The sounds of nostalgia

The Mysore Band today are two bands — one an English band that plays old time maritime music and the Carnatic band that plays on clarinets and mandolins, writes Ranjani Govind.

Just as the Dasara procession is indispensable for the Mysore Palace, one more lifeline in the proceedings is the orchestra band of the Palace that has been vital since its origin in 1868. It has evolved over the years assuming different names at different times in all these 153 years of its endurance. The band that has people thronging offers both Indian classical and western music. Following Western influence on the Wadiyar kings of Mysuru Royals, the English Band came into existence after Chamaraja Wadiyar was crowned, following the death of his adopted father and maternal grandfather Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar. With Frenchman JTD’ Fries heading the band initially, band members were drawn from the best schools to make it one-of-its-kind in India.

If you are wondering what is it that assumes importance for the band now, as part of the 95th (Digital) Annual Conference (Lecture-Demonstrations) of the prestigious Madras Music Academy, vocalist and neuro-scientist Dr Deepti Navaratna will speak on Carnatic Encounters – the story of the Royal Mysore Orchestras. Deepti, who has taken up the IFAfunded research on the ‘History and evolution of Royal Carnatic Orchestra of the Mysore Court ’ will address people on the importance of the band that created history.

Indian Orchestra and English Band The band started off playing ceremonial music to welcome dignitaries from its two wings – the Indian Orchestra and the English Band. Chamaraja Wadiyar was a great patron of music and encouraged and patronised stalwart musicians in the Royal Palace as Veena Subbanna, Veena Seshanna, Mysore K. Vasudevacharya, Veena Padmanabiah, Mysuru Karigiri Rao and Bidaram Krishnappa amongst others.

The band, which was named the Palace Band under Maharaja and musician Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, the successor of Chamaraja Wadiyar, invited musicians from Europe to train the band members. After Independence when India became a Republic in 1951, the Palace Bands (Indian Orchestra and the English Band) were integrated into the Police Department and called the Mysuru Police Band, and later renamed as the Mysuru Government Orchestra, and now as Karnataka Government Orchestra, which was part of government functions, Mysuru Palace functions, Police sports events and played during dignitary visits.

So, interestingly, Western music had entered India this long ago? According to Deepti, in the world of Indian classical music and world music, there is a general perception that the East met with the West musically in the era of the Beatles (George Harrison) and Sitarist Ravishankar. However, Western classical music or European Art Music made its inroads into the courts of the princely kingdoms of South India nearly two Centuries before that! “So much of what we understand as ‘pure’ classical music today has definitely been influenced by such inter-cultural and inter-aesthetic encounters,” she says. Deepti highlights why the story of the Royal Orchestras of Mysore are fascinating for two main reasons. “The orchestras were narratives of great cultural resilience and innovation amidst difficult socio-political realities in South India and they were tales of musicians, kings, courts and institutions who lived in such a musically plural world. They showed that music can connect cultures when all else fails. Such stories shatter the idea that the history of our music was indeed homogenous and monolithic, and such a glimpse into the past is important to fully understand the current.” Many kinds of bands are said to have been there during the time of Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar -- flute bands, brass bands, Scottish bagpipe ensemble etc. It was during his reign that the formation of orchestras which played European Orchestral music and more interestingly, Indian Orchestras that amalgamated Indian and Western classical music. “Music was specially written, arranged by noted composers, and band masters were brought into Mysore from all corners of the world. Indian musicians were trained in Western music -- the beauty of it all is that it was an undertaking that required great commitment, time, patience from all involved. The presence of the bands ensured slow and sustained inter-music encounters, which influenced Carnatic music organically in many ways. The Carnatic Orchestras would play kritis arranged for Western instruments such as strings, brass instruments as trombone, tuba and the French horn. Hindustani music was also represented as an orchestra, one finds mention of an ‘Indian orchestra’ that had players from all three traditions - Hindustani, Carnatic and Western orchestras,” says Deepti. And what exactly mad