S.Kasim and S.Babu - From one Generation to the Other
For Kasim and Babu, grandsons of the late Nadhaswaram maestro Sheikh Chinna Moulana, playing the Nadhaswaram is not only a passion, but even an obsession and mission as well. They had picked up the threads from where their grandfather had left and made the euphony of this instrument of Tamil Nadu echo all over the world, leaving lasting memories among those who listened to the lilting strings of Nadhaswaram.
S.Kasim and S.Babu performing
More than 300 years old, the Nadaswaram was a classical wind instrument coming from South India. It is used to play Carnatic music. Played by two people and with two accompanying drums called Thavil, it is traditionally used for Hindu processions or other particular celebrations, like weddings, but during the last 40 years, some concerts have been organized to celebrate this music. Living in Trichy, are two brothers: Kasim, (49), and Babu, (47), both passionate Carnatic musicians who decided to dedicate their life to this fabulous instrument. It must be said that they were somehow predestined to take it up, with a family of Nadaswaram players and a grandfather, Dr. Sheikh Chinna Moulana, who was one of the best exponents of this instrument. Fortunately, they both agreed to spend some time with us to explain, at first, about Nadhaswaram, because as foreigners we had not heard about it, but also about them, their grandfather and Carnatic music, with pictures and video clips of them performing. Kasim explained that it is similar to the American Obo and bassoon, a double reed instrument. The interview took place in Kasim’s house in a really impressive hallway with walls covered with an astonishing amount of prizes, awards and pictures of Kasim and his younger brother Babu, performing. In the interview, Kasim did the talking, and they were both very welcoming and made us feel at home, even though our time for the interview was short. During this short time though, we could all feel the passion radiating off Kasim.
Keeping the tradition
“We are from a very big music tradition from Andhra Pradesh; our tradition is about 300 years old, a very great and ancient tradition,” Kasim tells us with pride. About 40 years ago, the music was mostly used traditionally in Temples and celebrations such as weddings. But nowadays, it’s more common that people go and listen to the music in concert halls, not just for traditional purposes.
Kasim tells us that he and his brother moved away from their parents in Andhra Pradesh to live with their grandfather in Trichy, when they were only three years old. Dr. Sheikh Chinna Moulana was already at that time one of the most important Carnatic players in the whole of India. The main reason they moved in with him was to learn to play the Nadaswaram. The brothers started learning the big and complicated instrument when they where only eight years old, which we all found very impressive! It is also an instrument that needs a lot of practice to perform, Kasim tells us. It took their grandfather around ten years before he was considered a professional Carnatic musician! Kasim and Babu’s father also learnt to play the instrument from Dr. Sheikh Chinna Moulana when he was growing up, but he never decided to take it up as a career.
Kasim says that in the beginning he decided to follow another path. He chose do his bachelor’s degree in physics, at St. Joseph’s college in Trichy, but at the same time, he did learn and practice Nadaswaram in his free time, with his grandfather as a teacher. “The difficult thing for me was managing the academic education and the vigorous training for the instrument, but I could manage,” he said and when Kasim finished his education in the year 1992, he decided only to continue with the music. Babu on the other hand, decided at an earlier age, that he wanted to devote his life to the music and so he only studied up to the 8th grade and then he went on to study music with their grandfather as the teacher.
Kasim and Babu have played together all over the world since 1992 and have received many honours and awards for their skills as musicians. Kasim and Babu’s children are now carrying on the family tradition. Kasim, who has two daughters, says they took to singing, because it is very difficult for women to learn to play the Nadaswaram. Babu’s two sons are both practicing the Nadaswaram, but never as much as Babu and Kasim. When we ask them if the family tradition of famous Carnatic players will continue with their children, they, without a doubt answer, “Yes! Definitely!”
