Identity, Adaptability, and Transformation:

An Interview with TRICHY SANKARAN

Wednesday, 23 October, 13

Wednesday, 23 October, 13

Trichy Sankaran - Background

- born 1942, in Tiruchirappalli (Trichy), Tamil Nadu, India

- began playing mrdangam at age 5, formal learning at age 7 under traditional gurukula system

- professional debut at age 13; top-ranking Karnatic performer in India, proponent of the Pudhukottai lineage of mrdangam playing

- joined Toronto’s York University music faculty in 1971; co-founded South Indian Music Program with Jon B. Higgins

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Major Written Works

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Interview Focus/Questions

How was the Karnatic rhythmic system received when you first arrived in Canada?

What kind of challenges did you face performing or composing for non-Karnatic traditions?

How did you negotiate existing concepts of time-keeping, time-marking, and improvisation in your experiences with cross-cultural music-making?

In your career, did you play any non-Karnatic instruments, either under formal or informal circumstances?

What cultural insights did you gain, if any, through performing and improvising with performers from other traditions? E.g., Concept of time (musical and non-musical), attitudes about free/strictly-timed playing

Wednesday, 23 October, 13

Key points from the Interview:

- Emphasis on open-mindedness – allows for extension, re-interpretation, and contribution of traditional principles in contemporary musical culture

- Constantly shifting and balancing among multiple roles: – self-identified as “indigenous performer,” “rule-bound,” “tradition-bound” – “contemporary role” – collaborating with other percussionists, composing in non-Karnatic

idioms – pioneering teaching methods for Karnatic music – mrdangam notation, solkattu as

rhythmic pedagogy, Karnatic rhythmic system in musicianship training

- Cross-cultural experiences and opportunities in Canada have transformed Sankaran’s notions of rhythm, musical time, and other aspects of performance and composition

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3 Major Themes- personalised- positive

Identity (personal vs collective; major theme in ethnomusicology, esp. collective identity)

- multiple roles – traditionalist – deeply rooted in Karnatic tradition; highly respected, top-ranking performer in

India – contemporary musician – collaborates with non-Karnatic musicians/ensembles – performer – continues to promote the art of mrdangam playing and Karnatic percussion – teacher – university lecturer of Karnatic music – scholar – continuous research in indigenous South Indian percussion traditions

Adaptability (external)

- from classical Karnatic performer to university professor- from classical Karnatic performance setting to multi-cultural performance contexts- from oral teaching to written/visual teaching methods

Transformation (internal)

- notions of rhythm, time-keeping, time-marking changed as a result of cross-cultural collaborations- new notions reflected on, absorbed in a constantly expanding performative and compositional

vocabulary

Insights:

Wednesday, 23 October, 13

On Identity“I am convinced that certain cultures - the ones which believe that these traditions have to be safeguarded, unhybridized - I really respect that, because they are invaluable. Still, we draw from tradition. We talk about tradition. There is so much respect and so much that one can learn from the traditional principles. That's where I come in, how I can still keep my traditional role, and how I can keep my contemporary role.”

“I’m thankful to God I am in such a position, having one foot there, and one foot here, and to enjoy the best of both worlds...”

“I was fascinated at the idea of going abroad, but not seeking a job or anything. So I'm very different from the majority of the categories of people who come here, for better opportunities and things like that...at the beginning I was not thinking about that at all, but at the same time, I was interested in university teaching...”

Wednesday, 23 October, 13

On Adaptability“Back then [the] primary focus was on performance, but gradually I got

interested in teaching and developing new methods. And, gradually but quickly, my interest grew in teaching and explaining this unspoken and unwritten tradition of mrdangam playing.”

“One day [Jon Higgins] asked me, “Sankaran, how about you talk about mrdangam solo?” “Talk about mrdangam solo – why don't I come and play?” “No, I want you to explain what goes on.” See, that kind of opened the door for me. I started contemplating on how to relate to people who are so unfamiliar with this tradition. That's the interesting thing, and also a most challenging thing for me.”

