Talent hunt contest- 'Carnatic Idol'
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babaji
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- Joined: 01 Dec 2006, 14:55
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musicquest
- Posts: 23
- Joined: 25 Sep 2006, 00:07
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gundakriya
- Posts: 62
- Joined: 12 May 2006, 09:08
My daughter sent in her audio clips to participate in this contest. She did make it past the initial screening and was invited for the semifinal rounds held on Oct 27th at Ragasudha. And boy, was it a tough round... the judges were TKG, SRJ and flautist Prapancham Sitaram for vocal rounds and TRS, Prapancham & Sikkil Bhaskaran (for violin, flute, etc.)
Though my daughter didn't get past this round, I must say it was a valuable experience to perform before eminences like TKG & SRJ. SRJ thoroughly grilled each participant while TKG & Prapancham were more subtle but forceful nevertheless in probing participants' eligibility. I am not very technically knowledgeable about this divine art, but I consider such baptisms by fire an important part of my child's musical development. I don't feel we need have any concerns about dilution of the art for the sake of commercialization, in this case. Carnatica (the organizers) had laid down strict selection norms and the judges were top-notch. Upon enquiry, Shashikiran also informed that the recordings of the semifinal proceedings were sent to in-absentia judges like TM Krishna, Neyveli Santhanagopalan, Sowmya too and that their inputs were considered in addition to those of the judges at the venue, while deciding the participants for the finals on Nov 10th.
Though my daughter didn't get past this round, I must say it was a valuable experience to perform before eminences like TKG & SRJ. SRJ thoroughly grilled each participant while TKG & Prapancham were more subtle but forceful nevertheless in probing participants' eligibility. I am not very technically knowledgeable about this divine art, but I consider such baptisms by fire an important part of my child's musical development. I don't feel we need have any concerns about dilution of the art for the sake of commercialization, in this case. Carnatica (the organizers) had laid down strict selection norms and the judges were top-notch. Upon enquiry, Shashikiran also informed that the recordings of the semifinal proceedings were sent to in-absentia judges like TM Krishna, Neyveli Santhanagopalan, Sowmya too and that their inputs were considered in addition to those of the judges at the venue, while deciding the participants for the finals on Nov 10th.
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arasi
- Posts: 16873
- Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30
The popular tag 'idol' was misleading, I suppose. So, it was all about quality! An awesome line up of vidvAns too, who worked hard iin testing the entrants.
Gundakriya, thanks for sharing this with us and letting us know of the event's seriousness. Such a refreshing thing when you hear a participant's father speak objectively and appreciatively about it. Congratulations to your daughter who made the grade anyway, not only by being a semi finalist but for being on the right track and for having parents who have a healthy attitude about contests...
Gundakriya, thanks for sharing this with us and letting us know of the event's seriousness. Such a refreshing thing when you hear a participant's father speak objectively and appreciatively about it. Congratulations to your daughter who made the grade anyway, not only by being a semi finalist but for being on the right track and for having parents who have a healthy attitude about contests...
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nivedita
- Posts: 302
- Joined: 14 May 2006, 23:07
Online voting for the 8 finalists who have been selected in the Vocal category is now open. We've uploaded audio clips of all the finalists. Listen to them and vote for the best performer.
The links to the audio clips and the poll are up at Carnatica's Rasika Forum: http://rasika.carnatica.net/viewtopic.php?t=1567
Note: Please login to the Rasika Forum to cast your vote.
The links to the audio clips and the poll are up at Carnatica's Rasika Forum: http://rasika.carnatica.net/viewtopic.php?t=1567
Note: Please login to the Rasika Forum to cast your vote.
Last edited by nivedita on 08 Nov 2007, 13:41, edited 1 time in total.
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nivedita
- Posts: 302
- Joined: 14 May 2006, 23:07
sbala,
As gundakriya has said, the competition was very tough, but very educative. I was there for the vocal contest, assisting SRJ mama in writing down remarks about the participants' performances. Needless to say, it was an enlightening experience.
The questions posed to each participant were different. Most participants were asked to begin with a varnam, in 2 speeds. Sometimes, they were allowed to sing a varnam of their choice, sometimes there were restrictions on the raga and tala of the varnam. One participant was asked to sing a varnam as tanam. SRJ mama felt that most, if not all, of the participants sang the varnam in a very disjointed manner. He said the gamakas/curves were not continuous. The transition from 1st to 2nd speed for most participants was however, satisfactory.
