Another music season has just ended with the dawn of the
year 2020. A fabulous season indeed in all respects! Here are my personal views
after covering 46 concerts at 11 sabhas.
Sabhas – Some have excellent facilities. Few others
refuse to shake the past and continue with old infrastructure with the problems
carried from the yesteryears. They hardly pay attention to the acoustics. The
first fifteen minutes of every concert is taken up by the performing artists
and the sound engineers in trying to get the sound system right.
Best Acoustics was witnessed
in Vani Mahal, Academy and NGS. In terms of the stage design, NGS takes the
honours as it is beautifully decorated.
Ticketing – Most sabhas have made tickets available online
and can be bought with BookMyShow app. Others continue with traditional across-the-counter
ticketing only. Academy continues to sell
season passes in advance but the tickets for the specific concerts are
sold on the same day. The rasikas queue up
at the Academy ticket counter, as early as 3 AM for concerts of Sanjay!
The best approach is when
both online & in-person purchase is made available well in advance.
Most sabhas mention only the row number in their tickets.
The seat numbers are not mentioned. The problem, with this approach, is that
you need to rush in order to grab the right seat. Also, quite a few of them have the tendency of creating one more VIP row, with plastic chairs, by subtly pushing the front row a yard behind!
Move over Sabhas. Please
adopt a specific seat number-based ticketing. Do not create additional rows.
We had a good experience of this when we booked tickets for
the new year concert at Pethachi Hall. All seats are numbered.
The seasonal passes, offered
by sabhas, continue to be value for money.
Artists – Typically for Sanjay and Ranjani-Gayatri,
it has always been a full house! In fact, even the dais becomes full. All other
experienced artists command a set of loyal followers but may not be up to the
brim. Sanjay commands such a loyal following who chase him wherever he goes in
India. That is a very rare and unheard of feat in the world of Carnatic music. If you want to see a Formula 1 in carnatic music, go tune into Saketaraman's concerts. His Ragam-Thanam-Pallavi is spectacular as he unleashes his imagination yet sticks to the Manodharma of singing.
If Carnatic music is religion,
then Sanjay is God.
In the younger category, I saw several artists giving very good
performances. Ashwath Narayanan commands a great following. In NGS mini hall, he
performed to a packed hall with audience overflowing the seating capacity. Vignesh
Iswar’s concert witnessed a full house at Academy. Kruthi Bhat has started
commanding such a set of rasikas. Some artists experimented a lot and gave a
feast to the rasikas like Bharat Sundar. I also came across more youngsters who are unafraid and ready to experiment
with changing times. But remaining 90% of the programmes run only to a thinly
populated hall!
I wish the sabha people take two minutes to announce the
list of artists and their background. I saw this happening in Meenakshi
College, Charsur, Vani Mahal etc. If the sabha doesn’t do, I think it is the
responsibility of the vocalist to do the honours.
Programme - Now, let’s come to the programme itself.
Here the selection of songs, ragams and the order become very important. Every artist
has a vast collection of composers, kritis and consequently the language to
choose from. As a thumb rule, the top artists get it right. Many young artists
did not. They choose some numbers that may not do justice to
their breadth of expertise. Perhaps they want to show that they can sing the
kritis of Sangeetha Mummoorthys with elan or there is a desire to get accepted.
Can’t find fault though! But, what prevents the established ones from venturing
out, dishing out some unexplored kritis? Here is where I find more
challenges.
Still the Mummorthy kritis rule the roost. What about Tamil
Sirgazhi Moovar (Muthu Thandavar, Marimutha Pillai and Arunachala Kavirayar)?
Very few artists step out. What about composers outside Papanasam Sivan and
Gopalakrishna Bharati? It is a BIG NO! Tamil Kritis occupy (Leave the Tamil
Isai Sangam outside for you cannot sing anything other than Tamil there. It is
their raison d’etre) hardly 10 to 20%. I am witness to more concerts that
involved no Tamil at all. I hope I am not sounding chauvinistic here. Of
course, music transcends languages. But are the rasikas not entitled to more
Tamil Kritis where they can participate and enjoy the meaning too? Here, I find
only Sanjay, Bharat Sundar and Vijay Siva not being afraid of singing Tamil Kriti. I had
the privilege of listening to Bharat Sundar’s own Tamil composition on
Panchaboothas. Amazing talent! Sanjay digs up more and more unheard of Tamil songs including
from Mazhavai Bharati, Kuthambai Siddhar, Vedanayakam Pillai, Bharati Dasan
etc.
