Music concerts........

chitrathiagarajan · Post by **chitrathiagarajan** » 26 Nov 2008, 00:57

Now the music season is on.I attended some concerts in Naradagana saba.
Why don't they announce the names of ragam,talam and composer?
Is it a kind of test for the audience to identify them?
The artist himself/herself can do that.It will not take more than a minute.
CT

sankirnam · Post by **sankirnam** » 26 Nov 2008, 03:04

There's no motive, its just that most of the audiences in Chennai would be familiar with all the popular krithis. In the case of rare ragas or krithis, the artist usually announces the details.

harimau · Post by **harimau** » 26 Nov 2008, 07:32

chitrathiagarajan wrote:Now the music season is on.I attended some concerts in Naradagana saba.
Why don't they announce the names of ragam,talam and composer?
Is it a kind of test for the audience to identify them?
The artist himself/herself can do that.It will not take more than a minute.
CT

Most of the audience don't need to be told when the artist is singing Mohanam or Hindolam. In fact, they will be nodding vigorously. If it is a vivadi raga (meaning, not particularly likeable!) , just assign at random a name such as Gangeyabhushani, Jhankaradhwani or Neethimathi. You have a 1-in-40 chance of being correct, better than the odds you get in lotteries!

Get a copy of the Kutcheri Guide. That lists the song, the raga and the composer but not the tala. You can find out the tala by observing the vocalist's hand movements. Learn simple talas such as Adi and Rupakam and Eka talas. That will take you far.

Of course the Kutcheri Guide is of no use during a raga alapana though I have seen a mami look through the book during an alapana of Kumudakriya. I was wondering what that mami hoped to find out from the book!

The other possibility is to download the massive Lakshman Ragde guide to kritis into a hand-held device and look into that.

chitrathiagarajan · Post by **chitrathiagarajan** » 26 Nov 2008, 14:29

It is tough on those who are initiated into concert attending habit.I mean the younger generation.Most of them come to attend at the insistence of elders at home.(probably escorting them!).One can always go to the web sites for the information. Which should be available when needed while listening to live renderings.
I suggest the sabha prepare a schedule of what to expect with details.
Otherwise the audience will be 60+ crowd only.
It is a sad state of affairs for carnatic music.
CT

semmu86 · Post by **semmu86** » 26 Nov 2008, 15:37

your view is correct to an extent i feel.. music academy does follow this and before hand they write and get from the main artistes what are they going to sing. and they publish that as a souveneir also. but my feeling is once you get you what is going to be sung, i feel both we and the artistes alike are being robbed of spontaneity and creativity. but this is not the case in other sabhas.

and coming to your next issue, my point of view is, in the initial stage of concert attending, its better we attend the concerts with knowledgble relatives or friends so that we can get the doubts cleared then and there itself. But i beg to differ with your point on insistence. i strongly feel, carnatic music after a certain point of insistence,cannot be understood and appreciated if youngsters dosent have or develop an intrest towards it.

I personally feel what we learn by ourselves stay in our minds longer that what is taught to us. , that if we attend say 10 concerts without knowing the rAgA or keerthana (when i say attend, it is being present mentally also) and when we attend the 11th concert , some krithi or rAgA will sound familiar to those we would have heard in those 10 concerts. At this point of time, i strongly feel we need some guidance.. whatever little i have learnt i can say that is like this only. likewise the same goes to people who are starting to appreciate layam..

If this is the way, i personally feel a lot more people can appreciate carnatic music. after all when legends thhemselves say this is an ocean, what it is for us?? its a learning process. this is my humble opinion.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 26 Nov 2008, 17:45

Chithra,
What counts most is to listen, listen and listen--by which we cultivate a taste for CM. We would automatically be drawn to good music as our familiarity with CM grows. Why analyze CM before we know much about it? While I still have got a lot to learn about CM, the enjoyment of it ranks first for me. Moreover, this analytic approach, especially among new rasikAs might take away the joy of music appreciation, in my view. While it is nice for a beginner to identify a rAga correctly, it isn't a priority. A rasikA is one who savors music--with or without any thorough knowledge of it.
As for MA's program book with concert song lists, yes, it helps and does not hinder the performer's imagination which can find expression in rAgam and svaram singing. It is fine too when you do not know what songs are going to be presented. The surprise element is equally pleasing.
As Semmu says,
the more familiar you get with CM the more you will relish the guessing the rgAs etc part of it. That is why, after all the years of listening to CM, we so look forward to live concerts...

