How Carnatic music is moving towards inclusive sahitya

The first lec-dem on Day 14 of The Music Academy’s academic sessions was by Sister Margaret Bastin ‘Sarva samarasa kirtanaigalum sanmargak kirtanaigalum’. Significance of padams and javalis The second lec-dem was by Sangita Kala Acharya awardee Geetha Raja along with a few of her disciples on the topic ‘Ragas as expressed in padams and javalis’. Sangita Kala Acharya Suguna Varadachari pointed out how she learnt the javali ‘Nee maatale mayanura’ in Misra Chapu compared to the popular Adi tala version and explained the evolving nature of Javali renditions over time. Krishna highlighted how the Dhanammal family transformed the compositions they inherited, emphasising their creative flexibility in challenging the grammatical boundaries of ragas using the example of the composition by Subbarama Dikshitar ‘Kanthimathi’. He also highlighted a few key phrases found in the padams presented earlier - the unusual Thookal madhyamam in ‘Bala vinave’ which yet sounded like authentic Kamboji – thereby putting forth a question to ponder upon in the minds of current-day musicians, “Do we box ourselves within the established strict grammar of ragas?” On the whole, the presentation provided valuable insights on Padams and Javalis as a form.