POINT OF VIEW

Western influence on Indian music Manohar Parnerkar

The classical music of the West has influenced instrument for accompaniment our musical culture, although it may not as well as for solo recitals. have done so in ways and on a scale easily Baluswami Dikshitar (1786- comprehensible to us. The four broad areas in 1858), brother of Muthuswami which the Western influence manifests itself Dikshitar, trained by a foreign are: (1) the two systems of classical music tutor, was among the first namely, Hindustani and Carnatic, (2) film and Indian musicians to play the light music (sugam sangeet), (3) commercial violin. Today, it is hard to TV advertising and (4) music education. imagine a Carnatic music recital without this instrument. In classical music Most significantly, for their The influence of Western classical music style and technique, Lalgudi G. on Hindustani music does not seem Jayaraman and L. Shankar— to extend significantly beyond the brilliant violin virtuosi from the south—received encomiums harmonium—an instrument of European Lalgudi G. Jayaraman origin. The harmonium, due to its inherent from one of the greatest limitations (inability to play srutis or L. Shankar violinists of the last century micro-tones and meend or glissando) Yehudi Menuhin (Menuhin and has failed to earn the wholehearted Shankar cut an album together). acceptance of purists in the Indian classical Coming to other important music fraternity. (The 22-sruti harmonium Western instruments, a few developed by Dr. Vidyadhar Oak of ingenious artists of our classical Mumbai has removed this limitation to a tradition like Hindustani considerable extent). Today the harmonium musicians Brijbhushan Kabra is easily the most popular accompanying and Vishwamohan Bhatt instrument in India among singers of (guitar), and Carnatic musicians Hindustani classical as well as light music. U. Shrinivas (C-mandolin) and On the other hand, more Western instruments Kadri Gopalnath (saxophone) have been adapted in Carnatic music. The have so cannily Indianised violin emerged long ago as the most preferred instruments of their adoption

Brijbhushan Kabra Kadri Gopalnath U. Shrinivas AKIRA IO AKIRA

46 l SRUTI August 2019 A.K.C. Natarajan Prasanna Anil Srinivasan

wedding band in some small Indian made his instrument popular in town, is quite amusing. The clarinet was Carnatic music. a part of the classical dance orchestra for Bharatanatyam several decades ago. Films and sugam sangeet It is the chosen instrument of veteran The credit for introducing Carnatic musician A.K.C. Natarajan Western orchestration in Indian who was conferred the title of Sangita film music—song as well Kalanidhi by the Music Academy, as background score—goes Madras and was honoured by the largely to the highly innovative Central Sangeet Natak Akademi for his contribution to Carnatic instrumental duo of Timir Baran and music as a clarinet artist. The guitar Pankaj Mullick. The process has been adapted to Carnatic music by inaugurated by these pioneers Prasanna. The piano too has stepped was enriched by stalwarts in with Anil Srinivasan presenting like Anil Biswas, Naushad, collaborative concerts with Carnatic the duo of Shankar-Jaikishan, vocalists and instrumentalists. New and Salil Chowdhury; later it York based, 29-year old Utsav Lal has was taken to newer heights earned international fame as a pianist by R.D. Burman, Ilayaraja who plays Hindustani classical music. (no mean composer of The piano or for that matter any key- Western classical music) and board instrument, suffers from the K. Sathyanarayana A.R. Rahman. As a result, same limitations that the harmonium most film songs composed does. By incorporating several nuances, that we may sometimes wonder about in the last eighty years or keyboard artist K. Sathyanarayana has their true origin. The clarinet is one so have employed Western Western instrument which Mozart orchestration of some kind or loved and for which he wrote one of his Utsav Lal the other as an embellishment finest concertos. The instrument entered tool and also to fortify them our music through the bands and later became popular in the folk theatre of with harmony. Film music the northern states and Bengal. The composers have resorted to incongruity of the small town Indian this device to achieve texture clarinetist cheerfully entertaining the with chordal arrangement and/ often rustic audiences of nautanki and or counterpoint. jatra or his lording it over a rag-tag

47 l SRUTI August 2019