chitrathiagarajan · Post by **chitrathiagarajan** » 26 Nov 2008, 18:05

Innovation is what makes one a great artist even if the details are announced.
When you hear Kalyani in every concert of a aprticular artist,if he/she can breathe frehness into the ragam with innovation,I can vouch that the auditorium will be jampacked.
In this era,everyone wants to hear the specifics.No one has the time to read books.We are moving towards paperless era.It is the ground reality.Don't we do the phonebanking?Banks like ICICI do not provide passbooks!
I very strongly feel the announcement is a must.

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 26 Nov 2008, 19:09

I agree with Arasi, that if the music is really good, you should be able to appreciate it as much, if not better, without knowing what rAgam it is in.

And I also think we'll remember rAgas' names better by asking around in the audience.

Actually, sometimes they don't announce clearly, and I feel a little odd saying "enna sonna?" (What did they say?)

kedharam · Post by **kedharam** » 26 Nov 2008, 19:34

I think if you can get hold of a decent amount of CDs - they have info on ragam, thalam, and the composer - it is a good way to familiarize with the basics and you can take it from there.

keerthi · Post by **keerthi** » 26 Nov 2008, 19:51

Does announcement of raga tala composer etc enhance appreciation of the music. I feel we have forgotten to identify good sruthi alignment and creative raga treatment; in exchange for being able to identify a bunch of exotic quixotic 'priya's and 'angi's.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 26 Nov 2008, 21:31

I too feel that schedules decided in advance take away the spontaneity. Also it is a bit of a sideshow for rasikas to guess the raagam and I do feel they should not be deprived of this pleasure (although this is hardly as great an intellectual exercise as it is made out to be - mostly we identify ragas based on familiar songs or phrases)...I am tempted not to look into the souvenir for this reason but always give in! In any case, no one follows the schedule strictly anyway...

But for the sake of newbies I think artistes should take the trouble to talk a bit, at least about the main pieces without making it a lec-dem...maybe a quick word on the raagam, an outline of the krithi's meaning, any specialities in the rendition, maybe 1-2 memorable renditions etc.

As long as it is done after the piece and limited to 1-2 minutes for the main/sub-main/RTP this would not really impact the concert flow either

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 26 Nov 2008, 23:25

But for the sake of newbies I think artistes should take the trouble to talk a bit, at least about the main pieces without making it a lec-dem...maybe a quick word on the raagam, an outline of the krithi's meaning, any specialities in the rendition, maybe 1-2 memorable renditions etc.

I agree. They can do this for all the songs, if they follow a template like this.

1) If there is an alapana, the raga can be announced after the alapana and before the song starts. At the end of the song, announce the composer and thala.
2) If there no alapana, announce the raga, thala and composer at the end of the song.
3) With respect to talking about the krithi, if they do it only for the main and sub-main, at the post-alpana point, the raga is announced. They can reveal the composer name there itself and mention about what the krithi is about. Not just the meaning, any other thing that is noteworthy about the krithi: Use of poetic features, madhyama/durita kala prayogas, any special language features employed and how the sahitya bhava and the raga bhava are integrated. As Vijay says, this is not to make it a lec-dem but just a few sentences.
4) There will be some complaints and negative view from veterans, seasoned rasikas and reviewers. If artists wish things to 'change', they should be thick-skinned enough to handle it and keep the doing the above if the believe in the utility of it, take the leadership role and sell to these people why it is a good thing or in some cases just ignore and keep doing it. Over time, if rasikas as a whole like it, it will become well accepted.

ShrutiLaya · Post by **ShrutiLaya** » 27 Nov 2008, 00:43

Of course the Kutcheri Guide is of no use during a raga alapana though I have seen a mami look through the book during an alapana of Kumudakriya. I was wondering what that mami hoped to find out from the book!

.. been there, done that. Sometimes the alapana reminds you of another krithi, but you have no idea what ragam *that* krithi was in either, so you go look it up ..

The other possibility is to download the massive Lakshman Ragde guide to kritis into a hand-held device and look into that.

I've seen Sri.Lakshman's posts and contributions in various places, but didn't know there was actually a full guide available for download. Can you pl. provide the URL?

