Art doesn't have boundaries, says T M Krishna
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Carnatic musician T M Krishna, who won the Magsaysay award for bringing ‘social inclusiveness in culture’, said that he had very little regard for the idea of nationalism. Delivering a lecture on freedom and responsibility at the inaugural session of the Kovalam Literary Festival on Saturday, Krishna said he would not agree with the idea of nationalism which is perceived by the majority today.
"When Mr. Venkaiah Naidu says art has no boundaries but countries do, he's really saying art must be subsumed by the country. And to me this is unacceptable," he said. While accepting the move to bring in a Uniform Civil code, he questioned the logic behind opposing triple talaq alone. Why the Khap Panchayats do not come under scrutiny, asked Krishna. However, he disagreed with the idea of bringing every man into one homogeneous character.Krishna pointed out that there was a particular period in history where the artists enjoyed the lowest level of social importance. “Post 1991, along with liberalisation, people started looking for more options,” he said.
Emphasizing the need for breaking patterns, Krishna said art was a pattern breaker and great art always tend to break the set patterns. He pointed out that cultural authoritarianism was far more powerful than economic power. He complained that there was no perceptible resistance from the Left forces in the country.
“The Left in the country has been in a slumber for the past 30 to 40 years. It is time for the Left to get awakened,” he reminded. Stressing on the need for democratisation of classical art, he said it was important to have more creative space.Lekshmy Rajeev, Bishwanath Ghosh, Binoo.K.John, Raghu Karnad, Rohini Mohan, Manoj Mitta, Manu Pillai and M Mukundan spoke.