Documentary ‘Colonial Interlude’ opens a window to Muthuswami Dikshitar’s world

A scene from the documentary
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

European music of the 18th century travelled across the world to take on different forms in India and the US, creating unique sounds. In India, it transcended the language barriers as legendary Carnatic classical music composer Muthuswami Dikshitar (1775-1835) wrote Sanskrit lyrics to colonial tunes that had arrived with the British East India Company.

The documentary, Colonial Interlude, by US-based Kanniks Kannikeswaran, highlights the intersection of two diverse musical traditions. This composer, teacher and educator from Cincinnati, celebrates the life and music of Dikshitar who pioneered fusion music.

Musical journey

Kanniks Kannikeswaran
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The 37-minute documentary directed by Kannikeswaran was recently screened in Hyderabad (at Saptaparni), Chennai (at Sahanas) and Mumbai (at the National Centre for Performing Arts). It features footage from temple towns Tiruvarur, Kanchipuram and Madurai which are central to the Dikshitar story, festivals, and interviews with folk music performers from the Cincinnati region. The documentary was filmed and edited (collaboratively on Zoom) at Studio A (Big Short Films) in Chennai.

It takes viewers through Dikshitar’s journey across sacred sites and explores the contrast between traditional raga-based compositions and the nottuswara sahityas (songs with Sanskrit lyrics written to Western tunes).

Inspiration

Muthuswami Dikshitar
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Regarded as a pioneer in Indian-American choral music, Kannikeswaran had mulled over the story for over two decades. Listening to ‘Rakes of Mallow’ on the radio or watching the anthem ‘God Save the King’ in the film Gandhi for the first time in 1983 made him realise Dikshitar’s kriti ‘Santatam Pahimam’ was based on this tune (“I had heard ‘Santatam pahimam’ before hearing God Save the King”).

He vividly remembers 2001 when he first read the sargam notations of Dikshitar’s tunes in an English book, Compositions of Muddusvami Dikshitar, compiled and edited by TK Govinda Rao. He felt a strange connection; “It was an aha moment, like a bulb going off,” he recollects over a phone conversation. Correlating what he was reading with what his grandmother had played on the veena brought back childhood memories.

He taught these tunes to his two daughters Vidita and Sukhita, and budding musicians; he also organised a concert with other Celtic (Irish) musicians. Describing them as ‘moments of epiphany’, he says, “There was something common between us and the dedicated musicians of the colonial period whom we don’t even know. The fact that Dikshitar had touched these tunes a hundred years ago is also significant.” Vismay, his album featuring these recorded compositions, was also released in the USA by Swami Dayananda Saraswathi and in India by filmmaker Rajiv Menon in 2008.

Kannikeswaran was particular that the story be told in a specific way because ‘these compositions are not to be viewed in isolation.’ He explains, “One has to see the context in which they might have been written, the temples they are addressed to, and the parallel kritis in different ragas.”

Some scenes of the documentary were filmed in Cincinnati just before the pandemic, with Western musicians to provide another perspective.

Colonial Interlude was screened in Phoenix and the Cincinnati Art Museum in the US, and in Singapore. It won the Best Short Documentary Film award at the Indian Film Festival Cincinnati 2023, where it was the closing film of the weekend. It also received the ‘Best Documentary Film’ award at the Indian International Film Festival of Boston, USA.

Calling the documentary a ‘window to Dikshitar’s world’, Kannikeswaran hopes even those not deeply into Carnatic music will discover the composer for who he was. “People will also see Indian culture for what it is: because it has the innate ability to absorb external influences, be open-minded and do something with it at any point in time; Dikshitar is a stellar example of it.”

Kannikeswaran plans to release the documentary online in 2025 to mark Dikshitar’s 250th birth anniversary.