Ganjam Flights of Fantasy - November 19 - 21.

[sirsub11]

A treat for Bangalore music lovers. The annual Ganjam Flights of Fantasy series, at the Chowdiah Memorial Hall will be held on November 19, 20 and 21. The following is the schedule :-

November 19 - Chitravina Ravikiran and Dr. N. Ramani, with Akkarai Subbulakshmi, K.V. Prasad, Guruprasanna and Guruprasad.

November 20 - Sanjay Subrahmanyan, with S. Varadarajan, Mannargudi Easwaran and Trichy Murali.

November 21 - Bombay Jayashri, with Embar Kannan, Manoj Siva and Udupi Sridhar.

A limited number of free passes are being distributed at the Ganjam Flagship Store, Embassy Square, 148 Infantry Road and at the Ganjam Boutique, Leela Galleria, Leela Palace Hotel, Old Airport Road.

Hurry, before the passes disappear.

[ramamantra]

What has flights of fantasy to do with carnatic music?

[rshankar]

What has flights of fantasy to do with carnatic music?

Isn't every attempt at manOdharma a flight of fantasy? A flight we hope we are all passengers on, and the landing is repeatedly en point (on SRti), right?

[mankuthimma]

What has flights of fantasy to do with carnatic music?

Blame it on Packaging , Marketing , Sponsoring ( by those who want their names BIG in the backdrop ) branding , and all the other things through which some advertising genius thinks the man on the street is a dumb guy..
Flights of fancy ... Huh !!

These are more like the flights of the bird zeroing in , for the kill . Remember that opening shot in McEnnas' Gold ?
Wait for another fortnight and all hell will break loose in Chennai

[vasanthakokilam]

>Wait for another fortnight and all hell will break loose in Chennai

[arasi]

VK,
The ones who go flying to the above-mentioned places get the passes before they disappear. They know that what they are about to hear is not some new-fangled fusion music.
Ganjam has held Flights of Fantasy concerts for a number of years now. I don't think they have been anyrhing but classical music in content. In the mad Madras (Chennai) rush of the music season, we pay a pretty penny for most concerts. Such evening concerts sponsored by Ganjam and other sponsors are free. Do we quibble about the arch to their entrances being festooned with balloons instead of mAvilait tOraNam? What's in a name when it comes to sponsored concerts which we enjoy attending, anyway?
If this is what makes folks happy, let me try it the old-fashioned way:

karnADaga sangIta kaccEri

SrImAn Ravi kiran .................. ... gOTTu vAddiyam
SrImAn RamaNi ..........................pullAnguzhal
kumAri akkarai Subbulakshmi...piDil
SrImAn Prasad ........................ mirudangam
SrIman Guruprasanna ............. kanjirA
SrimAn Guruprasad.................. GhaTam !!!

[mankuthimma]

Isn't every attempt at manOdharma a flight of fantasy?

Swami Haridas answers Baiju quite beautifully , early in his life .
"Yes my son . There are lots and lots who wish to cross the ocean of music . Very few who want to explore the depths "
Paar Karnewale Log Bahuth , doobnewale kum .

Manodharma is indeed not a flight of fantasy . It is one trait that typifies the ultimate character of the artist . Things have changed ever since the artist has decided that the listener is to be pampered and is willing to entertain him with iconic songs , "rare" RTPs , catholic spread of languages chosen , a messy infusion of forms not associated with CM in its basic sense ( Like the bhajan or an abhang and most recently Manganiyars from Rajasthan ) and a sweet tooth for new ragas / krithis while many of the old values are languishing.

While I have nothing to say about this particular festival , I am only peeved at the way folks break their heads to make it appealing through the media .

[arasi]

dUbnA, and in our times, when we don't get to meet those who do that in their own bastIs and we don't have the facility to listen to them, we rely on stage performances. Sometimes, the DUbnA and DubAnA does happen, if you are lucky.
Singing rare rAgAs alongside the traditional ones is not a bad thing. Suryaprakash's mEgh malhAr RTP at a RasikAs concert was something many of us thought was very special.

[vgovindan]

Paar Karnewale Log Bahuth , doobnewale kum

Wonderful!

A few years back, I was attending the kutcheri of kalpakkam mAmi. She played 'SrI satyanArAyaNam'. I yearned to hear just that rAga for hours on end. That was not to be.

[mankuthimma]

Heck !!! I am being targetted with tomatoes , by Bangaloreans for my outburst .
Obviously I should have done my homework to know that the Ganjam festival is one of the finest and much loved festivals there and my nitpicking on the title was ill-conceived. My apologies . :$

[mankuthimma]

Suryaprakash's mEgh malhAr RTP at a RasikAs concert

That RTP was conceived at a rasikAs home as well . Between Midnight and and 1 am when SP finished listening to Salamath-Nazakath and started experimenting .Using my old stool for the beat .

[arasi]

Bangaloreans are a good sort. They don't throw rotten tomatoes
The malhAr was a gentle jogging of the memory too!

[rajeshnat]

Suryaprakash's mEgh malhAr RTP at a RasikAs concert
That RTP was conceived at a rasikAs home as well . Between Midnight and and 1 am when SP finished listening to Salamath-Nazakath and started experimenting .Using my old stool for the beat .

and arasi
The RTP that you are referring is miyAn ki malhAr, not mEgh malhAr .

[mankuthimma]

Yes.Yes. I did not want to do that hairsplitting and correct arasi . Anyway with the likes of SP one never knows , he might have sung Megh Malhar RTP too .
I once attended his concert and moved quietly to a corner seat .I did not anticipate that he would have noticed my entry .
He then picked his next song as " nimma Bhagya Doddao , namma Bhagya doddado" .
Having taken a comfortable seat I was wondering why he had chosen this song half an hour into the concert and as I peered through the lights to look at him , there he was , with his mischievous smile , towards me.
So next time he may stump you by sing Megh malhar itself . Who knows ??
And you may jot it down as miya malahr with a madhyamavthish tinge 8)

[kssr]

Ganjam is a jeweller in Bangalore. There are many jewellers who do not spend a paisa for any cultural activity, except giving full page advertisements to give an imaginary discount perception.

Ganjam, besides their own 3 day annual event, sponsor in a major way, every other important CM event in Bangalore. They are also the least demanding. They just put their banner and that is all. They are really committed to the cause as we often see their chairman personally coming and staying through the entire concert.

Rasikas should not start abusing sponsors and sponsored events without rhyme or reason. Just start with the nameof the event and go on and on. It is really in bad taste.

I do not however know anything about Chennai and the "season".

[arasi]

Rajesh,
When we have you and others who zero in on exactitude, I needn't worry about my 'old fogey' memory Yes, I meant miyAn ki, but typed it as mEgh. When I went to correct it, I saw that Thimma had quoted me, so I did not choose to correct it.

This is for Surya: whatever you sing, you know Rajesh would relish it, so would I!

[mankuthimma]

kssr wrote ... rasikas....Just start with the name of the event and go on and on

Ouch !! Please dont rub the salt in , any more.

[lakshmeesha]

Got my passes.. Really appriciate Ganjam for organising this programs..it doesn't matter even if they are advertising.
They were really polite even when i went twice to collect the passes. good to see they are sponsoring such a big event.
cheers CM lovers.