As one learns or listens to more and more music, one evolves as a rasika. For me, every music session opens a new door that forces me to reassess my tastes. Consider this. When I was young, K J Yesudas was my absolute favorite, and then it was Maharajapuram Santhanam. I spent a long period when I used to adore and mimic the way P Unnikrishnan sang. The cassette era saw me liking new comers like S P Ramh and Balaji Shankar. I then graduated to guru Neyveli Santhanagopalan, T V Sankaranarayanan, and T M Krishna. Of the older musicians, I would listen to only Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, G N Balasubramaniam, and M S Subbulakshmi. Dr. M Balamuralikrishna was another musician I used to follow (whom I respect immensely today, and believe that trying to copy his style is like playing with fire).
When cassettes started going out of fashion, I was forced to listen to music on the internet, and this is when I realized that I had been an ignorant child all along. My journey as a rasika and singer took a different route as I developed a liking to K V Narayanaswamy and Oleti Venkateswarulu. I started learning music from Girish anna, who is T Brinda's grandson and this, I believe, started refining my taste immensely. In reality it was Oleti and Brinda amma's music that affected me the most and I would like to believe that I have begun a journey towards musical excellence ever since I have been exposed to the music of these two stalwarts. However, now I find that I am able to enjoy only a few musicians, and the troubling(?) part is that these musicians are NOT current performers. Has my outlook become very narrow and is that why the current musicians fail to create any impact on me? Is my taste really getting refined?
When cassettes started going out of fashion, I was forced to listen to music on the internet, and this is when I realized that I had been an ignorant child all along. My journey as a rasika and singer took a different route as I developed a liking to K V Narayanaswamy and Oleti Venkateswarulu. I started learning music from Girish anna, who is T Brinda's grandson and this, I believe, started refining my taste immensely. In reality it was Oleti and Brinda amma's music that affected me the most and I would like to believe that I have begun a journey towards musical excellence ever since I have been exposed to the music of these two stalwarts. However, now I find that I am able to enjoy only a few musicians, and the troubling(?) part is that these musicians are NOT current performers. Has my outlook become very narrow and is that why the current musicians fail to create any impact on me? Is my taste really getting refined?
