TM Krishna winning the SangitaKalanidhi Award Has Fragmented the Carnatic Music Scene

TM Krishna has been conferred with the SangitaKalanidhi Award by The Madras Music Academy. This one incident has split this highly regarded music industry into two conflicting opinions, while few musicians have come to support TM Krishna and congratulate him for this win. But, the rest of this industry is protesting and boycotting the Music Academy Conference 2024. Few musicians are returning their awards to protest this incident.

On March 18th, The Madras Music Academy announced this, TM Krishna has always been wading through controversies with his unique approaches to break through the traditional forms with unconventional slants. Even his prominent political views also have caused distress amongst the audience. Previously, TM Krishna has been at the center of many controversies.

On 21st March, distinguished Carnatic singers Ranjani and Gayatri articulated their disapproval in vivid words and actions. They said, “His actions have tried to spread a sense of shame in being a Carnatic musician and has been exhibited through his consistent denigration of spirituality in music. He has vilified the Carnatic music fraternity that has collectively contributed millions of hours of artistry, hard work, and literature (sic).”

Then, they added, “It’s dangerous to overlook Mr TM Krishna’s glorification of a figure like EVR who – 1. Openly proposed a genocide of ‘brahmins’ 2. Repeatedly called/abused every woman in this community with vile profanity 3. Relentlessly worked to normalize filthy language in social discourse. We believe in a value system that respects art and artists, vaggeyakaras, rasikas, institutions, our roots, and culture. We will be in moral violation if we were to bury these values and join this year’s conference (sic),”

Along with Ranjani-Gayatri, renowned Carnatic musicians like Chitravina N Ravikiran have also protested for this cause, he said, “Returning SangitaKalanidhi award from the academy. I’ve taken this step after careful consideration as principles much larger than all of us are at stake. However, I’ll always remain deeply grateful to the organization for its role in my career from childhood.”

Srikrishna Mohan and Ramkumar Mohan, popularly known as Trichur Brothers, also backed out of the Music Academy Conference, calling out TM Krishna for his “extremely divisive narrative”. Ramkumar Mohan said, “To say that music can stand on its own without the lyrics is a very layman approach,” in a press meet.

Follow TM Krishna on: Facebook | Instagram| Twitter

Check out For More News Updates on Google News