Dr. Sheikh Chinna Moulana
Dr. Sheikh Chinna Moulana trust
Dr. Sheikh Chinna Moulana gave all of himself to music but also to his grandsons who consider him as a god in the family:” He is the top person in our musical family”. Everything they know comes from this artist who they love as a grandfather, respect as a teacher and admire as a great performer. He won so many awards and titles, did so much traveling all around the world and worked so much for the Carnatic music industry, that every music lover and artist has the same respect for him. Immortalized by the term “living legend”, everybody bows to his playing and to his contribution to the development of Nadaswaram: he succeeded in popularizing this Indian instrument all over the world, but he also managed to go deeper in the playing of this 300 year-old music. For people who knew him personally, it is also important to remember the person behind the instrument. Dr. Sheikh Chinna Moulana was not the standard kind of renowned artist, always busy and arrogant. Despite the size of his talents he was, on the contrary, a model in terms of humility and generosity. This is why his family and friends decided to create a trust in the year 2000, a year after his death, called the “Dr. Chinna Moulana Memorial Trust.” They wanted to keep alive the memory of this brilliant musician who performed with passion and humility.
Their wish is not only to remember this great artist but to also go on with their own journey, especially in terms of passing on the Indian tradition to the next generation. “We have to transmit our knowledge to the next generation; my grandfather did it for us so we have to continue his work.” As the two brothers started to learn when they were 8 years old, students can learn with them at the age of 8 without any fee or exams, just on the condition to be passionate about Carnatic music. Besides, most of their students have already decided to spend their lives playing. They don’t take any courses in other schools and they are able, even at 10 years old, to tell you that they just want to be a musician. They can only take 5 or 6 students at a time, which would normally surprise people because their grandfather had between 10 and 15 students, but because of their travels and concerts, the two brothers don’t have the time to take more, and they don’t want to take the risk of lowering the quality of their teaching.
Their grandfather was the only teacher for both the brothers. They proudly say, “We inherited the talent and influence from him.” So we can see his influence in their teaching style, which continues to reflect Dr. Sheikh Chinna Moulana to his students through Kasim and Babu. Thus, improvisation, which was his special skill, is really important in this school. Indeed, Dr. Sheikh Chinna Moulana was able to improvise raga without any repetition during one hour, sometimes even more. Without forgetting academic knowledge, their goal is to emphasise the most beautiful way of playing Carnatic music. But academic courses and improvisation are not the only way to learn this traditional music; they also want the students to be able to render composition, which means to play some other compositions in a Carnatic style.
The trust and their teaching started modestly but with all the help of family, friends, music lovers or just the people who recognized Dr. Sheikh Chinna Moulana’s talent, it quickly became a renowned achievement. It is now an institution, where Kasim and Babu are teaching this traditional music in the way their grandfather taught them, and as a place where his well-respected memory is still kept alive. However, they will not stop with their success. They want to continue to improve their teaching and their next wish is to set up a school with full accommodation and classes, to provide intense teaching like they had received from their grandfather.
Travel
By starting to play with their grandfather, Kasim and Babu started an international career, and thanks to their talents today, they now perform all around the world. From Finland to Sri Lanka or Germany, Malaysia, France, Russia….the list is long and growing longer! Every year these two brothers undertake a three-month tour of the United States, from April to June, for a special festival. They realized that even on the other side of the world, the audience was still mostly composed of Indian people, but also raga music lovers and artists, from all different religions and all the different nationalities.
For them, there are three aims with this kind of international festival and concert. The first of which, is for them a way to keep practicing and to be before a different audience for each concert, because in each place and each type of celebration skills are always different. But it is also a way to promote the understanding of this traditional instrument, the Nadaswaram, all across the country. Now, especially thanks to their grandfather, it is very famous in America and Europe and even if people have heard about it they don’t really know this wind instrument. This is also the reason why big audience comes to see Kasim and Babu; a lot of people are curious and want to know a little bit more about Nadaswaram, Carnatic music and raga. Finally, this kind of concert is also an opportunity where they can have in interaction with others artists.
