Waves of excitement envelope Nishagandhi auditorium in Thiruvananthapuram a little before Agam’s concert begins. Agam’s lead singer and frontman Harish Sivaramakrishan beams as he hears the applause and the catcalls all the way in the green room where we try to tune in for a quick interview on the sidelines of the Mathrubhumi Books International Literary Festival 2019.
The Carnatic progressive rock band has been rocking the indie music scene in the country and giving Carnatic music a new soundscape that segues into new sounds without tampering with the solid Carnatic base of the compositions the group performs. Even as event managers walk in and out to set things in place for the concert, Harish settles in to talk about Agam’s signature music.
His shoulder-length curly hair is tied in a ponytail and his heavily inked left arm creates invisible patterns in the air as he expounds on his approach to Agam’s music and songs of success.
“My decision to take to Carnatic music in the style that Agam does is because of two reasons. One, it is my unfettered love for Carnatic music; it is the only music I know and was trained in. Every other kind of music happened when I was growing up. Carnatic music is what I relate to the most and also understand and enjoy the most. Secondly, I strongly believe that the [traditional] format is limiting, it is boring and predictable,” he explains, racing through his words as it is almost time for a sound check on stage.
He asserts that Carnatic music as an art is extremely liberating and that there is so much to learn and explore. Taking Malayalam film music as an example, he elaborates that Malayalam film songs, right from the sixties to the present day, have been built on the solid foundation of Carnatic music. He points out how film music has become popular among people of all ages and walks of life.
Harish Sivaramakrishnan | Photo Credit: Aswin VN
“If you take the same raga and sing a kriti, there might be many who would yawn. So, it is basically the format and not the raga or the presentation [that is limiting]. It becomes a formalised way of presenting a raga, which gives it an unnecessary air of seriousness,” says the 38-year-old musician, who is also chief design officer of CRED.
According to Harish, a typical Carnatic concert gives the impression that listeners must have a certain degree of understanding of technicalities though half the people who come for a concert may not grasp the nuances. “Some of them come because they want to be seen to be fitting in. I call them the ‘fitting-in-janata’. I did not want to create anything for that janata or for those who go for only one kind of presentation. So, we try to break it. We are not the first one to do that. Over the years, there have been efforts to find new formats,” he adds.
He does not agree with the suggestion that, perhaps, they are the most successful band to experiment with this kind of a presentation of Carnatic music.
“Debatable,” he says with a grin. “In our period, we did create a soundscape that has erstwhile not been tried,” he adds.
Understanding the young
Harish says he is still trying to understand young people of today. “So, our concerts have people from the age of six to 60. What I realise is that when I tell them that this is music that anyone can enjoy and when they see someone like me performing Carnatic music, we are breaking artificial walls,” says the singer.
Agam in concert | Photo Credit: M Vedhan
Agreeing that appreciation of Carnatic music is nuanced, he, however, asserts that that does not mean it is difficult. Moreover, it is not necessary that everyone gets the nuances. He says some people are “blessed” and so they understand even the subtle nuances and intricacies in the music but there are also listeners who simply enjoy the music or the ambience created by Agam. “Many people seem to like the democraticisation we are doing. That is what led us to do it. For Agam, it was all about finding a new format and we are doing that with some degree of success,” he feels.
And what has been the response from the world of Carnatic music? “All sorts of responses have come from traditional practitioners of Carnatic music, ranging from very welcoming to very critical. A lot are in the middle. But the belief is that a majority of the practitioners have been positive or neutral to our music. They feel that this is a different way of practising Carnatic music. Their attitude is that they may or may not practise Carnatic music like we do it and they may or may not have a view on whether it should be done or not, but they are welcoming of our way of rendering Carnatic music,” he says.
Harish explains that there are also musicians who feel that the existing format is fine and should not be tampered with. “Since Carnatic music requires a lot of practice, time and effort should be taken in safeguarding it in the format as we know it.”
Given the fact that Agam has chosen popular kritis of Tyagaraja, Dikshitar and Swathi Thirunal to present those in their own style, how do they choose a composition to sing? Harish says the thumb rule is to go for compositions that have not been usually chosen by other musicians to experiment with. “Some have been picked up for different formats and those have been done well. Our frame of reference are those untried ones. For instance, Tyagaraja’s ‘Manavyalakinchara’ in Nalinakanthi has been largely untapped. Similarly, Swathi’s ‘Panimathi mukhi’, Dikshitar’s ‘Rangupura Vihara’ etc. are not all that heard amongst music bands. Obviously, when we do such numbers, we are protected from being compared to,” he explains. He continues that there are other numbers that we feel might not lent themselves to a new format. “Then there is the challenge of making it work, of pushing the envelope. That is a pretty satisfying exercise,” he avers, the excitement and joy evident in his voice.
Hailing from Shoranur in Palakkad, Harish was initiated into Carnatic music at the age of four. However, like most children, he was indifferent to the music and learnt it only at his family’s insistence. It was only when he was about 14 or 15 that he began to enjoy the music and understand its breadth and depth. “In retrospect, I am grateful that my family forced me to learn music. They probably thought I could hold my notes and made me continue my music lessons,” he recalls.
Age of the Internet
Having found a firm footing in the music scene in India, Harish candidly says Agam would not have reached anywhere without social media. “We have a large fan base in Singapore. We were sold out in one of the largest auditoriums in Singapore. That was in 2017. It was very proud and humbling at the same time. The joy lay in the fact that our music had reached that far. Had it not been for social media, this would not have been possible.”
His evaluation is that phone internet has democraticised sharing of music, and availability of YouTube on mobile phone and WhatsApp enhanced the visibility and footprint of Agam.
Evaluating the arc of Agam, Harish believes that while Agam is scaling up, they still would not be able to match up to groups singing popular songs. Although he can be heard in films like Solo and Our Vadakkan Selfie, Harish insists that playback singing requires a versatility that his voice may not have. “I would be happy to work in film music but I know my limitations and I am comfortable with that. I like to make music that is within my realm of strengths,” he quips.
Composing for films, he says, would be interesting. “I have never thought about that. It is a wish but I don’t know how successful that would be.” His assessment is that both the director and he himself might find it uncomfortable to work as he would not want to, for instance, compose an electronic dance music track while the music director might be happier with someone with a wider range of compositions. “I work with depth and film music also requires breadth.” Correcting himself, he adds “I am speaking for myself. Agam would be able to take that up.”
By now, the stage has been set and it’s time for Harish to go on stage to plug into the ecstatic crowds. And rock, he did!
AMBITIOUS PROJECT
“We are working on an ambitious project. On March 14, at the Music Academy in Chennai, we will be performing live with Ranjini-Gayathri. They wanted to be part of this format and we also want to be part of their journey. So, we are excited about that production and we are working on a whole bunch of new music. We will be having a week-long intense practice session in late February. We will have to see how successful we are in coming up with new creations for this.”