Art has to ask difficult questions: T.M. Krishna

Art cannot be an escape from reality; it is a mirror to reality, Carnatic singer T.M. Krishna has said.

He was speaking after receiving the fifth P. Govinda Pillai memorial national award instituted by the PG Samskrithi Kendram here on Saturday.

Mr. Krishna stressed the need for an artist to engage honestly with the environment they live in. “The essence of being an artist is to be true and honest to yourself and to everything that is around you,” he said.

Music, dance, theatre or painting had to be in conversation with what was around them to be called art. “Tyagaraja and Muthuswami Dikshitar engaged with their times… and because of it they made great art,” Mr. Krishna pointed out.

Art, he said, always had to be present, modern, and ask difficult questions. “I want to bother with you with my art. I can do it in an alapana, I can do it with words. I can do it in so many ways. But if I don’t move myself and you even that little centimetre then I’m wasting my time and your time and I refuse to do it in my time,” Mr. Krishna said.

He said he was honoured to receive the award in the name of PG who believed in humanity, social justice, and equality and stood by those principles. Mr. Krishna said he was also fascinated with PG’s obsession for books and lifelong learning.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary M.A. Baby, who inaugurated the event and gave away the award to Mr. Krishna, said the musician had tried to make a difference to the rigid structures of music rendition. He had brought in creative changes without sacrificing its scientific tradition.

The P. Govinda Pillai award has been instituted in the memory of the Marxist ideologue. The award comprising a purse of ₹3 lakh and citation was given away in connection with his 13th death anniversary.

Former Speaker M. Vijayakumar presided over the function. Communist Party of India State secretary Binoy Viswam, Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty, and PG Samskrithi Kendram secretary and PG’s daughter R. Parvathy Devi were present. Journalist and PG’s son M.G. Radhakrishnan read the citation. Dancer Rajasree Warrier delivered the keynote address.

The function was preceded by an hour-long concert by Krishna, in which he mostly rendered compositions by Keralites, including Sree Narayana Guru, Walsalam Sastriyar, and Swati Tirunal.