Next, they had to sing an alapana. Each participant had different types of restrictions on the raga. Some had to sing a raga without panchamam, some had to sing a prathi-madhyama non-melakartha raga, some had to sing an audava-sampoorna raga, some - an audava-shadava raga, some - a ghana raga, some - a vivadi raga and so on. Some contestants were asked to sing an alapana in a specific way - for example, SRJ mama asked one contestant to sing Bhairavi without D2. Some contestants had to change the notes in their raga - r1 to r2, d1 to d2, etc., identify the new raga and then do alapana in it. Ragas were not allowed to be repeated. For some, a random raga was chosen by the judges. SRJ mama felt that participants had to work harder at showcasing the raga lakshana, particularly in the starting phrases of the alapana.
The contestants also had to sing kalpanaswara-s at various eduppus. Some of them had to come up with korvais on the spot and execute them. Some were asked to do a few rounds of single avartana swarams, some had to sing only sarva laghu patterns, some had to do koraippu, etc.
Some participants were asked to take a verse and sing it in ragamalika fashion. The raga-s that had to be sung in the ragamalika were specified. Here, SRJ mama was satified with the way the raga-s were sung, but said the participants had to work harder on the transition between raga-s.
They were also asked to do neraval at specific places in some kritis, some were asked to sing tanam. Besides this, there were numerous 'theory' questions -
on composers, kritis, raga-s and their arohana-avarohana, raga lakshana, etc.
The finals will be held on the morning of Nov 10th at the Narada Gana Sabha. There will be live audience polling. The list of finalists in the Vocal, Instrumental and Percussion categories has been put up in Carnatica's forum.
As gundakriya has said, the competition was very tough, but very educative. I was there for the vocal contest, assisting SRJ mama in writing down remarks about the participants' performances. Needless to say, it was an enlightening experience.
The questions posed to each participant were different. Most participants were asked to begin with a varnam, in 2 speeds. Sometimes, they were allowed to sing a varnam of their choice, sometimes there were restrictions on the raga and tala of the varnam. One participant was asked to sing a varnam as tanam. SRJ mama felt that most, if not all, of the participants sang the varnam in a very disjointed manner. He said the gamakas/curves were not continuous. The transition from 1st to 2nd speed for most participants was however, satisfactory.
Next, they had to sing an alapana. Each participant had different types of restrictions on the raga. Some had to sing a raga without panchamam, some had to sing a prathi-madhyama non-melakartha raga, some had to sing an audava-sampoorna raga, some - an audava-shadava raga, some - a ghana raga, some - a vivadi raga and so on. Some contestants were asked to sing an alapana in a specific way - for example, SRJ mama asked one contestant to sing Bhairavi without D2. Some contestants had to change the notes in their raga - r1 to r2, d1 to d2, etc., identify the new raga and then do alapana in it. Ragas were not allowed to be repeated. For some, a random raga was chosen by the judges. SRJ mama felt that participants had to work harder at showcasing the raga lakshana, particularly in the starting phrases of the alapana.
The contestants also had to sing kalpanaswara-s at various eduppus. Some of them had to come up with korvais on the spot and execute them. Some were asked to do a few rounds of single avartana swarams, some had to sing only sarva laghu patterns, some had to do koraippu, etc.
Some participants were asked to take a verse and sing it in ragamalika fashion. The raga-s that had to be sung in the ragamalika were specified. Here, SRJ mama was satified with the way the raga-s were sung, but said the participants had to work harder on the transition between raga-s.
They were also asked to do neraval at specific places in some kritis, some were asked to sing tanam. Besides this, there were numerous 'theory' questions -
on composers, kritis, raga-s and their arohana-avarohana, raga lakshana, etc.
The finals will be held on the morning of Nov 10th at the Narada Gana Sabha. There will be live audience polling. The list of finalists in the Vocal, Instrumental and Percussion categories has been put up in Carnatica's forum.
Last edited by nivedita on 08 Nov 2007, 09:58, edited 1 time in total.
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sbala
- Posts: 629
- Joined: 30 Jul 2006, 08:56
Wow! This is grilling, indeed. They must be quite advanced students and nearly concert calibre to do all this.
