Music can bring social change too: TM Krishna

Like literature and art, music could also bring social change, and he had therefore chosen it as the path to follow, said renowned Carnatic musician and Ramon Magsaysay Award Winner TM Krishna here on Tuesday. 

Speaking at a book launch, he clarified that he was neither a think tank nor a social activist who could utilise literature and art in this manner. “I know only music, and hence, want to use it as an agent of social change,” he said. Born into an orthodox family, he remained glued to Carnatic music since childhood, regarding it to be the best and never really thinking that there could be other forms of music. 

Then once, during a theatre event at Kancheepuram, he happened to see a folk dance and drama, of which he could understand nothing, but he found that the people around him could do so very well. That was the the moment he decided he needed to broaden his horizons, needed to appreciate music other than Carnatic. He also spoke of how caste was upheld in a patriarchal society and how it was a pattern that needed to be broken before social change could happen. 

Well-known writer Perumal Murugan read a few lines from his recently written poem, Oru Kozhay in Padalgal. Anti nuke activist SP Udayakumar and other activists participated in the function at which three books were launched simultaneously.