For example, once during their US tour, they met a clarinet maestro named William Paul, with whom they could discuss music for several hours and share a lot about musical experiences. This is exactly what they especially like in international festivals, because the audience can’t be the only ones who are influenced by musicians; musicians can also receive inspiration from others to discover and learn another way of playing. But one of their best memories was in Cleveland, during a big raga festival, where 100 or 120 artists played with more than 50 main musicians, all coming from South India, a big gathering which allowed an intense connection between all these passionate musicians.
So what are their plans for 2012? Of course the US tour in April, but also a lot of concerts in India, in temples or for particular celebrations (like weddings). Besides, they will play a lot in Madurai for this kind of celebration, even in the Meenaskhi temple which is a great place for them to play their music. But for Kasim, the best place to play is the Himalayas, because nothing is more beautiful than the sound of waterfalls.
Performance
Performance is a key part of music; without the ability to perform one obviously cannot show his talent. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in front of an audience. Even when recording music, the ability to fully convey the passion is what makes the music, whatever method the musician uses. I think that anyone who is passionate about his art has the ability to perform, and in Kasim’s and Babu’s case, performance is at the core of their music. Since Carnatic music is made to be preformed to an audience, learning performance techniques is as important as learning the instrument. Both of them practice relentlessly in order to keep up their skill.
“Everything is about breath control. We have to practice breath control at least 3 or 4 hours a day,” asserts Kasim. This is essential to them because the Nadaswaram is a wind instrument, and when playing concerts that can go on for several hours, they have to be physically able to do it. Another massive part of their performance is improvisation; it is what Carnatic music is really based on. During performance, in order to keep the music fresh and enchanting to the listener, the passion is sent directly to the ears of the crowd. “If you take the major scale, you can work with it to make it anywhere between 5 minutes or half an hour and we have thousands of scales,” Kasim explains in order to show us the breadth of freedom they have when it comes to improvisation.
Kasim explaining to us his story, under the gaze of his brother
The most amazing performance they have ever experienced was in Finland, during the mid 90’s. It was a music festival that had styles of music from all over the world; Kasim says however, “It was organized in a very strange manner.” While they were on stage, a Finnish saxophonist parachuted down from a helicopter playing the major scale, and as soon as he touched his feet on the ground, they started the major scale in Carnatic. Kasim describes it as “The most unique performance they have done.” I think we all wish we could have been there to see it. Playing in a duet can be a difficult task; both musicians have to be completely in sync with one another. After seeing Kasim and Babu play on YouTube, the way their parts flow seamlessly together to create the overall piece is mesmerizing, so I asked them how they managed to achieve this. Kasim says, “I can say it’s 25% natural and 75% hard work. Daily we are practicing, if we learn a new scale or composition we learn it perfectly.” Being brothers, born musicians and lovers of the art, of course some degree of their synchronization will be natural, as in all musicians’ talent is natural to some extent, but it’s true what they say that the key is consistent and hard work. Kasim explains, “That unison though is only by perfect practice, perfect understanding and perfect body language.” Body language is essential for improvisation in order to work in time with the other players. If body language is not there, then the piece can become disjointed and lost. “Of course we have natural passion, but the natural passion will not bloom without hard work, it’s the foundation in which we build on top of with determination.” These are words that every artist should take note of, I certainly have.
Music is religion
Music can change lives, break down walls of diamond and move mountains, I believe that, and so do Kasim and Babu. During our time with them, I was captivated by the way they passionately spoke about their art and its style, introducing me to a whole world of music that I knew nothing about. You could really see their art radiating in Kasim’s words. As he put it, “Music is in our body and soul, we live with the music.”