I don't like the audience poll idea. I mean its fine for light music but something like carnatic where adherence to grammar is so important, its better left to knowledgeable people. I will abstain
I don't like the audience poll idea. I mean its fine for light music but something like carnatic where adherence to grammar is so important, its better left to knowledgeable people. I will abstain
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nivedita
- Posts: 302
- Joined: 14 May 2006, 23:07
Yes, the winners of the contest will be promoted by Carnatica as performing artistes. So they have to be able to perform concerts.Wow! This is grilling, indeed. They must be quite advanced students and nearly concert calibre to do all this.
For a performing artiste, it is very important that the audience likes his/her singing! Hence the audience poll.I mean its fine for light music but something like carnatic where adherence to grammar is so important, its better left to knowledgeable people.
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vijay
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nivedita
- Posts: 302
- Joined: 14 May 2006, 23:07
Vijay, for the audio clips and the poll, please follow the link to Carnatica's Rasika Forum that I have posted earlier. A recording of each of the 8 finalists have been put up. Each of them has rendered a kriti, with alapana, neraval and kalpanaswara-s.
And here's further clarification: Audience polls will have only 20% weightage. The idea of the contest is to identify talented people who can become good performing artistes. It is not enough that a performer sings with adherence to technical aspects. It is important to be able to captivate the audience also. During the finals, the participants will sing with accompanists, so you will get a feel of how they will sound in a concert. Also, audience polling will help to gauge the thought process of rasikas and whether and to what extent their views match with the opinions of experts. Hope this helps.
-Nivedita
And here's further clarification: Audience polls will have only 20% weightage. The idea of the contest is to identify talented people who can become good performing artistes. It is not enough that a performer sings with adherence to technical aspects. It is important to be able to captivate the audience also. During the finals, the participants will sing with accompanists, so you will get a feel of how they will sound in a concert. Also, audience polling will help to gauge the thought process of rasikas and whether and to what extent their views match with the opinions of experts. Hope this helps.
-Nivedita
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rajeshnat
- Posts: 10117
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Having few known audience members who are all fair and who listen to all participants and then taking their inputs is fine. Just taking a poll from unknown audience may just create groupism circles, personally donot like that approach. To me personally polls is just taking us half as close as fluffy and timestretched television contest.nivedita wrote:And here's further clarification: Audience polls will have only 20% weightage. The idea of the contest is to identify talented people who can become good performing artistes. It is not enough that a performer sings with adherence to technical aspects. It is important to be able to captivate the audience also. During the finals, the participants will sing with accompanists, so you will get a feel of how they will sound in a concert. Also, audience polling will help to gauge the thought process of rasikas and whether and to what extent their views match with the opinions of experts. Hope this helps.
-Nivedita
Nevertheless nice to hear that carnatica is really promoting youngsters to face exemplary vidwans and vaggeyakkaras .
Last edited by rajeshnat on 08 Nov 2007, 15:13, edited 1 time in total.
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vijay
- Posts: 2522
- Joined: 27 Feb 2006, 16:06
Nivedita - also a request for the next edition. Clearly the contest is a serious one with reputed vidwans and very challenging questions. The name "carnatic idol" seems to trivialize the whole thing....I know there must be commercial costraints at work here with all the hoopla around idols and TV talent hunts but it would be great if you could the event a better name - even the sanskrit equivalent of "idol" would not be a bad start!
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nadhasudha
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nivedita
- Posts: 302
- Joined: 14 May 2006, 23:07
nadhasudha,
Please go the webpage I have mentioned. Run your mouse over 'Finalist #x', you will realise that each of them is a link. Click on 'Finalist #x', for each finalist. That will lead you to a Rapidshare page from where you can download the audio clip for each finalist separately.
To download the tracks, you don't have to be logged in. But to cast your vote, please log in to the forum.
Please go the webpage I have mentioned. Run your mouse over 'Finalist #x', you will realise that each of them is a link. Click on 'Finalist #x', for each finalist. That will lead you to a Rapidshare page from where you can download the audio clip for each finalist separately.
To download the tracks, you don't have to be logged in. But to cast your vote, please log in to the forum.
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nadhasudha
- Posts: 382
- Joined: 22 May 2006, 06:40
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msakella
- Posts: 2127
- Joined: 30 Sep 2006, 21:16
Dear brother-member, sbala, We need not be surprised if the western instruments like Piano, Accordion are also included hereafter along with the already included Keyboard in our Karnataka music competitions, in which way the Keyboard has not only been included in the recent Pogo Awards but also the Keyboard-player only has been awarded the final prize ignoring the poor players of our Indian Instruments, Violin, Sitar and Sarod. amsharma.
