We Need To Bridge The North-South Musical Divide To Popularise Indian Classical Music Says,Santoor Legend Tarun Bhattacharya

Santoor legend and Sangeet Natak Akademi winner Pandit Tarun Bhattacharya in a recent media interaction said, It is the responsibility of Indian classical musicians to bridge the musical divide between Hindustani Classical Music, primarily North Indian in character and the Carnatic Music, primarily South Indian classical gharanas.

He says, “By doing so we are limiting the audience reach as well as not effectively popularising both the forms. We need to aware that our genre of music is greatly impacted by every modern form of music and thanks to the digital age we are severely constrained by this divide.  We as classical practitioners and Gurus face a herculean task trying to attract and keep the interest alive among the next generation of musicians in Indian classical music with so much of influence of International as well as film music on them, so this divide has to be bridged.”

“The leader of modern India, Narendra Modi ji has been propagating One Nation philosophy and bridging this musical divide can be another step towards strengthening India. Since we are celebrating the Amrit Kal of Indian Independence, I humbly declare that it shall be my effort to popularise the different genres of Indian music across the country. Let the North-South divide no longer remain in Indian music.”

He further states, “ We do not need to compromise on the grammar, technique or mathematics of either Hindustani Classical Music or Carnatic music to make it popular   in each other’s existing musical domains. It is only about making the listeners more tuned to each other’s forms and here my musician brothers and sisters need to rise to the challenges and just not Jugalbandis will do but also perform the two forms on One stage. We mostly see that South Indian music attracts only listeners from South India diasporas and vice versa, the intermingling of music patrons almost never happens, this has to change. If we are serious about Indian classical music and all its formats, One Nation and One Musical Stage has to be happen.”

“I am very hopeful that there will be a metamorphosis of mindsets towards this divide and India will celebrate its musical diversity in unity and not in exclusion,” concludes maestro Tarun Bhattacharya.