A Lalgudi disciple is bringing change to Karnatik concerts

Shreya Devnath and her quartet are offering a fresh take on a classical form, writes N Krishna- murthy

Artistes like Shreya Devnath are attempting to present Karnatik music in innovative new formats. Shreya’s band A Carnatic Quartet is drawing younger audiences. Largely, audiences for Karnatik music are on the older side.

During the 2023 Margazhi festival in Chennai, the secretary of a well-known sabha said, “The canteens are always full but bringing the crowds inside the hall is a challenge.” 

A disciple of the legendary Lalgudi Jayaraman, Shreya would enjoy listening to her mother singing Karnatik compositions at home. “I don’t know what you are singing. But it is nice and I want to be able to sing it too,” she often told her. That was the beginning of her obsession with music. Today, Shreya is an accomplished violinist, and has started several new initiatives to take her music to a wider audience. Apart from touring countries like the US, UK and Singapore, she recently mentored some participants at an international South Asian music and dance festival in Australia. 

Shreya was under the tutelage of Lalgudi Jayaraman for many years, until his death in 2013. “He was passionate and paid great attention to detail,” she said. Some of that passion was passed down to her. 

Many of us who have heard Lalgudi play are familiar with his leisurely grace. The style has come to be known as ‘Lalgudi bani’. He could make the violin ‘sing’. 

“I have obsessed over his music. He has taught me the values that he was sure I would need to go on this journey on my own. He taught me how to teach myself,” she said. 

Conventional concert organisers find it challenging to hold even unticketed concerts regularly, because the response is poor. A local sabha in Bengaluru, of which I am a part, finds it hard to sustain its very existence.

In a recent article, journalist and author Shoba Narayan talked about the need to reinvent Karnatik music. “There is no group of musicians who meet at cafes, like the impressionists did in Paris,” she said, arguing that it was time to think out of the box.

A Carnatic Quartet brings together two diverse instruments, the violin and the nadaswaram. One, a soft instrument and the other loud, and generally played in temples and weddings.

The team has Shreya on violin, Mylai Karthikeyan on nadasawaram, Praveen Sparsh on mridangam and Gummudipoondi R Jeeva and Adyar G Silambarasan, playing tavil alternately.

The team overcame a number of challenges to present the combination aesthetically. Their sound is well accepted now. “It certainly brings in new audiences,” said Shreya, but asserted that this was not the driver. The very idea of combining two contrasting instruments has appeal.

At the recent Rama Navami festival in Bengaluru, Shreya played the electric violin, instead of the acoustic one. “When there are louder instruments, the electric violin works better because it is sonically cleaner. There is no problem in amplification, though it might present me with musical and technical challenges,” she said. 

According to Shreya, there is a need for collective effort. “Karnatik music is beautiful. It is time to make every endeavour to connect with the audiences more, without rejecting tradition.” she said.

(N Krishnamurthy is the founder of a tech company. The author writes on music and travel.)