AIR and the carnatic music!

Well. All India Radio has made tremendous service to the carnatic music. It has allotted more time for the carnatic music and traditional music. Several musicians have come up utilising this opportunity. When I was a very young boy there was only one Radio in a rich man's house in a village where I was staying. At that time it was December month. Vaikunta Ekadasi was the festival. AIR celebrated that festival by airing Nadaswaram recital played by famous artist Karukurichi Arunachalam. He played that magic pipe for 9 hours. The entire street listened to his music on that night. The Karaharapriya Rag he played on that night is still in my ears.

Though AIR made good service it had a weakness too. It banned playing of Harmonium in AIR for several years. Before MOVIES FILMS, drama ruled the roost. In those dramas, Harmonium played a vital role. The fight for independence and the message of the Congress leaders reached the masses only through those dramas. Likewise the songs in those Dramas--in a 5 hour drama, about 30 to 60 songs were played--were all based on carnatic music. After independence when the AIR banned harmonium and it was bad. Several songs of Kittappa, PU Chinnappa, and some very good renderings by famous musicians could not be heard in AIR. Only after 1965 - it is said that only after the death of Jawaharlal Nehru, our prime Minister - the AIR lifted the ban on Harmonium. It is also said by old men that Jawaharlal Nehru was responsible for that ban.

Is anybody taking steps to retrieve those songs now. I don't know.