Lamenting the dearth of cultural icons
THE Indian community is prone to a serious malady which I refer to as the Catherine Wheel Syndrome.
The Catherine wheel is a firework set off during traditional Deepavali celebrations. It is mounted on a fence or pole with a pin through its center. When ignited, it rotates quickly, producing showers of sparks, coloured flames and a piercing, whizzing sound.
However, despite the flashy, noisy performance, when all is over, the Catherine wheel remains in the same place.
So too with some ostentatious, high profile members of the community. They make a big hullabaloo when confronted by an issue and give all sorts of undertakings.
But no sooner has the dust settled or the fog lifted, and you realise their promises are empty. The issue is not taken any further. There is no progress.
I was reminded of the Catherine Wheel Syndrome recently when I realised how culturally poorer the community had become following the death of Tholsiah “TP” Naidoo, founder and director of the Indian Academy of South Africa.
Soon after his passing, many personalities pledged to keep the flag of Indian culture flying. Some undertook to ensure the Indian Academy remained active. Others undertook to establish a similar organisation to promote the Indian performing arts.
I dismiss all these assurances as hot air, because since his demise there has been a marked decline in the calibre and frequency of Indian cultural stage performances.
The truth is that it will not be easy to replace Naidoo. He was the Indian Academy and the Indian Academy was him. They had a symbiotic relationship. Never mind that he had a committee of up to two dozen red-coated members of the council.At the end of the day, it was Naidoo who called the shots.
Even his daughter Vasantha’s best intentions to resuscitate the Indian Academy after Naidoo’s demise have failed to reach any great heights.
Naidoo founded the Indian Academy in 1960, the year that saw the birth of the Academy’s flagship publication, the Indian Annual.
For the next five decades he reigned supreme as the cultural icon of the South African Indian community and immersed himself in the promotion of Indian culture and performing arts. He pioneered bringing out top entertainers from India despite international sanctions in the 1970s.
Naidoo spearheaded projects that saw scores of famous entertainers performing in South Africa – artists such as Gopi Krishna, the Veeramani Brothers, Pithukuli Murugadas, Gemini Ganasen, TM Sounderarajan, Uma Bharathi, Manna Dey, Unni Krishnan and Dr M Balamuralikrishna.
He was the kingpin behind the annual Swami Thyagaraja Music Festival, and such was the sophistication of his prowess as an impresario, that it was one of the rare events that afforded women the opportunity to flaunt their rich silk Kanjivaram saris at the Durban City Hall or Playhouse Opera Theatre, where visiting and local singers and musicians held centre stage.
The gifted orator and multitalented promoter pioneered the Nadaraja and Golden Peacock Awards, which recognised outstanding and selfless community service as well as business acumen.
Races
Men and women of all races and from all walks of life were recognised for their achievements and community spiritedness.
In 2010, India’s President Prathiba Patil presented Naidoo with the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award in New Delhi for promoting Indian culture.
While Naidoo did more than most others to promote Indian, song, music and dance, he did have his detractors. There were those who despised him, claiming he lived off his wits and used the Indian Academy as a family bank account.
I can say without fear of being contradicted that most of those who funded and supported the Indian Academy in reality supported Naidoo only out of a sense of loyalty and acquaintanceship.
The Indian Academy was not publicly accountable. Its office bearers were not democratically elected.
The financial records of the Indian Academy were not held up for public scrutiny despite it having received funding from public organisations such as the National Lottery and Durban Arts and major corporates such as Absa, Pick n Pay and Toyota.
Personally, I cannot say Naidoo was 100% scrupulous. I always regarded him as a 60-40. Yes, 40% of all he received went into his pockets. But the community gained 60%.
Who else had the brain, brawn and balls to put on the excellent standard of concerts with the highest stature of artistes that Naidoo did for 50 years? Was he expected to do this for mahala?
Naidoo was a true master of showbiz. That was his profession. He was entitled to make some money in exchange for his entrepreneurship. And those who imbibed the song, music and dance he staged can have no grouses, for they thrived on the spoils of his ventures.
Five years after Naidoo breathed his last, all the Catherine wheels that made a lot of noise about launching a national organisation that would be a custodian of Indian culture remain silent.
We have too many religious organisations such as temples – some headed by bogus and crooked priests – that only concern themselves with reciting mantras, singing bhajans and breaking coconuts and more coconuts.
There is a plethora of organisations that only confine themselves to promoting the vernacular, such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati and Urdu.
While most of these are progressive and have rightly spurned exclusivism, some continue to espouse a parochial or myopic attitude and condemn interlinguistic and inter-religious harmonising.
Hence there is a need for a truly representative, properly constituted, democraticallyelected body to espouse the cultural pursuits of the entire Indian community, with special emphasis on nurturing and sustaining the performing arts for all language and religious groups.
The US has scores of such organisations.
The Indo-American Arts Council Inc supports all the artistic disciplines in classical, fusion, folk and innovative forms influenced by the arts of India. It works cooperatively with colleagues around the US to broaden collective audiences and to create a network for shared information, resources and funding.
Soorya Performing Arts is an organisation dedicated to promoting Indian classical dance, music and theatre from India in the state of Missouri and across the US. It has dedicated itself to sharing knowledge of traditional Indian art forms such as Bharatanatyam and Kathak, and classical music forms such as Carnatic and Hindustani music.
The Academy of Indian Performing Arts is dedicated to promoting Indian fine arts in the New England region of the US. The Academy’s mission is to educate mainstream America to understand and appreciate Indian art forms.
In Chicago, Kalapriya’s mission is to support, celebrate and present to a wide range of audiences, the dance and music of India through performances, workshops, educational outreach programmess, and formal dance instruction.
Surati is a not-for-profit performing arts organisation and entertainment company whose mission is to promote Indian art and culture in New Jersey.
Many similar Indian cultural and performing arts bodies exist in Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius and the UK.
The recent establishment of the South African Indian Dance Association, under the guidance of Smeeta Maharaj of the Nateshwar Dance Academy, bodes well for uniting – or at least trying to unite – dance schools and giving direction and fostering control and co-ordination.
But what about other art forms, such as singing, music and theatre?
An umbrella body that will help to preserve Indian cultural roots in South Africa is a priority.
The cultural and artistic pursuits of our ancestors can help us enrich our lives and feel more connected.
The disciplines of music and dance can provide structure to our personal lives and the lives of our youth.
Indian artistic practices are constantly evolving as they are influenced by exposure to crosscultural exchanges.
A national Indian cultural and performing arts council will ensure the preservation of the unique Indian essence that defines the Indian diaspora.
Such an association will also be able to liaise with the national and provincial Departments of Arts and Culture as well as the Indian Council for Cultural Relations for funding and other resources.
At least with TP Naidoo we got a 60% cultural return – far more than we do today.