Thanks
Sreenadh

chitrathiagarajan · Post by **chitrathiagarajan** » 27 Nov 2008, 07:50

Thanks Vasanthakokilam.Atleast there is someone in this forum who supports the annoucement raga/tala/composer/lyricist.
For instance 'Kurai onrum ellai" ,"jagat janani",annamacharya kritis' sung by MS.
Any discussion in the auditorium will lead to disturbance to others.
Let us enjoy the music.No doubt about it.Let us also get the right information about those sung by the artists from them.
Isn't it a RTI for the audience?
CT

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 27 Nov 2008, 08:27

Coming from the performer, a quick line about the rAgam (tALam too, if it is not the familiar kind) is fine by me. Some artistes do this with rare rAgams, in just a few seconds. The best place to announce is when one has sung (played) a few strains of the ragam instead of the very beginning or the end of the piece. The best juncture for tALam is before the start of the song.
Unless it is specified beforehand, a performance should not be presented in the form of a lecture demonstration, in my view.This way, newbies who are overwhelmed by technicalities and the nature of classical pieces might not feel like going to another concert, making up their minds that CM is as difficult to understand as they originally thought.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 27 Nov 2008, 11:49

Arasi: Exactly. We want that to flow normally in a concert. I do like your scheme of announcing the raga after singing a few strains of the ragam. This way, relative newcomers can try to put a name to the melodic patterns. I completely understand the little bit of squeamishness that an artist might feel in announcing a common raga like Thodi or Shankarabaranam to an audience consisting of knowledgeable rasikas and their peers. I do not know what the 'cool' thing to pull it off without making it sound out of place. May be they can weave the name of the raga as they do the alapana ( just some loud thinking )

I agree that announcing the thala name is optional if it is a common thala and they show the kriya properly while singing the krithi.

harimau · Post by **harimau** » 27 Nov 2008, 13:34

ShrutiLaya wrote:
Of course the Kutcheri Guide is of no use during a raga alapana though I have seen a mami look through the book during an alapana of Kumudakriya. I was wondering what that mami hoped to find out from the book!

.. been there, done that. Sometimes the alapana reminds you of another krithi, but you have no idea what ragam *that* krithi was in either, so you go look it up ..

So, how many krithis have you heard in Kumudakriya, other than Ardhanareeswaram?

ShrutiLaya wrote:
The other possibility is to download the massive Lakshman Ragde guide to kritis into a hand-held device and look into that.
I've seen Sri.Lakshman's posts and contributions in various places, but didn't know there was actually a full guide available for download. Can you pl. provide the URL?

Thanks
Sreenadh

Sri Lakshman Ragde makes his guide available on a CD. You can download that into the handheld device of your choice. Programming the handheld device is trivial and left as an exercise to the reader.

harimau · Post by **harimau** » 27 Nov 2008, 14:06

Perhaps it is best to initiate newcomers into Carnatic Music slowly. If you throw a frog into a pot of hot water, it will jump out immediately. If you put it in a pot of cold water and slowly raise the temperature, the frog will stay in. At least, that is what I have been told. So, rather than subject newcomers to the shock of Carnatic Music, it is better that we introduce the matter to them in small enough increments that they don't know that they are getting themselves into hot water.

The first step would be taking the youngsters to an "Isai Payanam" concert. I believe in this series of concerts (past concerts are available on DVDs, I am given to understand) the audience is given a small dose of Carnatic Music with the name of the raga mentioned at the beginning and a popular kriti is sung in it and then a series of movie songs are sung in that raga to drive home the point (which eludes me completely). I have now been told that "Autokaran Autokaran" is in Sindhu Bhairavi by someone who attended one of these programs and this knowledge has brought me immense satisfaction and I am able to sleep in peace instead of tossing and turning around in my bed as I turn the problem of the raga of this kriti over in my mind.

After repeated immersions in a series of Isai Payanam concerts, it might be possible to take the person to the tail end of an Aruna Sayeeram concert. "Maadu Meikkum Kanna" might be featured if you are lucky. A relative of mine, completely innocent of any association with Carnatic Music, not only has fallen in love with this song but plays it morning, noon and night, driving his family batty, which I consider to be an incidental benefit though it is extremely doubtful his wife could become any battier. One might get luckier and get the Carnatic rap song otherwise known as the Snake-Dance Song. This would be of immense benefit to those who have listened to rappers for a while.

