‘Vikku lives with the rhythm’

The ghatam maestro's son Selvaganesh spoke to Kritika Dua about the intricacies of Carnatic music and why the knowledge helps him adapt other genres

Everybody knows that Vikku Vinayakram is the force behind popularising ghatam, an earthen pot, as a source of primal music. But when the Grammy award-winning veteran percussionist matched beats and rhythms with three generations of his family on the ghats of Pushkar, we knew how Carnatic music could find its relevance among young listeners. 

At 75, Panditji speaks rarely, preferring to patch up stray conversations. His son Selvaganesh, who plays hand drums, exclaimed, “As a family, this is our first performance at The Sacred Pushkar concert. As a three-generation group, my father, me, and my son, Swaminathan performed together. We have been to numerous festivals in India and across the globe but this ambience gave a great colour to our music. Carnatic music is a lot about improvising, even though we are fixed on the endpoints.  So whatever happens on stage is due to the ambience which is based on the vibes we get from the audience. If you think that the concert was good, the credit goes to Pushkar and the spectators. They added to the overall experience.” As if in consonance, Swaminathan creates some melodious tunes with kanjeera.

Vinayakram has been a percussionist for 62 years, having forayed into it at 13. “I learnt from my father; he is my guru. It was him who insisted that I should learn the artform, and it is god’s grace that I have reached this point,” the man himself told us, interceding. While Vinayakram learnt from his father, Selvaganesh learnt from him and  his uncle. “My prime teacher is my uncle. That’s because  when I started learning percussion, father was already travelling and performing mostly outside the country. Even though my uncle kept busy, he somehow found the time to teach me. But my son Swaminathan has learnt percussion from my father.” They have a saying that if a son learns from his father, it won’t go through him. So Swaminathan is expected to carry forward the legacy of his grandfather.

Selvaganesh divulged details about his father’s riyaaz. “He is 75. Dhanurmas starts around December 14 and extends up to the middle of January. During this period, he wakes up by four in the morning and does his riyaaz till six. Other than that, whenever he has the time, he practises music. If you see his hand, it seems he is always calculating something. He sways his fingers even during sleep. In that sense, he has internalised his  riyaaz; he lives with the rhythm. We all are on our path of learning, observing him. Even though it is really difficult at times, we try our best.”

He believes that learning music requires thorough dedication as well as discipline. “In the beginning, one needs to dedicate unlimited time and dedication to riyaaz. The more time one spends with it, the more one will learn the finesse of the craft and use it to refine one’s performance. So dedication is a prerequisite according to me.”

The sons have performed at acclaimed festivals, including NH7 Weekender and Rock festivals. “Every where we go, we try to present our music in a different manner. We come from a traditional South Indian background but we produce music in a contemporary manner so that we can reach to the younger audience.”

He believes that we all live with rhythm, though we fail to recognise it. “As a rhythm player, I can say that we don’t even realism that we all live with rhythm. Which is why when one listens to a rhythm, one immediately turns around and feels a sense of familiarity. It happens as it resides within us. The heartbeat goes with a certain rhythm. We talk with rhythm, we walk with it, everything in this world goes with a rhythm. Without knowing it, we all live with it, so it’s quite easy for us to draw the audience — holding their attention, controlling their minds. Our criteria is to tell people that rhythm is not isolated from them, it is not separate from their identities, it is inside them. So we interact with the audience a lot.”

Swaminathan expressed his views on the complexities of Indian classical music: “If you know Carnatic music, then you are good enough to play any form of music according to me. It is the base encompassing all the essential elements. I learnt the rhythm from my grandfather and it is a pure classical Carnatic rhythm. When I try to jam with different musicians across the world, it’s quite easy for me to understand. But they do not understand or imbibe my genre that easily. The Carnatic rhythm comes with its own set of complexities and thus is not easily understandable by artists who are unaware about its grammar. So, if one is thorough about classical music, it is a piece of cake to grasp other forms.”