More specifically, I would write something like a ‘ ?’, or ‘ how?’ or ‘ what?’ next to something I saw was illogical, weird or reaching. This is my first book where I scribbled on the pages, next to a line or paragraph, when I found something of importance or something objectionable. Considered by many as the best of best musicians on the mrdangam, himself a Brahmin, he seems to have had a major role in the writing of many of the rules when it comes to working with the makers and ‘keeping them where they belong’. Throughout the book is another common denominator - Palghat Mani Iyer. I also own other instruments made of skin from lesser animals (like the Kanjira, which is made from the skin of monitor lizard). I did know the instrument had animal skin on either side - specifically that of cow, buffalo and goat - but I did not think beyond that. Specifically in a system of music that is under-represented by people of castes other than Brahmin, the book brings to light the life of the people that make it - their caste, their socio-economic positioning in the society, and the fact that they have lived in the dark and continue for the most part to live in the dark. Notice how I said ‘practice’ - so naturally, this book is about the makers as well the practitioners. I just finished reading a copy of TM Krishna’s book Sebastian and Sons - which is primarily the divide, discrimination and the resulting oppression between the people that make the instrument and those that play them.
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