The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : It is left to the bands to rouse the audience to excitement

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Friday, Dec 07, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

It is left to the bands to rouse the audience to excitement

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: On a wintry Thursday evening when all roads leading to the venue were traffic-struck, Palace Grounds seemed to be one of the least preferred places in the city, unfortunately for the three bands that tried to rouse the sparse audience to some excitement.

Synapse, Lounge Piranha and Karma 6 performed as part of Bengalooru Habba on a day when music was the overarching theme of the cultural festival.

Siddharth Srivatsa, a marketing professional among the audience at the rock festival, said, “I had expected a different atmosphere; more crowd, more excitement.”

Harsha Shivaram, anchor at the rock music festival, said that it was, perhaps, the fact that the entry was free that the crowd was unimpressive. Also, because it was weekday, there are not many people, he said.

Aditya Menon from Synapse was, however, more cheerful.

“For the weather we have today, we were happy that so many people turned out. And, the response from the crowd was also encouraging,” he said.

Classical dance and music programmes were on at many auditoriums in the city, including Ambedkar Bhavan, J.S.S. Auditorium, Ravindra Kalakshetra and Town Hall. BDA complexes and parks in the city also had devotional music, Sugama Sangeetha and folk music programmes.

Lacking in publicity?

It seems like the habba might do with more advertising. “I travel all the way from R.T. Nagar to Dairy Circle and I have not seen even one single hoarding. I thought the habba was over because I could not see any publicity material,” said Nikitha S., a marketing professional.

Byravee Iyer, a media professional, said, “The advertising has been rather mellow. No one I know is even talking about it. Besides, they are all being held on weekdays.”

However, there were others who are quite enjoying the programmes. Vidya from India Foundation for the Arts said that the jazz concerts held on Wednesday were good fun while her friend Menaka said she “enjoyed the plays held through the habba.”

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