Radio Brisvaani
Melbourne-based veena maestros Ramnath and Gopinath Iyer—affectionately known in the community as the Iyer Brothers—have recently been honoured with the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for their outstanding contribution to Carnatic music in Australia. In this exclusive interview with the Australia India News Featuredesk, the celebrated duo reflect on their five-decade-long journey with the veena, their artistic synergy as twins, and their deep-rooted commitment to tradition, teaching, and soulful expression. From humble beginnings in Chennai to becoming pioneering forces in Australia’s classical music landscape, the Iyer brothers open up about their gurus, challenges, values, and their hopes for the future of Indian classical music on Australian soil.
1. How did it feel to receive the Order of Australia Medal –and what does this recognition mean to you both?
We are deeply humbled and honoured to receive the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) from the Australian Government for “Service to Music”, a recognition for our service to Carnatic music and the Veena in Australia. It feels so gratifying to receive recognition in a country that we have adopted as our home.
The award further inspires our commitment to continue striving for excellence and making meaningful contributions to the art form through our performances and teaching.
2. Looking back, what sparked your initial fascination with the veena, especially as you
didn’t come from a musical family?
We come from a family that always had an appreciation for Carnatic classical music, but we are the first generation of musicians from our family. It was probably just providence that we shifted houses next door to a veena teacher in Chennai in 1973. Listening to the lilting melodies of the veena wafting from the next-door neighbour’s home instantly attracted us and ignited a keen interest to learn.
3. How did your gurus influence your musical journey and values?
Whatever little we have achieved is only due to our Gurus who shaped our musical journey. Their strict and at the same time affectionate teaching instilled in us a discipline and a deep love for the veena and Carnatic music. They also taught us values not through words, but just by their conduct, expecting nothing in return, but giving without holding anything back. In fact, our Gurus would say ‘if we treat our disciples kindly and with dignity, then we will receive the same from them’ – words that keep ringing in our ears to this day.
4. You’ve been described as playing with “one voice.”How do you achieve such
perfect harmony as twin performers?
Being twins, we do think alike and probably have an extra sense of perception not only in music but in other things such as studies, work and art as well. Added to this, we always studied and practiced the music together. Even today we meet a few times every week to practice together, thus keeping our veena music as ‘one voice’.
5. Do you ever have creative disagreements? How do you work through them?
Of course we do have disagreements on things from concert planning, selecting repertoire to mundane things like what to wear for a concert. We then take a step back, think through the differences, listen to each other, understand where the other person is coming from and eventually come to an agreement.
6. What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in the early years of promoting Carnatic music in Australia?
When we moved to Australia in the mid-eighties, the Indian community was quite small. There were no Indian music organisations within the community. Concert opportunities for Indian musicians were virtually non-existent apart from a few visiting artists invited by mainstream festivals. We started getting informal performance opportunities in peoples’ homes for small gatherings as the community came to know about us. Some of them introduced us to mainstream organisers and slowly over a decade we established ourselves as performers and teachers.
7. How have you seen the landscape of Indian classical music evolve in Australia since you first arrived?
The Indian classical music scene in Australia is vastly different today. There is a plethora of promoters and Indian music organisations, in addition to increased awareness among mainstream media, music events, festivals and organisations. A number of performing artists and teachers now reside in Australia and sincerely teach the classical art forms. Audience support has also grown owing to the increase in migration from India; youngsters taking up learning the art form and increased mainstream interests in Indian music.
8. What principles or values do you prioritise when teaching your students?
Our gurus instilled in us the discipline to adhere to tradition while innovating within that classical framework and still be true to the core of the raga, the lyrics and the intent of the compositions. This is something we try to pass on to our students.
Learning and practicing the art should be for one’s own enjoyment and musical development and not just for an upcoming performance. Learning is lifelong and what we know is only a drop in the ocean of Indian music.
9. How do you strike a balance between preserving tradition and allowing room for innovation?
First of all, tradition and innovation are not on two opposite ends of the spectrum. What we call tradition today was an innovation sometime back. If an innovation stands the test of time, it becomes part of tradition. In Carnatic classical music, there is a nice balance between compositions and improvisation. When we perform, we ensure we follow the compositions strictly as per what we learnt from our Gurus while we constantly seek to innovate during the improvisational sections of the performance. We firmly believe that composers have immortalised the raga and the tala in their compositions, thus keeping the identity of the music intact. Tampering with that can lead to dilution of the artform. With a wealth of knowledge gleaned from the compositions one can innovate within the framework of the raga and tala or even compose something new. This is our driving principle.
10. Many say your music is deeply soulful. What do you believe brings true soul to a performance?
Yes, we have heard many listeners tell us that our music is very soulful. This led us to
name one of our albums as ‘Soulful strings’!
We believe that this soul comes from not just the musical notes, but an understanding of the meaning of the lyrics, and use of modulation of volume, speed and oscillation of the strings. That is from a technical standpoint; of course, our own enjoyment of the music also brings soul to the performance.
In addition, perhaps our performances consisting of compositions by some of our legendary composers that have very rich melodic and emotional content evoke a deep connection within the listener.
11. What keeps your passion for the veena alive after five decades?
The sound of the veena allured us into learning this instrument.That inspiration still drives us to continue learning and playing. Even today when we sit down to play a raga, the supreme melodies of the raga coming through the tuneful strains of the veena touch our inner core. This is an experience we continue to seek, feel and cherish.
12. What are your hopes for the future of Carnatic music in Australia,and your message to aspiring musicians?
The future is very bright for Carnatic Music in Australia. We do have a number of musical institutions teaching Carnatic Music across Australia, including the younger generation who have grown to be performers and teachers in their own right. We do see
a growing interest among the younger generation in composing, performing and collaborating with other genres of music, which is possible with their strong grounding in Carnatic music and its ragas.
Reiterating what we said earlier, our message to aspiring musicians in Australia“ Enjoy your music and learn and practice the art for art’s sake, performance opportunities and rewards will follow”.
