced.  It makes an interesting reading although the reader must be warned that if what one seeks is some great revelations about music per se, one is bound to be disappointed.  Take it also with a pinch of salt as autobiographies (the likes of 'My Experiments with Truth' exempted) are, by and large, sanitized selective accounts of one's life to project oneself in the best of light.

   We begin by learning that Sanjay, as a young boy, was more interested in cricket and play than music, turning down even the opportunity to be tutored by the great violinist Sangeethasagara A. Kanyakumari and was drawn from violin to vocal music mainly by his grandmother who was his first vocal teacher.  That his father constantly played  Carnatic music on the radio at home and his disciplinarian mother did extract necessary music drills from him for rewards such as attending an MSS concert are noted by him as significant contributors to his growth in music - a fact that all parents should indeed take note of; classical music flourishes in households where such music is heard regularly and with interest.  Sanjay was also blessed with the presence of a grandfather who, though not trained formally in Carnatic music, could sing beautifully to the extent of being credited for some phrases Sanjay uses such as for example in ragas like Ritigowla.  It is amazing to learn how young Sanjay filled the gaps in his learning from his grandma 'Rukmini patti', such as for making kalpanaswarams, by jamming with his friends like Sriram, the violin maestro T.N. Krishnan's son.  Further down, he was to have the privilege of having his music honed by interactions with some great musicians like K.S.Krishnamurthy,  nadaswaram vidwan Mayavaram SRD Vaidyanathan, and many others of whom Sanjay talks with great reverence and affection.  The story in summary shows clearly that the ascent to Sangeethakalanidhi by Sanjay was indeed the result of a goal he had set for himself and striven arduously.  A happy marriage and family also served as a great asset to him throughout.

   It indeed shocked me to read that Sanjay, one of the biggest crowd pullers, with a voice most would envy 'never had a good opinion of it' and considered it as his 'weakest attribute.'  [Indeed, a person I highly respect as a superb and musically knowledgeable rasika once had remarked to me, 'At times, he sings like he is fighting with music,' but I have always viewed those attempts only as setting higher and higher bars for himself particularly in the upper octaves.]  That he can talk about it with such candor, and even more importantly that he is taking steps to overcome those limitations and the strain they impose on his vocal chords by proper training, that too at a later age and after becoming a Sangeethakalanidhi, make him a perfectionist worthy of admiration.  His ascent along the maturity scale is also shown in how he describes his futile attempts to impress T.N. Seshagopalan with an effort ridden atana that was to be called out by a close friend of his and led to a constructive exercise in self introspection.  These and other tales like how his initial arrogant attitude towards Prince Rama Varma quickly was overcome to result in a close and lasting friendship show growth of Sanjay not only as a musician but as a man along the likability scale.

   'On That Note' is not without some dissonant notes, but blissfully they are very few in number.  Thus, Sanjay in one place (p. 61) gripes about some sabhas not being ready to pay him what he thinks he deserves, without recognizing that institutions have their own constraints and have to balance social optimization of supporting new talent (whose exposure often results in losses) against individual optimization by established artists some of whom forget that once they themselves could have been the beneficiaries of such social optimization.  His caricature (p. 127-128) of the US NRIs is honestly in poor taste and in the spirit of biting the hand that fed and continues to feed.

    What makes me, as a reader, truly happy is seeing Sanjay who once told me that there is no need for new compositions and 'periyavaa ellaam naRaiya vittoottu poyirukka' is now taking on a lot of Tamil kritis and is even aspiring to compose some of his own.  I sincerely wish him sucess in both of these ventures.  I can relate to the new found freedom he feels after reaching the goal of Sangeethakalanidhi  to get seriously into other genre, but it would indeed be a tragedy were it to come at the price of greater and greater disengagement from the Carnatic where he has much vested and also at the cost of having to eat crow in front of philistine  producers and underwriters of major productions who may not bear enough respect for talent and the talented especially when music in the production is not the main theme.
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The author, Dr. V. Ramaswami, is a past President and Secretary of CMANA.  He has written many compositions in Carnatic music with three albums by Sri Sikkil Gurucharan and one by Dr. R. Suryaprakash.  Views expressed here are strictly personal.