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sbala
- Posts: 629
- Joined: 30 Jul 2006, 08:56
I agree with Vijay. I hardly bothered to look at this thread as the "idol" made me perceive the whole exercise as frivolous. Now that we know the rigor of the process the candidates had to go through, it certainly deserves a better title. I'm sure our forumites can come up with excellent suggestions before the award is given!!!
Sharmaji - I know traditionalists like you don't approve of the keyboard. I have heard Smt. Vedavalli also express her disapproval in one lecdem. I'm no way qualified to comment on this . However, I'm disappointed there's no vina/nagaswaram player among the finalists. Maybe, they did not get sufficient quality entries.
Sharmaji - I know traditionalists like you don't approve of the keyboard. I have heard Smt. Vedavalli also express her disapproval in one lecdem. I'm no way qualified to comment on this
. However, I'm disappointed there's no vina/nagaswaram player among the finalists. Maybe, they did not get sufficient quality entries.
Last edited by sbala on 09 Nov 2007, 07:57, edited 1 time in total.
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msakella
- Posts: 2127
- Joined: 30 Sep 2006, 21:16
Dear brother-member, sbala, In fact I am not a fanatical traditionalist. In respect of music the first preference should always be given for aesthetic approach, as even the layman likes that. For musicians scientific approach is also needed along with aesthetic approach as in-depth knowledge could be obtained through scientific approach only. However, many of the traditionlists manage even without them. Smt. Vedavalli’s view is correct as the subtleties of our Karnataka music cannot be brought out either by the Key-board or the Piano or the Accordion. Of course, tt is equally disappointing to know that there are no sufficient quality entries from Vina or Nagaswaram-players even from Chennai, the predominant seat of Karnataka music. amsharma.
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nivedita
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tkb
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Congradulations to the winner of Carnatic Idol competition.
This is Krishnababu father of Sathya - keyboard artist who won the POGO Awards and also was in the finals of Carnatic Idol, may be many do not like this. It is indeed a known fact that many foreign instruments - I think Violin is also one among them, did make entry or were accepted only after going thru hard times and were not accepted over night in the CM forum. I think and request all to wait for a perriod of time to see if KB will sustain all the pressures. There are many others who are performing and persuading CM on KB and innumerable number of music schools teaching same. Many reputed music forums all over India have given oppurtunities to KB artists performing CM concerts and i am sure this will not continue if music from KB is hard to digest for ears of the audience with whose patronage forums are on.
Every one by now know that Carnatic Idol - Instrumental has been won by Sri Jayanth - a flute artist and i join with every one in the forum to congradulate him and wish him the very best for the future. I also wish to congradulate the other winners and i am sure each participant in this copetition has learnt some thing which is very useful for them.
This is Krishnababu father of Sathya - keyboard artist who won the POGO Awards and also was in the finals of Carnatic Idol, may be many do not like this. It is indeed a known fact that many foreign instruments - I think Violin is also one among them, did make entry or were accepted only after going thru hard times and were not accepted over night in the CM forum. I think and request all to wait for a perriod of time to see if KB will sustain all the pressures. There are many others who are performing and persuading CM on KB and innumerable number of music schools teaching same. Many reputed music forums all over India have given oppurtunities to KB artists performing CM concerts and i am sure this will not continue if music from KB is hard to digest for ears of the audience with whose patronage forums are on.
Every one by now know that Carnatic Idol - Instrumental has been won by Sri Jayanth - a flute artist and i join with every one in the forum to congradulate him and wish him the very best for the future. I also wish to congradulate the other winners and i am sure each participant in this copetition has learnt some thing which is very useful for them.
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srkris
- Site Admin
- Posts: 3497
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Please do not use this forum to defame anyone or any event. There is a difference between honest criticism and attacks. Attacks are out of bounds here, and the concerned members may be banned for it. This is not the place to settle personal scores of any kind either. Thanks for the understanding. The last two posts were removed by a moderator from this thread.
Those who want to discuss things with the organizers of Carnatic Idol may contact them directly.
Those who want to discuss things with the organizers of Carnatic Idol may contact them directly.