Short ‘N’ Snappy

– MMM

MMM is not a Tahsildar

It was a dark and stormy night. No. The Man from Madras Musings has a tendency to exaggerate. It was a fine night, of the kind you can expect in Madras that is Chennai when the meteorological department has predicted cyclones and the Government has declared a holiday for schools. MMM was just winding up for the day when the phone rang.

On answering it MMM found a voice at the other end which clearly was of the masses. And it came to the point even before the customary exchange of courtesies. It was, it said, interested in a piece of land sold years ago by a distant relative of MMM’s and wanted to know how to contact the old man. MMM, having known by bitter experience the way land is transacted in this beloved state of ours, was instantaneously on his guard. He asked if the person at the other end was a property dealer. The man replied in the affirmative.

MMM then asked as to how he, the dealer, had got his, MMM’s number and how did he, the dealer, know that MMM was related to the old man who had sold the property years ago. It transpired that the sale deed bore the witness signature of MMM’s auditor (this is what comes of kindly sharing your auditor with elderly relatives selling properties) and his contact details were on the document. The dealer had called him and he, the auditor, had asked him to contact MMM. MMM who had looked upon this auditor as a friend realised what King Lear had meant when he lamented about people being sharper than serpent’s teeth.

He then told the dealer that he would prefer being contacted by the person actually needing the document and so could they call or send an email. The voice, none too pleased, hung up. And a few minutes later a call came from another number and this time it was the potential buyer, a lady.

She said she was surprised that it was MMM’s number she had been asked to contact for she said she knew MMM already, having been on one of his heritage walks. She then asked in all innocence if MMM had property documents for all land transactions in the city. MMM replied in the negative and asked as to why she thought so.

To this she replied that on being given MMM’s phone number she asked the dealer as to why this number was being shared as this was of a person who wrote on the city’s history. To this the dealer told her that being someone who dealt with the past, MMM had details and documents of all land bought and sold in the city! It was news to MMM that historians were also tahsildars – which office, for those who don’t know, keeps track of land records in India.

MMM did not know how to react. But he decided that his first priority was to protect the aged relative who in the intervening years since the land sale had gone practically gaga. He told the lady that as long as the transaction was genuine he did not see any reason as to why the old man had to be disturbed in the twilight of his life. She was gracious enough to agree and that was that.

MMM realised that he had passed on a lucrative career in property dealing. Could he, with his domain expertise in history now offer to apprentice himself under caller 1, namely the property dealer?

Carnatic Music – where remuneration is not to be spoken of

By the time you, my dear faithful reader, have this piece of timeless prose in your hand, the December Music Season will be in full swing – by which the Man from Madras Musings means a small group of people will go from venue to venue to listen to the same artistes, most often without buying tickets. And in most venues artistes will perform for less than minimum acceptable wages. It is a matter of eternal wonder to MMM that this is the one economic activity which beats all economic trends – while everywhere we worry about inflation, spiralling costs and rising wages, Carnatic music has stagflation all the while. The art has managed to get by on less and less.

The appellation ‘divine art’ seems to be the culprit. It therefore is believed that god takes care of performing artistes and so the listening public need not really worry. MMM also thinks that the hagiographies regularly spun about the great composers where god came at appropriate moments and set right the balance of payments position are also to blame. Even assuming that this worked for the composers, it need not for the artistes of today. Audiences and organisers need to get into the discipline of paying, and paying well at that so that aspirants feel there is a future in pursuing this art.

The post-pandemic scenario is the worst that the art has faced. During lockdown artistes began uploading performances for free on YouTube and other such platforms and audiences have come to expect it as a matter of right. Is there any other business where consumers can expect services for free? And yet this is the norm in Carnatic music. MMM notices that hardly does a musician announce on social media about a performance, giving date, time and venue when he/she is flooded with queries about whether it will be uploaded on YouTube or even worse, as a matter of right asking for the online link to view the same. Such requests even if they come from the physically challenged or the aged are still not understandable as nobody seems to ask how they can pay to view. Free broadcast is acceptable if the audience is below poverty level, and that, a Carnatic music audience is not.

And so it goes on. In MMM’s view, lack of unity among artistes is a huge barrier. There are no standards as far as rates are concerned and between one performer of a certain stature and another at the same level there are enormous differences in what they charge. The organisers take advantage of this and if all fails they can always fall back on the notorious lack of security that artistes suffer from. None but the most fearless would risk being blocked by an organiser. And you also have some organisations that seem to think it is their right to have artistes perform for free, or near about, and then also accept that the same performance be put up on social media for free. After all, the argument goes, the artiste does get publicity. The point is, how much publicity for free does anyone need? Beyond it there is the vital necessity for good economics which everyone seems to overlook.

In this context MMM feels that religious establishments can do a lot better in their patronage of the art. Apparently, the standard remuneration is an apple and some cursory blessings by the head of the monastery. This MMM is told is uniform operating procedure across all maths – in this they are united though in matters theological they have differences that have been ongoing for centuries. That such a sad state of affairs persists even when musicians themselves are in charge of organising performances at such establishments makes it doubly sad. Surely they ought to have enough spine to speak up for their fellow professionals.

Recently, MMM met up with a musician after one such performance at a religious institution. He made bold to ask if there was any remuneration. The answer was that the artiste had received a fruit that would do for the next day’s breakfast and that there was also the satisfaction that by eating it the doctor could be kept at bay!

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