Anthem argument: No-frills Nada Geete only for govt events, says C T Ravi

Long or short? Musical or not? The debate on how ‘Nada Geete’, the state anthem composed by Rashtrakavi Kuvempu, should be rendered at public events has raged for many years.

Now, the government has found a middle path.

The anthem will be played at government events without frills as recommended by a committee. But it will be allowed to undergo experimentation in its rendition at private, non-government events, according to Kannada & Culture Minister C T Ravi.

Ever since the Nada Geete — Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate — was declared as the state anthem in 2004, making it a must at official events, literary circles have frowned upon the lack of uniformity in its renditions.

There are two popular musical versions of the song — one by C Ashwath and another by Mysore Ananthaswamy. But depending on the rendition, the duration of the song lasts 4-5 minutes, with some going up to nine minutes. People found it too long to stand for the entire duration of the song.

A committee headed by Kannada Sahitya Parishat president Manu Baligar recommended in November 2018 that the Nada Geete must be uniform in form wherever it is played, with its duration capped under 2.25 minutes, and that no lines should be repeated. In 2014, another committee headed by poet Channaveera Kanavi suggested a trim to 90 seconds.

“We have thought about this. Only at government programmes, the Nada Geete will be played without music, without repetition of lines and for a shorter duration,” Ravi told DH. “But at other events, it should be allowed for experimentation.”

According to Ravi, no song should be stifled by prohibiting musical experimentation. “There are so many songs that found new life or whose popularity soared because of experimentation in rendition,” he argued. “Take K S Nissar Ahmed’s Jogada Siri Belakinalli. It became popular only after Mysore Ananthaswamy gave it music. Otherwise, for the first eight years of its creation, little was known about it.”

Baligar, however, was not convinced. “The same Nissar Ahmed and others such as M Chindananda Murthy lamented that the Nada Geete had become a curse because it lacked uniformity,” he said. “Once declared as the state anthem, it has to be uniform. It can’t be different at a government programme and a private one.”

Baligar’s committee recommended that no stanza from the Nada Geete be cut, no repetition of lines and that it can have background music without any bridge. “With all this, it’s possible to sing it within 2.20-2.25 minutes. I've demonstrated this.”