After several months of this, it might be time to go to a concert by Sudha Raghunathan. Again, the tail end is recommended. Here you would get "Vishamakkara Kannan", something to beat "Maadu Meikkum Kanna" over the head with a stick. You might also get the "Blind Monkey Song".

The next step up the ladder would be to go to the tail end of a Duelling Abhangists' concert. The advantage is now you get to expand your repertoire with Hindusthani ragas such as Megh Malhar, Bhimpalasi, etc., in which ragas these abhangs are composed. You also have the artists announcing the raga as well as the meaning of the abhang, thus completing the experience some are looking for.

This long and strenuous apprenticeship in becoming a rasika of Carnatic Music may not lead a person to appreciate MDR, Ariyakkudi, etc., but I believe there are enough Isai Payanam concerts to keep the average person happy for a lifetime.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 28 Nov 2008, 01:13

A straight post from harimau without the usual sarcasm and wit made me wonder what is going on. Now, everything seems to be right.

May be they need to sell tickets at half price for those who want to attend the tail end and a discount for those who can not take the tail end and make room for these newcomers

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 28 Nov 2008, 02:05

harimau wrote:If you throw a frog into a pot of hot water, it will jump out immediately. If you put it in a pot of cold water and slowly raise the temperature, the frog will stay in. At least, that is what I have been told.

Not exactly:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog

kedharam · Post by **kedharam** » 28 Nov 2008, 04:21

harimau

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 28 Nov 2008, 11:17

harimau wrote: So, how many krithis have you heard in Kumudakriya, other than Ardhanareeswaram?

If I recognized it correctly, Bharthi Ramsubban sang a not often heard krithi in this raga on Wed. at the HCL concert series. So thanks to some of these enterprising artistes, some of these ragas are getting more air time.

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 28 Nov 2008, 14:44

If I remember correct , kumudakriya is the other name of subhapantuvarali by DIKSHITHAR . Insuch cases, the artist should mention both the names.gobilalitha

harimau · Post by **harimau** » 28 Nov 2008, 16:01

gobilalitha wrote:If I remember correct , kumudakriya is the other name of subhapantuvarali by DIKSHITHAR ..... gobilalitha

I don't think so. Kumudakriya is a janyam of Pantuvarali. The kriti Ardhanareeswaram has the raga mudra in the phrase 'kumudakriya raga nutham'.

Subhapantuvarali is called Sivapantuvarali in the asampurna mela tradition. Sri Deekshithar has composed Sri Sathyanarayanam in that raga.

The name Kumudakriya won't fit into the katapayadhi sankhya to produce the correct number for the melakartha ragam if it is an alternate name for Sivapantuvarali.

sankirnam · Post by **sankirnam** » 29 Nov 2008, 10:09

IIRC, the name for Pantuvarali in the Asampurna Melakartha paddhathi is Kasiramakriya.

sridhar_ranga · Post by **sridhar_ranga** » 30 Nov 2008, 21:44

I wish our sabhas install electronic ticker displays on top of the stage and display the raga, tala and composer details sometime after the raga alapana is over - or in the middle of the kriti if there is no alapana. This way the rasikas are not robbed of the thrill of identifying the raga and the laymen get to know the details too.

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 30 Nov 2008, 23:27

Just ask the guy sitting next to you. You may find them both knowledgeable and eager to share the info. No electronic tickers please...

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 01 Dec 2008, 00:27

sureshvv, you are probably joking about asking the guy next to you but we do not want to encourage that, there is typically already too much noise in the auditorium. In fact, if the acoustics are good, the audience noise also gets the same 'good' treatment. Also, people are sometimes not comfortable disturbing a stranger about such things. And if it is someone you know who is sitting next to you and you ask that question for a very common raga, you will never hear the end of it

So many conclude 'why open my mouth and remove any doubts that I am an idiot in this'.

I can warm up to the idea of the electronic display, if it is at a place that is not distracting. Yes, no moving or flickering displays. I like this because there is no extra responsibilities imposed on the artists. And it solves a very basic problem that newcomers and casual listeners of CM have and it lets them get familiar with raga names at their own speed ("Ah, I like that melody, what is the raga? Turn to the obscure corner of the auditorium for the display, it says dayavathi, we take a mental note of it and move on" ).