However, personally I feel that the commercialization of music has stifled the art to some extent, but I wanted to know what they thought the media has done for their traditional style of music and whether or not new-age pop has threatened their art. I have to admit I was inspired by their answer. With regard to the media, Kasim says that its support has allowed the art to grow and grow and it has also allowed younger artists to become recognized. “When we were young, we were not allowed to play in public unless we had some skill or proficiency. Now there are small children with amazing skill playing to everyone!” Kasim says with enthusiasm, he believes that this is due to the exposure the media has given artists, and without it this exposure, it would not be possible. He also believes that now music has spread, and young kids from villages have musical influence, which changes their life and in some cases, gives them the opportunity to become artists themselves. In the words of Kasim, “Music has reached the common people.”
With regard to mainstream media being a threat to traditional music, Kasim’s answer was just what I had hoped for, “We cannot compare the mainstream and the traditional. They are completely different. The influence on each other is there and we cannot stop it. We can’t stop the eruption of them mixing, so this is why music is great today.” I couldn’t have put it better myself. I think it is true that in order for music to grow and evolve, we must remember its history and bring it into the present. Artists now have the ability to do amazing things with music by morphing sounds from all styles, modern and traditional. Kasim also believes that even though traditional music may change as time goes on, the base of the style will stay constant. As Kasim poses it, “Is it possible to change the flavour of coffee? No. You can add some ingredients but in the end of the day coffee is coffee. You cannot change the mode of the raga; there will always be traditional Carnatic musicians as the traditional music is timeless.” Personally, I hope Kasim is right, we need these styles to stay so that new music can be made, if we lose our grounding and our past, we cannot progress into the future, we will be lost.
The two brothers with their prizes
“We cannot compare the mainstream and the traditional. They are completely different. The influence on each other is there and we cannot stop it. We can’t stop the eruption of them mixing, so this is why music is great today.”
I was really shocked when I asked Kasim the difference between their traditional music and that from the West. In Western music, you have an ensemble of musicians, none of whom know each part of the piece for each instrument but only their own role and they have the notes in front of them. Kasim tells us that the scales in Carnatic music are completely different to that of Western classical; they have no notes and have to memorize all the songs and compositions no matter how long it is (some pieces can be up to an hour or more). “This is the unique part of our music culture,” says Kasim with a smile. However, when they practice, they do write down notes for the piece, but they memorize what they have written and do not perform with the paper. Also, he tells me that in their culture each performing artist has to know the entire composition. “This is the greatest thing about the Indian music style” Kasim re-iterates. As a musician, I can understand how this makes Indian music so vibrant with so much depth; if every artist only knows their singular roll, something is missing. Each artist, in my opinion, must know the whole piece in order to become conscious of the music and work in perfect harmony.
A common question they are asked is: “Is it difficult being Muslims to play in Hindu temples?” When I asked this question, their answer brought a smile on my face. They believe music is apart from religion and it has nothing to do with the faith in itself. As Kasim puts it, “If you take the major scale, anyone can play it or at least appreciate it. You cannot narrow the music to religion or else the music will become narrowed.” He tells me that most artists who play the North Indian Hindustani style are Muslims, whereas Carnatic musicians in southern India are mostly Hindus. However, this doesn’t matter to them. “It’s just like water, anyone can drink water, if an American takes water, it’s water, if an Indian takes water, it’s still water.” These are the words of wisdom from Kasim. He concludes his answer in four very simple words, “Music is our religion.” These are words I think every musician who lives and breathes the art will agree with. Being a strong believer in the thought that music can truly change the world, or at least help change the world, I wanted to know what they thought of it. Once again, Kasim dazzled me with his answer: “Music is essential in life, it can change the world and it has changed the world.” Personally, I couldn’t agree more. Music has the power to break down walls and boundaries and help countless people across the entire world, whether it’s just getting through life or fueling a society to fight against oppression, and these two are living proof of that fact. Kasim finishes by saying, “Music unites people; you cannot see this kind of unity without music.” In my opinion, these are beautiful, truthful words. Throughout time, people have gathered to listen to music together. Whether for a cause or for pleasure, art is one of the things that brings us closer to each other as a society, without it we would be nothing.
