The Aesthetics of Caste | TM.Krishna | Sebastian And Sons|

The Aesthetics of Caste | TM.Krishna | Sebastian And Sons| #tmkrishna | Democratize Art |#ASKCTalks
AKSC Talks Series:
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Art belongs to people and its makers. T.M. Krishna through music, writings and activism challenges the lie of brahminical purity, orthodoxy / hierarchy of Sabha. His book “Sebastian and Sons” absorbs the caste reality of instruments (Mridangam) and the contribution of expert instrument makers who are predominantly Dalits. An insider to the privilege of Carnatic music but outsider to the periphery of Mridangam making world he strives to collapse this hierarchy.
T.M. Krishna explains his struggles to democratize art & music and open this avenue of self expression for the masses.
Culture / Art is Political:
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With the political, legal and democratic institutions under attack, the cultural spaces - food, arts, science are also hijacked by the crony capital and casteist classes (shetji-bhatji). Glaring example of this is the grotesque display of wealth looted from taxpayers, the public sectors in a wedding costing half billion dollars. This in a country like India which ranks at bottom in the human development index. Like oil the music reels were drilled, manufactured, refined, youtube-ed to ears for harvest of likes & shares. The Agenda of the ruling classes is simple - To distract us from issues of inequality/poverty through staged ‘cultural’ performances from entertainers brought from around the world and thus normalize, legitimize the loot and order of inequality. The majority remains passive consumers & partly responsible for their agenda. Carnatic Music and Sabha culture is no different.
Carnatic Music:
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The very existence of Carnatic music’s and its so-called claim to “divinity”, “purity”, tradition rests on the labor of the depressed classes / dalit makers . Central to this is Mridangam made out of cow, buffalo, goat skin. As a maker notes (in Chapter 6) that he exists at the threshold between the brahmin artist and the cow. Without him the cow skin cannot be part of Mridangam. Before him it is Tōl (skin), after his work it becomes Muttu (membrane). In simple testimonies this book reveals the expertise, entrepreneurship and struggles of Mridangam makers within the rigid brahminical world they operate in.
Art can be an instrument of social change. Revolutionary art has always challenged oppression. Art of Narayan Surve, Annabhau Sathe, Bob Marley, Maya Angelou, Michael Jackson, Arivu, Sheetal Sathe and many more disturbs & questions the oppressors. This book, while questioning the aesthetics of Carnatic music itself, celebrates the knowledge and craftsmanship of Dalit maker-artists of the Mridangam.