MUMBAI: Carnatic classical vocalist Thodur Madabusi Krishna (T M Krishna) is one of the awardees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation for this year.
The citation says Krishna will receive the award for “his forceful commitment as artist and advocate to art’s power to heal India’s deep social divisions, breaking barriers of caste and class to unleash what music has to offer not just for some but for all.”
Krishna’s commitment to social causes was best illustrated by his distancing himself from the Chennai Music Season last year, when he protested against the ‘non inclusive nature of the season that leaves out non Brahmin musicians and certain art forms that do not fall under the purview of Carnatic classical and Bharatnatyam’. Afer the boycott, Krishna launched his own music festival, the Uroor-Olcott Kuppam Marghazi Vizha, a Carnatic classical music festival on the beach in the centuries-old fishing village in February 2016, as an attempt to “push out caste elitism from the existing Carnatic music system” and unite various art forms.
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Krishna, comes from a family of musicians and was a disciple of the late Padma awardee, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer.
Krishna has been involved in research and documentation on various aspects of Carnatic music and is associated with organisations that popularise Carnatic music in remote areas and supports underprivileged south Indian artistes.
He has also attempted to cut across class and caste barriers by creating access to various art forms through a festival called Svanubhava.
He has co-authored ‘Voices Within: Carnatic Music – Passing on an Inheritance’, a book dedicated to the greats of Carnatic music, along with Mythili Chandrasekar.
