I believe it must be around the first week of December 2024 when I first saw the announcement for the release of the book – On That Note, a memoir by Sanjay Subrahmanyan, co-written with writer Krupa Ge. My first reaction was, “OMG, this man Sanjay seems to be in a tearing hurry these days!” There were two reasons for this reaction. First, in the last three years since the pandemic, Sanjay has been continuously coming up with something or the other without a break. Second, biographies are usually written when one retires from an active profession, reflecting on one’s journey. In Sanjay’s case, he is almost at the peak of his career, so the second reason cannot apply.
Reading the book and listening to some of the conversations after the launch, it is clear that this book is only part one of his biography, which he just wanted to put out quickly. We can expect another part to it. It is clear from the book that the pandemic has been a pivot in Sanjay’s life in many ways than one. Till 2020, life as a Carnatic musician was so busy with a set pattern to it that there was no time to review what was happening or explore out-of-the-box ideas. In his own admission, with no concerts and nothing much to do except for some practice at home during the Covid lockdowns, there was a lot of time to look at new ideas. The result of this exploration is what we are seeing since 2020 from Sanjay’s stable, from one new initiative to another.
Launching the Sanjay Sabha channel on YouTube, producing his own Sanjay Sabha Live concerts, Thamizhum Naanum branded shows focusing on Tamil compositions, breaking into Coke Studio, recording a song with his idol Ilaiyaraaja for a film song in Viduthalai and now coming up with this book while being very active on the concert circuit in India and abroad, Sanjay has been a busy man. I am convinced that the “On That Note” series of short videos and the response he got to it on social media during the pandemic days sort of sowed the seeds in Sanjay’s mind for the book with the same title!
While there are many biographies on Carnatic musicians in the past, I am not sure if anyone has sat to write their own memoirs like Sanjay has done. Reading the book, one could get a peek into the making of the musician, the upbringing and of course the working mind of Sanjay as a professional singer. At 160 odd pages, the book is a fun and easy read. The writing is lucid as if Sanjay is just narrating the story in front of us. Credit to his co-writer Krupa for keeping it such.
In terms of style, two things stand out in the book – Sanjay’s honesty and nonchalance. He and Krupa don’t attempt to make virtues out of his short comings or his initial failures. He talks about how he worked hard to make peace with his voice, which he thought was not his asset. Sanjay also speaks about a lot of things which we fans make too much of an issue about, matter-of-factly say his penchant for the Tamil language.
“It takes a village to raise a child” is an old African saying. In the book, Sanjay rightfully tweaks it to “It takes a village to raise a musician!” and talks about the different people who have been instrumental in the evolution of his music. This is one of the most captivating chapters in the book where he talks reverently of great musicians like Nadaswaram Vidwan Sembaranar Koil Vaidyanathan (SRD) who played a major part in shaping his musical education apart from his Gurus. Sanjay had shared snippets of his interactions with SRD in his “On That Note” clips but here we get the full story of how the beautiful journey started and prospered. He, of course, also fondly writes of his fond memories and the time spent with his guru, Calcutta K.S. Krishnamurthy.
The other fascinating chapter in the book is on his “Studio life” starting from recording in studios for audio cassette albums to singing in films for Sean Roldan and Ilaiyaraaja. I vividly remember an interview of Sanjay many years ago where he steadfastly said that he is not interested in playback singing though he had a few offers to sing for films. So, I was initially surprised when I saw the teasers of his singing for the Coke Studio. Soon he followed up with singing for independent albums like Anbenum Pulveli and then of course for films. The book sort of addresses the question as to why Sanjay ventured out of his comfort zone of Carnatic music to alternate forms. He says somewhere in the book that he would like his bio to read as a musician rather than a Carnatic singer.
Through the memoir, we get to know that Sanjay is a tech-savvy person. He says that in the early days of the internet, he was all over the place. I remember vividly the website Sangeetham.com that was founded by Sanjay and was in fact thrilled once I got a response to one of my queries that I posted back then. I was happy to get reminded of that site when Sanjay talks of that aborted initiative in the book. There is also this streak of sarcasm so typical of Mylapore boys that runs through, for instance, when he writes about the standard set of questions his hosts would ask on his foreign tours.
Today, it has become a fashion to expect all artists to be revolutionary thinkers. With the explosion in media in general and social media in particular, singers, actors and public figures in general are expected to have an opinion from Trump in America to Climate change in Australia! Sanjay makes it clear subtly in the final chapter of the book that he is just a performing artist and he is not there to change the world. His opinions on world matters are strictly for himself. This should be a clear message to the media, who I notice try very often to provoke him in vain to elicit his thoughts on macro issues in the society.
All through the book it comes across very clearly that Sanjay, right from his childhood, was a very focused and disciplined person. He never believed in resting on his laurels at any point in time. This attempt to write this part of his memoir relatively early in his career is also an effort in that direction.
In concerts, generally the organisers have the habit of introducing the artists in the beginning. When it comes to the main artist, it usually starts with “So and so needs no introduction” and then a long introduction follows! It is usually the same stuff – about the artist’s lineage, since when he or she has been performing on stage, being a Grade A artist in AIR, the awards received, and then the countries visited (This is a must). For Sangeetha Kalanithi Sanjay Subrahmanyan from now on, there will be a new addition, which is not very common among musicians, that of being an author! On that note, looking forward to his next path breaking initiative and a Padma Award!
On That Note – Memories of a Life in Music by Sanjay Subrahmanyan with Krupa Ge is published by Westland books.
