#PastForward: Karthik Hebbar discusses carnatic music's transformation, inclusivity and change in Bengaluru

It is no secret that namma Bengaluru has become an intersection of different co-existing eras across a variety of fields. In the arts, especially, Bengaluru’s past is actively evolving into a present that’s changing the definitions for the future. Carnatic music, a heritage legacy musical art form, is going through a significant transformation while also retaining its core foundations.

Analysing this trend is the focus of this Past Forward-themed conversation with carnatic classical vocalist Karthik Hebbar, who is also a writer, media and theatre personality. As a queer artiste in the city, Karthik’s regular live carnatic classical performances have helped him stay in tune with the growth of the arts and their development into a shared space, which highlights the importance of a variety of voices from across the spectrum, as well as understanding the more equitable structural change within the art form.

The artiste highlights how recent literature has brought about a change in mindset within the carnatic music space. “There is a change in mindset and the way musicians are looking at history and are engaging themselves with carnatic music. Right now, it has changed a bit due to a lot of conversations and literature that has come out in the past few years, thanks to people like TM Krishna and many other peers who have openly challenged what was taken for granted for so many years,” he highlights.

He further explains the de-centering that has been brought into concerts. “Now, there is no vocalist in the centre and an accompanist on the side. You don’t consider anybody accompanying artistes. They’re all your collaborators now. So, you sit equally. There is a change. Everybody takes centrestage,” he mentions. He points to other welcome changes in the field, “many youngsters are adopting that in their vocal presentation or in the concert presentation. In the posters of the concerts, people have started mentioning instrument makers who are otherwise neglected and forgotten. Instrument makers and ‘maintainers’ are all mentioned in the concert invitations, which is a superb change that has come.” Compositions like Chennai Poromboke Paadal of TM Krishna and the popular poem Nee Mattume by Perumal Murugan, tuned by K Arun Prakash, are some popular artworks that have brought to the fore the willingness and importance of embracing diversity in voices and subjects.

Karthik’s journey as an artiste in the city carries an innate link to the city’s largely progressive mindset. “I think, I’m very grateful that I’m in Bengaluru because if I were in any other city like Chennai, I would have died in the claustrophobia of esoteric values that the city and its art culture bring along with it, especially in classical music. In classical music, Bengaluru is much more liberal and freer in that sense. Many artistes express that,” he says.

Further delving deeper into his personal experiences in the city, he highlights, “when I started practising or performing as an artiste, I was very closeted. I carried some shame about my identity, too. So, I stuck to what was the popular culture prevalent in the classical form. But eventually, I learned to accept myself. When I came out in public about my identity, there were certain things that I refused to do. And there are certain practices that I stood against. I found that Bengaluru had the space for voices like me.” Spotlighting organisations and platforms like Lahari, where, “connoisseurs do home concerts in a very beautiful way,” and who commissioned a carnatic concert specifically for Pride Month featuring him, Karthik highlights that the city’s people and spaces have provided definitive support to voices like him.

Looking forward, Karthik believes that the generations that will follow are diverse in their voices — dalit, trans, jogappa and many others — who need more and better infrastructure to present their exciting and innovative themes. He is confident that the impact that such an art form has had on these individuals will only motivate them to find their way back to bhakti. “I’ve seen many queer people who have found a lot of liberation through this art. They are now finding their connection back to bhakti, which they thought was taboo for them. We have to claim the spaces of bhakti, of classical art and say that this does not belong to just somebody or one particular idea. But everybody has their space there,” he says on a parting note.

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