In today’s world of IP fights, if the artists take a moment
to mention the song, composer, ragam, will that affect their performance? No, I
don’t expect a LecDem from them. A mere mention will do! There are artists who
mention this fairly consistently and Prince Rama Varma comes to my mind. He
also adds an anecdote where relevant.
Rasikas – One can see a visible demographic change in
the audience. If you expect to see only the elderly or middle aged rasikas, be
prepared to be surprised. Unlike yester-years, it is a welcome trend to see lot
of youth taking fancy to the music season. They also tend to behave well . I hardly noticed
anyone walking away during the Thani!
Food - Finally, let’s go to the canteens. Sabha
canteens have provided a platform for many caterers to become famous and grab
as many marriage orders as possible based on word of mouth. There are some who
have sort of patented their sabhas. Mountbatten Mani Iyer has been serving in
Parthasarathy Sabha for quite some time and is easily the costliest! But count
on him to be innovative. Mint Padmanabha Iyer who ruled Academy is absent this
year and I spotted an equally expensive Balaji Caterers. Sri Sasthalaya
continues in NGS. Meenambiga serves in both KGS and Mylapore Fine Arts. Pethachi
has been taken over by Sastha caterers. Of course, they count on the fact that
the rasikas (both music as well food) wouldn’t mind splurging during the season
and they are proved right if I have to judge by the queue waiting for the
meals. For the tiffin items, you can always go and try at many places. Don’t
forget the Huggi, the Karnataka special Pongal dish, served only at Karnataka
Sangha School ground by Sri Raghavendra caterers. My all-time favourite is the
“Ilaneer Payasam”, served cold at NGS. That has, I was told, acquired a cult
status. It is on every table!
Finally, all the rasikas must thank some of the sabhas who
try to bring music/ discourse to rasikas completely free. To cite a few,
Chennai Fine Arts at Sastry Hall, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan preceding the music
season, Charsur, Arkay Ramakrishnan who even live-streamed for the benefit of
many who couldn’t make it to their third floor hall, Meenakshi Sundarajan Fine
Arts Academy, Sri Rama Bhakta Jana Samajam at Avichi School provided ample
opportunities to listen to the leading stars. The new addition is Sastra
Satsangh, under the initiative of Shri
Vaidhyasubrahmanyan. It has encouraged many youngsters and more important
brought the splendid Mr Madhusudhanan Kalaichelvan for a pioneering discourse
on various Sthalams. He is a treasure trove of knowledge and has quickly
established connect with audience. I am sure we would get to see him more and
more. He has provided a welcome addition to the discourse arena dominated by
Dushyant Sridhar and Vishakha Hari.
Some questions to ponder still. Why is that:
- Some of the carpets (jamakkalams) on the dais remain unwashed and not taut?
- The cables / wires are loosely kept on the floor and pose a threat to the artists who dare to walk around the dais?
- Sabhas cannot allow the tickets to be booked online?
- Ticketing system cannot mention the seat number?
- Sabha or the Vocalist cannot introduce the artists on stage?
- Vocalists cannot mention the song and thank its composer?
- Tamil kritis are still fighting for a place in the artists’ portfolio?
- No one even attempts to sing a Tiruvempavai song?
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Category
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Prize goes to
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The Superstar
|
Sanjay Subrahmanyan
|
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Tomorrow’s Superstars
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Bharat Sundar, Kunnakkudy BMK, Akkarai Sisters
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The Traditionalist
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Vijay Siva
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The Experimenter
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Saketharaman
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The Young Brigade
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Ashwath Narayanan, Vignesh Iswar, Kruthi Bhat, Sriranjani
Santhanagopalan, Anahita / Apoorva
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Best Discourse
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Madhusudhanan Kalaichelvan
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Best Historian
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Dr Chitra Madhavan
|
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Underrated Vocalist
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Palghat Dr Ramprasad
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Best seating
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Academy
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Best Acoustics
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Vani Mahal
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Best Canteen (Overall spread, variety, price)
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Sastha @Pethachi and Sri Sasthalaya @NGS
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Favourite Items
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Ilaneer Payasam @ NGS
Vazhaipoo Vadai @ Pethachi
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