Q&A: T.M. KRISHNA
T.M. Krishna, musician, on his upcoming book, caste in Carnatic music and the legacy of Thanjavur
Q. You have a book in the works, Sebastian and Sons, on the makers of the mridangam. Can you tell us about it?
This book traces the history of the mridangam-maker and the mridangam over the past 100 years. Though it will focus on the Thanjavur tradition of making and the community of Dalit Christians who worked with upper-caste mridangam players to innovate and gift us this magnificent instrument, the book will also look at various other communities and people who are master-makers.
Q. What interested you first, the instrument or the history of the makers?
The idea came to me when my first book, A Southern
Music: The Karnatik Story, was going into its second edition. I realised that I had not touched upon instrument makers and was wondering if I needed to add a few paragraphs about them and their work. Soon, I recognised that this was an independent story that needed to be told.
Q . Do you consider Thanjavur still to be the centre of mridangam making?
Thanjavur is most certainly very important, but we also need to remember that there were similar traditions in Madras, Palghat, Vijayawada and later in Bangalore. As one would expect, the mridangam-makers moved along with the mridangam artistes. Today, in Tamil Nadu, a large number of the mridangam-makers of Thanjavur live in and around Mylapore.
Q . What would you like readers to take from your book?
This book is very different from anything I have written until now. This involved field work for two years and will be largely reportage.