Keyboard: Facing the Music

Think of a sepia image of an ‘Indian’ film music director: A man sitting with a harmonium. The ‘southerners’ would have a thick paste of sandal on their forehead. Their gestures and that instrument by their side would assure that they had come from a ‘legitimate’ musical tradition. It was as if with out harmonium no music could ever be composed.

A couple of days ago a news piece in the Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi grieved about the fact that keyboard has been taking over music troupes, acoustic instruments were disappearing from the stage and artists were losing their jobs. I was surprised because I had thought the phenomenon had begun decades ago. In mid nineties when I stepped into the scene KORG X3 was the most popular professional keyboard. These were not just keyboards but music work stations. The idea was not just to play a music piece but to make music with it. Synthesizers were one of the major reasons which made low budget music albums possible. One could sequence rich instrumental back ground music with a synthesizer without hiring individual instrument players. Digital studios had also arrived with the possibility of numerous tracks and the structure of film songs had been radically altered.

Naturally Ganamelas had to transform themselves and when low budget albums gained popularity professional keyboards were used more because a lot of sequencing work was done with them. Its rising prominence made synthesizer a threat. The 1988 Kerala State film award committee expressed their concern thus: “most of the time film music becomes an ugly mix of Carnatic, Hindustani, Light and western music. Electronic instruments are used without any control.” (emphasis mine)

I have heard that the first keyboard to arrive in Trivandrum was a `Wilson’. A senior artist told me that it was too heavy and needed at least two people to lift it. Keyboard was ‘heavy’ in the figurative sense too. Music Troupes with keyboards were hot properties. People gathered around their vans to see the keyboard. In program notices it would be prominently announced that “organ will be used in this ganamela”. The unfortunate tale of a troupe who had publicized that they have keyboard but couldn’t manage to hire it on one fateful day is telling. A large crowd had gathered, mainly to see and hear the keyboard. The troupe came out of the van with an old harmonium and the rest was pandemonium!

Keyboards have become very common today. India is fast turning into a large market for expensive professional keyboards of Yamaha, Korg, Casio and Roland. “Mere joota hey japani “as an inbuilt tune in some latest Japanese keyboard need not surprise anybody. But in early 1990s when I started learning keyboard there were only a few music schools that taught it. Even now keyboards are not taught in Govt. music schools (because State has to remain the eternal patron of ‘classical’ music, I guess.) If memory serves right K J Joy had introduced keyboard to Malayalam film music replacing vibraphone and accordion; an amazing history not yet written.