Resistance comes from a position where voices are muted, erased and oppressed. It could be ideas, communities or ethnicities that will be resisting through arts, says eminent Carnatic musician T.M. Krishna.
Mr. Krishna was delivering a speech on ‘Cultural resistance through arts’ at a programme to remember social activist Prof. M. Muraleedharan in Thrissur on Tuesday.
“Why most oppressed sessions of society are in a perpetual state of cultural resistance? Because there is no other way they can draw the attention of the rest of society. They have to tell the world that their existence is in jeopardy,” he said.
The word resistance directs to the imbalance in power. In today’s political situation, you have a majoritarian government and a majoritarian Brahmanical cultural environment, which say they never had space to express. They almost position themselves as those who are resisting. It can’t be more vulgar, Mr. Krishna said.
Aesthetic resistance
“Is art inherently resistive in nature? Resistance doesn’t always mean there is a target group. It can be aesthetic resistance. Art is a conscious human endeavour. Art is a window that opens to explore life in a manner the normal conditions never allow. Each artist experiments with social situations or his conditions. Even the most conservative art forms and artists can forge an unconventional track at least some time,” he said.
Inaugurating the meeting, M.V. Narayanan, Vice Chancellor of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit and Kalamandalam Deemed University, recalled Prof. M. Muraleedharan as his senior colleague and a crisis manager.
At a time, aggression had become the language of political interactions, interventions of Prof. M. Muraleedharan had solved even the most difficult conflicts, he said. Even while expressing his strong differences, he respected the views and democratic rights of the people on the opposite side. He used his incredible sense of humour as a political tool, he said.
Award
Prof. M. Muraleedharan Award for the best teacher was presented to Ratheesh Krishnan of Government Women’s College, Thiruvananthapuram.
