“Guru and Gramophone” by Amanda Weidman
Amanda Weidman’s article “Guru and Gramophone” regards Indian music tradition in the light of recording technologies’ development. The article analyzes the effect of gramophone introduction on Carnatic music making, musicians, gurus, and listeners. It considers opportunities and challenges associated with the technology and reconsiders the phenomenon of gurukulavasam. Traditionally, Carnatic music making in South India was dominated by the idea of voice primacy. Carnatic music is vocal and spiritual unlike instrumental and technologically superior Western music. It is based on natural instincts of song-makers causing their music to take one specific form.
However, introduction of the gramophone enabled music making without contacting with the musician’s body. By the 1940s, musicians needed to combine “live” and recorded music. Hence, they needed to be able to play music for recording purposes properly while departing from traditions. Musicians focused on composition rather than improvisation. Moreover, Carnatic musicians needed to learn how to make their music proper for radio as monotonous structure of traditional Indian music did not suit listeners. Introduction of the gramophone threatened the authority of human musicians, including gurus, as music could be reproduced without them. Carnatic music was passed from teachers (gurus) to students (disciples) through oral tradition. However, technology altered the relationship between them. Music could be taught without a teacher’s or a student’s presence and fidelity of disciple to the guru decreased. Relationships between performers and listeners also changed as performers might not have real listeners and listeners did not see performers but only heard their voices and play.
Gramophone introduction separated the act of listening from singing, hearing, and recording. Listening became more conscious and could be repeated many times due to sound recording and reproduction technologies. While musicians and listeners could be affected by emotions and senses other than hearing, phonographs offered hearing purity as if music consisted only of sound. The technology presented an opportunity to save and reproduce traditional music. While learning from a guru may involve gradual distortion of music, technology enhanced its purity. Gramophone introduction enabled musicians to listen to their own play after the act, analyze their singing and voice, and correct such voice deficiencies as volume. However, the technology foreclosed the possibility to hear and feel the sentimental discourse of music (like in concerts). It could not provide the vision of a living musician expressing emotions in a disciplined art language. The technology reduced and eliminated improvisation passages of Indian music. Improvised sections resembled a pouring out of ideas rather than their gradual drawing out while Carnatic musicians needed to rehearse to present their playing in just three and a half minutes.
Expectations for and associations with gurukulavasam changed while making the practice different in terms of technology and process. Traditionally, a disciple should live with the guru for a long time and learn music by absorbing and serving the guru. Herewith, music and life are not separated. Recording has enabled teachers to teach a …
