raag | madhuvanti { my longings };

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Okay, now to the post:

Is it wrong to dislike something or somebody?

I am sure most of you will say that its only natural that someone likes something, while somebody else doesnt. But my recent experiences discussing my dislikes about a person's music has made me think otherwise. I am an ardent music lover and I keep a pretty open mind towards all forms of music. (well almost... except heavy metal & grunge.. i refuse to accept it as music. Very personal feeling. period.)

The person in discussion here is padmabhushan Sri K J Yesudas. I have been listening to his film music & carnatic music ever since i was a small kid. I still remember myself listening to songs like "pranasakhi...", "Thaamasamenthe varuvaan...","Innale mayangumbol..." etc with awe and admiration to the great master. He indeed is a veteran and the man with the golden voice. On the contrary, when I used to hear his carnatic renditions like "Ksheera saagara...","Etha vunara...","Kripaya paalaya..." etc, I could feel that this doesnt have the magnetism that his film numbers have.

Through the years, I slowly learnt the fundamental differences between film music and carnatic music. Film music is about reproducing a tune composed by a music director with ur voice where the imagination of the composer has a little higher weightage than the singer's. On the contrary, carnatic music is firmly based on "manodharma sangeetham" where the singer's imagination has utmost importance. I always felt shri KJY is unmatched in his renditions of those great songs composed by M S Baburaj, Dakshinamoorthy & Raveendran master. But his manodharma and carnatic renditions made me slowly dislike his carnatic style. His over emphasizing pronounication was also not acceptable to me. this was the times when I started getting addicted to Padmashri Madurai T N Seshagopalan's music. He was a master of imaginative and unconventional singing. His manodharmam is unmatched. I knew comparing artistes is incorrect but I couldn help compare these artistes whom I adored so much.

Then came the times that I got hooked on to this form of music called Ghazal, and the legendary musician called Hariharan. His voice, his singing, his improvisations made me idolize him. Hariharan brought in the much needed freshness by improvising the pre-composed film songs also. I wrote all this history to point out why I like Hariharan's ghazals, TNS's carnatic and KJY's malayalam songs.

Now, is it wrong in being vocal about my dislikes about KJY's carnatic music. As a citizen of a country which allows free expression, I have all rights to be vocal about what I felt. Most of the guys who idolize shri KJY come to me and tell me that I am arrogant and I have no respect for the great Artist. Shri KJY is gaana gandharvan, no doubt about that! but his carnatic music leaves far more to b desired and thats my taste. No one can victimize me just for the fact that they love shri KJY. The saddest part is that the opposition comes not due to any musical reason, it just comes out of the hero worshipping mentality of people. Anything said against the music of KJY is most of the times taken as an insult to the artiste! Thats absurd! Its the music that is criticized and not the person

As much as the people have rights to like a person, I have my rights to dislike a person. People have come and told me that "Whatever you say about dasettan (shri KJY) YOU will never become as great as him". Thats when I lose it! Where am I saying I am equal or bigger that KJY? I am only giving my opinion. 9/10 cricket fan these days criticize Sourav Ganguly! Does that mean we all needs to be equal or bigger than him to criticize him? Bull crap! Its just the intellectual slavery of people for an artiste that makes them so intolerant to the criticism! In malayalam they say "kundilirikkum thavalakkunju...." the frog sitting in the well knows only the walls of the well. I feel these blind hero worshippers are no different from that!

I feel this unquestioning attitude and the submissive nature of people to any artiste is going to majorly hinder the growth of music. Till my last breath, I will continue to express my likes and dislikes towards the music rendered by popular artistes irrespective of their experience, acceptance or stature. i am not enslaved to any artiste here, I am a music lover and thats all!

If people think its my arrogance that makes me criticize an artiste, B*lls to all of them, I dont give a fscking damn!

And no one has the prophetic skills to tell me what I am capable of or what I will achieve!

Long live music, Long live constructive critisism and Let the blind hero worship be crucified!