“Speaking of notation, very interesting. When we got together for rehearsals in gamelan, we were wondering about – because, Indonesia follows a system called cipher notation...And then the Balinese go one way, and the Javanese go the other way. There were so many complications. And then finally we decided, we'll go to Western notation.”

Wednesday, 23 October, 13

“When I first heard, for example, a string quartet, playing a Mozart piece or something, that's the first time I realized, how there can be music without drums?? These were all new things for me, because I have always heard in my culture, even if you take folk music, classical music, any festivity, drumming is so important, drumming is part of it. Here I am listening to...no tala! But rhythm can exist. See? Doesn't mean they are not playing in rhythm. They are. So revealing, and so I was fascinated by the whole idea of how you can really appreciate rhythm, even in a non-drumming tradition.”

On Transformation

“...[There were] some special concerts in Toronto, where both Abraham [Adzenyah] and I would be featured as two master drummers, one from Africa, and one from India. And we had exchange of ideas and patterns. Remarkable. So this is where it kind of changed my notion even about tala and all that. So I would be playing for a bell, and sometimes even without the bell and how I would listen to the other drummer, and how I would respond, like, how my whole notion of rhythm changed, the whole notion of time-keeping, like it's not necessarily only strict time-keeping, but how you can also really, you know, just go with the flow.”

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Future Directions I: Academic Resources

- Guilbault’s ideas (1997) useful in the study of Toronto world music scene: - de-simplification of people's identities - Toronto consists of complex layers ethnic, social, economic, cultural/artistic processes - re-definititions of bonds, boundaires, and borders - how individuals define their borders, what boundaries they impose on themselves,

musically, culturally, economically

- Shelemay’s rethinking of the notion of “community” and “collectivity”(Shelemay 2011) - Does Toronto have a cohesive, self-aware world music community? Does the music made here infer or dispute the idea of the existence

of such a community? What kind of ideas about tradition and innovation are being transmitted through these hybridized repertoires?

- Monson’s “Repetition, Riffs, and Grooves” (1999) - - Approaching musical life stories with a focus on musical devices in understanding global musical circulation; forming interpretive ideas

that are able to move among several levels of analysis, such as the identity-adaptation-transformation trilogy

- Slobin’s “Musical Multiplicity” (1997) - Findings on Toronto world music scene may contribute to discussions on emerging musical identities

Wednesday, 23 October, 13

Future Directions II: Potential Areas of Study

- Toronto world music scene as a distinct ethnography - Collection of diverse musical life stories and narratives in understanding the processes and views of individuals working

under both homogeneous (traditional) and heterogenous (global, collaborative) ideologies

- Comparative studies on first- and second-generation Toronto world musicians - Their body of work as reflections of differing notions of personal and cultural identity, tradition-bearing roles, etc. E.g.

Trichy Sankaran vs his daughter Suba Sankaran (pianist, vocalist, member of Indo-jazz fusion band autorickshaw)

- Personal interest and involvement in percussion traditions - Artists’ changing perceptions and values of musical time, time-keeping, time-marking through inter-cultural music-

making experiences

- Themes in original compositions by Toronto world music artists - Exploring their affinities, preoccupations, values, and intended messages - non-political themes are just as revealing as

political ones

- What is/is there a “Toronto world music” identity?

Wednesday, 23 October, 13

“The finer qualities of classicism in the art of mrdangam playing reached their height in the hands of my Guru Palani Pillai...Palani Subramania Pillai soon established himself as the true descendent of the Pudhukkottai bani. At the same time, he was creative, and he specialized in gumukhi playing and the art of accompaniment which later came to be known as Palani style. Tradition has much to offer, yet it was individual artistry and creativity that brought these artists to the limelight and secured them an exalted position in their respective fields.”

Musical excerpt: “Carnatic Concerto - Kuntalavarali” - composed by Trichy Sankaran, performed by Trichy Sankaran (mrdangam), Suba Sankaran (piano), Ernie Toller (Saxophone), Lalitha Sankaran (tamboura). From the album “Catch 21” (2002)

From the page “The Glory of Pudhukottai Tradition” on the website www.trichysankaran.com:

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