In this episode of Waqt ki Aawaz, musician TM Krishna discusses the Tagore composition from which our national anthem is derived. He talks about, and sings, the lesser known verses that celebrate the diversity of India.
JANA GANA MANA - THE MIND OF INDIA’S PEOPLE by T.M. KRISHNA https://youtu.be/EwShvQeOONo
Scholarship in the classical sphere has for long maintained a safe distance from serious social and political questions. The few voices that have emerged have been often pushed to the margins of musical consciousness or remained in the sociological arena. The intersection between art music and socio-politics is a cardinal point of enquiry that can reveal to us the relationship between the aesthetic and the real, within and around music.
The musician and the rasika have rarely introspected about their own participation in the creation of classical pantheons, icons and myths. They have bought into the idea that the classical offers an experience of nada, moksha, nirvana, the unquantifiable 'self'. But unless we are able to remove from the music the cobwebs of self-constructed barriers, biases and discrimination truly allowing ourselves to realise the music, this theory remains a fallacy, a figment of upper caste/class imagination. As people of this land, whether or not we are inclined towards art music, an investigation into musical form, intent and context gives us an understanding of who we are as people; a melange of cultures and arts with each form giving us distinct and vital emotional experiences and shaping our minds. Jana Gana Mana