On the other hand, if the artists want to say a sentence or two about a piece, they are free to do that any way.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 01 Dec 2008, 06:09

In a Sikkil Gurucharan concert in Singapore, the organisers had set up a screen in a corner which flashed the song name, raga, tala, and lyrics as soon as the song was started. It was quite nice to follow the lyrics by reading them, since it's sometimes difficult to make them out while the artiste is singing. However, these electronic methods require the artiste to have preplanned the concert and do not leave much room for last-minute changes...

chitrathiagarajan · Post by **chitrathiagarajan** » 01 Dec 2008, 08:01

bilahari wrote:In a Sikkil Gurucharan concert in Singapore, the organisers had set up a screen in a corner which flashed the song name, raga, tala, and lyrics as soon as the song was started. It was quite nice to follow the lyrics by reading them, since it's sometimes difficult to make them out while the artiste is singing. However, these electronic methods require the artiste to have preplanned the concert and do not leave much room for last-minute changes...

This is a great idea.
How do you implement it?
It is technology investment.
Will the sabhas do it?
CT

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 01 Dec 2008, 08:57

sumathibhuvarahan · Post by **sumathibhuvarahan** » 01 Dec 2008, 09:02

If you are attending a free concert in the Mylapore area and its vicinity, look for a guy whose face resembles that of the local barber and sit either within four rows in front of him or within four rows behind him and he will make sure that you will know all the ragas being rendered. If you need a live commentary you can sit next to him.

I always look for this guy and choose the exact opposite corner. Unfortunately, this does not work every time because sometimes he would show up in the middle of the concert and would sit right behind you. Under those circumstances, I just ended up giving him the ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‹Å“lookÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢. Unfortunately, this has not worked so far and I have had to move to a different seat.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 01 Dec 2008, 09:05

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 01 Dec 2008, 09:38

It was quite nice to follow the lyrics by reading them, since it's sometimes difficult to make them out while the artiste is singing.

It's normally the artiste's mistake if they are very difficult to make out. Of course, for instrumental concerts it's a good idea.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 01 Dec 2008, 11:03

Does this barber attend season concerts?! I'd like to see him in action!

And srikant, sometimes I think our own hearing might be defective, we might not be concentrating, or the mic might muffle some phrases... I especially have trouble distinguishing between bilabial sounds like ma/pa/ba etc. Maybe I just have bad hearing. Also it's nice to read and reflect on the lyrics as they are on screen the whole time and don't just pass by with the singer's singing, if you know what I mean. For this isolated experience anyway, I could better appreciate the sahitya. Usually my concert experiences are 80% focused on the music and 20% on the lyrics. I've always been irritated with myself for glossing over the sahitya, and a small aid like this can be substantial in helping me overcome this imbalance.

Additionally, if translations are provided for the lyrics, it might be even more beneficial for rasikas who don't understand the language of the song.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 01 Dec 2008, 13:46

All the above suggestions sound great for on line experience. As for live CM concerts, except in the case of the Music Academy, since performances are not given with a pre-decided list of songs, this is impractical, atleast for now. Who knows? A time may come when 'pre-announced list' might come into vogue, and then this is going to make the concert experience more enjoyable.

Yes, Bilahari. We composers would like nothing better than for the audience to hear every word of the lyrics!

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 01 Dec 2008, 13:59

It is technology investment.
Will the sabhas do it?
CT

Since everything is sponsored these days, a sponsor can do it for the privilege of putting their name above the display ( tastefully, of course! ). That is a lot of eyeballs against that display. Here is where I am getting worried that this may become a monster with sabhas creating a bidding war for that premium spot and to make more money increasing the display size etc.

sridhar_ranga · Post by **sridhar_ranga** » 01 Dec 2008, 14:28

Arasi-ji

I think it can be done in concerts...we need a knowledgeable rasika to punch in the details on a hand-held device and click a button to send it to the display board. Better if we can get one of the many persons seated on the dais (besides the performing artistes) or the son/daughter/senior disciple/ nephew sitting right behind the main performer (providing vocal support or passing on the glass of warm water/milk) to volunteer for the job.

Sabhas need to increase their budget for each concert by a mere shawl/ garland to be used to honour this volunteer! (Yes, I have been reading too many of Harimau's posts of late

)

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 01 Dec 2008, 21:43

Personally I feel there should be no distraction of display boards or anything else for the following reasons.

1. The real charm is possibly to take a small paper/notebook and pen and just jot it down.Come back home refer the krithi and rAgam in either the web or get the nalli handbook.You need not write all the songlist but atleast when you are at doubt, you can atleast jot only those down.

