ON THAT NOTE - Memories of a Life in Music.

By SANJAY SUBRAHMANYAN with KRUPA GE.

[Published by Westland Non-Fiction. Hardcover. Pp. 166. Rs. 599. Also available as an E-book].

The book is an autobiography of musician and singer Sanjay Subrahmanyan, co-authored by journalist and novelist Krupa Ge. While the title shares its name with the YouTube series Sanjay released during the pandemic, the book is not a transcription of those videos. Instead, it offers a personalised account of his journey as a singer and the development of his music.

In the early 1990s—I don’t remember the exact date—when I first heard Sanjay Subrahmanyan in Cochin, I felt that I had ‘invented', not even ‘discovered’ a great singer. He sang Thottakkaraiyinile at the end of the kutcheri, leaving me utterly moved. Since I was an Akashvani person, I hadn’t heard much about him. Since then, he has been one of my favourite musicians. Many years later, I wrote a poem Karpooram narumo (in Malayalam); and the Tamil poet, writer, translator, and editor Sukumaran translated it to Tamil and published it in the Kaalaichuvadu magazine.

During my days as an AIR artist, we recorded interviews with legendary figures such as Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair Asan, capturing their journeys of transformation into artistic geniuses. While these greats often found it challenging to articulate the nuances of their evolution in words, Sanjay Subrahmanyan stands out as an exception. Unlike most artists who struggle to convey the subtleties of their growth, he has mastered the art of expressing his evolution with remarkable clarity and depth. Even though his personal connections are narrated in the book, the fact that music is life for him, is quite evident from the book. “

I am a ‘now and today’ kind of person ...... As a person, I strive to be as liberal as I can be. Human society is constantly evolving and I want to evolve with it.” He wrote these lines while ending his book! Yes, ‘evolving’ is the word he mostly and happily repeats in his book. Quoting specific lines or words that reflect his transformation is effortless. As you leaf through the pages, you encounter expressions like ‘conservative’, ‘modern’, ‘evolving’, ‘then I was a bit rigid’, and ‘huge shift in my music’, among others, which vividly illustrate his journey. “I experimented with new ideas and took liberties with my performances,” he says. “It’s essential to keep setting new creative goals to inject freshness to one’s craft…(page 81).” There are many instances that recount how much music he devoured passionately, and how his days were filled with live kutcheris and records.

Sanjay’s relationship with his guru K.S. Krishnamoorthy, whom he calls KSK Mama, is very special. KSK gave new compositions in whichever ragas and languages Sanjay demanded. He helped Sanjay to think creatively. When KSK passed away, Sanjay was at a loss. That guarding soul was not present anymore. Then came Mayuram S.R.D. Vaidyanathan into his life—a celebrated nagaswaram vidwan. Their connection was both deeply personal and musically enriching. After reading these pages, I listened to Sanjay’s rendition of Summa summa varuguma sugam in Athana raga, a piece that bore the unmistakable influence of SRD. It was under SRD’s guidance that Sanjay learned eight mallaris and discovered a profound truth: in art, there are no fixed rules of ‘this can be done’ or ‘this should be done.’

Sanjay writes: “Rilke’s encounters with Cezanne’s many shades of blues and the difficulties he must have overcome to describe them in his letters to his wife, the sculptor Clara Westhoff, comes to mind as I try to talk about my time with him.” About SRD, this reference gives a clear insight about his self-analysis and self-appraisal. Sanjay is very much aware of how he is evolving and wants to elaborate this to his readers. He also re-visits and re-discovers many Carnatic musicians like Balamuralikrishna. Inclusion of theatre personality Prasanna Ramaswamy, and other musicians such as Nagai Muralidharan, Prince Rama Varma, and many others help the reader understand people who have broadened his domains and helped him redefine himself. Bhakti saint poets or azhwars, mystic Kannada poetess Akka Mahadevi, Papanasam Sivan, Dandapani Desikar, T.M. Thiagarajan, D.K. Jayraman, K.V. Narayanaswamy, M.S. Subbulakshmi, Rukmini Paati, T.V. Gopalakrishnan, Ilayaraja; writers including Yuvan, Perumal Murugan ..., an unending list of personalities from various walks of life, place, and across time have moved him, and shaped him incessantly. His first radio contract and many other interesting photos add a special flavour to this book.

As an ex-artist of AIR, my radio days were special to me. I remember once how violin maestro T.N. Krishnan had spoken to me about getting the first contract from AIR when he was only nine!

From the book, Sanjay’s persona is revealed—always a learner, humorous, and willing to change with the times. His close-knit family; and his accompanists’ families— mridangist Neyveli B.Venkatesh and violinist S.Varadarajan have been fleshed out as well in the narration. I’m sure a reader who is not an ardent listener of Sanjay also can imbibe a lot of substance from this book. ‘The making and re-making of aesthetic’ is an important biographical aspect for him.

This is a book for music lovers and musicians. Sanjay elaborates how he reset a Kannada composition of Akka Mahadevi from Karaharapriya to Narayani. Sanjay acknowledged that many musicians have reset ragas like this before him. These kind of experiments and experiences make the book a musical journey.

This book is brought out by Westland, an imprint of Westland books, with beautiful cover images by Srinivasan Ramesh and cover designed by Saurabh Garge.

GIRIJA V.M.

(Malayalam poet and broadcaster)