On That Note – Sanjay Subrahmanyan’s Autobiography
There comes a time in everyone’s life, personally or professionally, when the journey reaches a crossroad or a fork in the path ahead. The decision to proceed in the new direction is something taken after a lot of introspection and deliberation. Carnatic musician Sanjay Subrahmanyan reflects on this aspect as he stands at this crossroads and looks back at his life in music.
“Thinking back, after receiving the Sangita Kalanidhi (in 2015), I came to realise that I was entering a stage where I might eventually sing a film song. I had evolved from the person who said, “I absolutely will not do it.”’ Sanjay Subrahmanyan is the musician of musicians, for his mastery of the craft as well as for his intellectual and theoretical depth of understanding of the art. An embodiment of rigorous traditional practice and constant innovation, he has today ventured out of the world of Carnatic music to explore new worlds and new ways of doing things, but always with his life in classical music intact.
He talks about this transition, his journey so far and what the future holds in his autobiography, On That Note – Memories of a Life in Music, released in 2024. Written in collaboration with the novelist and journalist Krupa Ge, this autobiography is a refreshing portrait of the artist as a man of flesh and blood as well as a rare insight into the musical practice of one of Indian music’s cult figures.
Sanjay Subrahmanyan, born in Chennai, India, is a renowned Carnatic musician and vocalist. Raised in a musically inclined family, he began his training at age seven and later transitioned from an accounting career to pursue music full-time. Known for blending tradition with innovation, he has earned widespread acclaim for his powerful voice and creative style. Sanjay has ventured into non-Carnatic projects, collaborating with Sean Roldan on *Anbenum Peruveli*, Coke Studio Tamil tracks like “Urudhi” and “Elay Makka,” and singing for Ilaiyaraaja in *Vidhuthalai 2*. He also maintains a strong YouTube presence, sharing performances and engaging content via his channel.
Unusually candid and quite ready to look idealised notions about art and music in the eye, On That Note is as intimate a view of the world of Carnatic music as one is likely to have. Tracing his own life trajectory from childhood and through the decades as a professional musician, Subrahmanyan takes a close look at the nuts and bolts of the industry. He yanks the veil off the rarefied image of the artist, showing us the person who also needs to run a house, wishes to earn well and houses ambitions as well as a range of passions beyond his music.
“This project was completed in less than a year. Krupa spent one hour with me at every session for one chapter. She was well-prepared with all the right questions. The ten chapters were well structured, according to the basic concept I had in my mind as to how I wanted the book to turn out,” points out Sanjay.
At a book reading-cum-discussion at the Madras Book Club, writer and historian V. Sriram explored the persona behind the enigmatic Sanjay while Krupa spoke about the unique experience of writing someone else’s autobiography. “To get into the skin of the person, think like him, understand the answers he provided to my questions, and write it in the way he would express, was a wonderful experience,” says Krupa, who has so far written a fiction, a non-fiction, and done a translation.
