Ghatam, also known as gharha or matka, is a percussion instrument used in Carnatic music. However, for a long time, it has been dominated by male musicians.
Sukanya Ramgopal is the first ever female Ghatam player in the Carnatic music tradition. Speaking of smashing the patriarchy and bridging the gap in the industry, she told The Hindu, “I think I should thank all the male musicians who did not want a woman ghatam player as their accompanying artiste! It compelled me to innovate and bring ghatam to the centre stage.”
A woman playing ghatam on stage defies all notions of the ‘slender female body’ and ‘all conventional descriptions of a woman’s delicate fingers.’
Sukanya has always pushed herself to do better and break all possible stereotypes. She, In 1994, designed a performance concept named ‘Ghata Tharang’, which involves playing six to seven ghatams of different shrutis to give it a broad melodic dimension. A year later, she started Stree Taal Tarang, which was an all-women instrumental ensemble.
These experiments took her to stages across India and abroad and won her multiple accolades. She has also had some interesting collaborations, for example, her stunning jugalbandi performance with flamenco artist Bettina Castaño.
In her childhood, Sukanya’s guru Vikku Vinayakram was initially reluctant to teach her as back then a woman playing ghatam was considered strange. She lived in the musical school Sri Jaya Ganesh Talavadya Vidyalaya which was started by her father Harihara Sharma. Her guru, who at first said that the instrument is ‘too hard for a girl’, was later impressed with her dedication and prowess. She faced a lot of difficult times when vocalists, percussion artistes at music sabhas refused to have a woman ghatam player on stage.
This was then but Sukanya says that the situation is, in fact, worse now. She said, “Frankly, I don’t think people are any more welcoming of a woman percussion player now than when I started out. In fact, I would even say that the older generation of artistes were a little more generous compared to many today.”
This is probably one of the reasons that she has only one woman student, Sumana, among the 20 odd students at her Bengaluru Sri Vikku Vinayakram School for Ghatam. In the hope of enthusing more people, particularly women, to take up this earthy instrument, Sukanya has written a book, Sunaadam, The Vikku Bani of Ghatam Playing, which is a learner’s guide for aspiring ghatam players.
“Let’s hope things get better,” she says with hope and optimism.
H/T: The Hindu