2. Personally I used to initially start taking nalli book and everytime before giving more tries to recognize the rAga, I used to refer the book. unfortunately that is like looking at the answers in 8th standard maths book towards the end .There is no stickiness in knowing the rAga. Only when I threw that nalli booklet of rAgas during concerts ,I started picking up rAgas , for a long time never graduated other than kuntala varAli, hindOlam and ananda bhairavi.

3. When I was young upto early teens , my thatha used to ask me to guess the rAga , I used to randomly guess ,then my thatha would give me the first english alphabet then I used to zero down to few that way there is more stickiness.

4. IF there is display , for sure that is going to be a bigger distraction , what if the rAga is kannada , the display may put it as kannada ,I bet most will read it as kaNaDA and start connecting mathrubUtham with alaiayuthE.For few years they may not know the difference.

5.Also on a very pessimistic note, when there a paratpara in vAchaspathi is displayed in few years time , the same paratpara in vachaspathi will be also given by a tag line pArampariya pattu by Pothys with smiling sudha . Display will open a big can of advertising worms, slowly concerts in 50 years will become like a idiot box .

6. In nutshell take your time to identify the rAgas , sometimes the satisfaction of identifying madhyamAvati as srirAgam is far higher even if wrong , then the display indicating it as madhyamAvati.

7.On a side note , there was one lec dem which I attended where pAppu venugOpal was speaking with power point in projector on muthuswami dikshitar , he was talking about isoceles triangle in one of the chakra slide . ALmost all in rAgasudha hall got , I bet no one got anything, smt vedavalli madam came little later , and spoke wonderfully and made a passing mention "intha projector eLLam periya distraction, ethavathu onnu thAn irukkanam".

8. On a more interesting note yesterday when I, vijay,rams , dvmk ,cool and vainika met I was educated by vainika that even in mishra sivaranjani ,there can be of two types one with double madhyamam and the other with double panchamam(I think he said that), all that is revelation I never knew mishra rAgas can have more than one flavour. How else one can assimilate that interesting conversation unless you go thru step by step.

chitrathiagarajan · Post by **chitrathiagarajan** » 01 Dec 2008, 23:24

Looks like one should have a prerequisite training to attend the concerts.
CT

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 02 Dec 2008, 00:01

The one pre-requisite for attending concerts? A love for music--which incidentally can be cultivated too

Rajesh,
You say it so well. Why should we be obsessive in knowing the rAgA right away, I wonder. To first enjoy a nameless rAgA and then to know its name can be exciting too.This way, you don't miss what is being sung or played. You get an extra bit of pleasure after the concert in learning the name of a new rAgA which resembled this or that rAgA to you.
While I like reading subtitles for a film in a language I do not know which runs at the bottom of the screen or television, I find it distracting to look above the stage to read the lyrics of an opera or operetta. And I do not want to see a banner of any
product whose manufacturers want huge displays for the big bucks they donate...

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 03 Dec 2008, 10:51

Does this barber shave himself?

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 03 Dec 2008, 11:00

vasanthakokilam wrote:sureshvv, you are probably joking about asking the guy next to you

Nope. I was dead serious

I don't condone loud discussion or intruding into another person's experience of the concert, but feel that we should not import the inorganic ambience of an opera house into a carnatic concert. Carnatic music like all superior art forms is also a way to bond with your fellow pilgrim, so a few words with a total stranger enhances the experience for me

I can warm up to the idea of the electronic display, if it is at a place that is not distracting. Yes, no moving or flickering displays.

And pretty soon it will feature RmKv ads. Pardon my cynicism but I am quite skeptical about these high tech solutions.

sankirnam · Post by **sankirnam** » 03 Dec 2008, 11:27

I feel the charm of attending concerts is partly in being able to guess or predict what the artist may sing. I remember when I was a little kid learning vocal, I used to enjoy trying to figure out ragams from alapanais or trying to find who wrote the particular krithi by listening carefully to the sahityam. Of course it is a little more difficult in instrumental concerts, but then for that reason instrumentalists tend to stick to well-known compositions and will announce rare krithis.
Everything has a learning curve, just stick with it and keep listening. Eventually you will be able to identify popular ragams (like mohanam, hamsadwani, kalyani, shankarabharanam, pantuvarali etc), and then progress to others.