Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
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Thiruvananthapuram
The unbeatable magic of kutcheri
S. RANGARAJAN
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How is it that with a flourishing record industry, the musicians come on top at a live concert?
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TWO SIDES OF A COIN: (Left) It is the iPod age today, and (right) M.S.Subbulakshmi, who performed to packed halls.
In this digital age, there is music in the air from everywhere. While working on the computer at the office, there is soothing music from the channel that could be down-loaded from the computer itself. The hand-held, palm-size i-pod has become the mo
st potent and pervasive instrument for listening to music anywhere at any time, overtaking the previous generation’s walkman, cassette and the transistor. With a capacity to hold sounds (measured in mega bytes) from several dozens of compact discs the fervent, the devout and the addicted store in these tiny equipment, CD music from a range of thousand types, from soft jazz to the most inspiring spirituals, that will satisfy everyone of their moods.
In the morning at the exercise room the music pushes the listener hard on the treadmill. While driving to work, the news from the car radio followed by music or CD recordings save the driver from road rage.
Young and old take the maximum advantage of the availability of the high-quality Carnatic music in CDs by every musician (vocalist, instrumentalist and the percussionist), listening to them at every opportunity. How is it that with so much of challenge from the record industry, the musicians come on top at a live concert and people come to listen to them from far and wide? This can be explained only by the basic concept and texture of live music, in general, and Carnatic concert music, in particular, that continues to keep a magnetic hold on the listener.
The vidwans are aware of the pressures under which they give their performances. A three-hour live recital, conceived in the 1920s, has defied the radio, the TV and the i-pod. No wonder, the great G.N.Balasubramaniam described Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar, the founder and architect of the concert format, as the hero and as the musician.
The novelty
In concert after concert there is a magic appeal of surprise and innovation that the audience has come to feel and enjoy, braving hours of travel. There is an underlying current of the novel and the new even though the kritis and ragas are the same and the similar. Whereas in Western live concerts the programme and repertoire are previously announced in printed form with the audience knowing what they have come to listen to. The absence of such a system is the strength of the Carnatic music and the musicians’ forte. He or she has the opportunity to feel the pulse of the audience at every stage of the programme and is in a position to present a repertoire that could be changed and worked out on the spot depending on the mood and receptivity of the audience.
The vidwan has the overwhelming capacity to change the course and level of the kutcheri. The musician and the audience realise automatically that they have touched a common chord. This audience-vidwan chemistry is basic and essential for making the evening a great success. The vocalist knows that the concert is not an individual success for him or her but an overall triumph for the ensemble as a whole with the accompanists contributing their best support and manodharma. Can an i-pod or CD produce this electrifying atmosphere?
Fascinated listener
In this context it is appropriate to recall an event that took place over 50 years ago. It was in December 1961 during the Tyagaraja aradhana concerts in Tiruvaiyaru, M.S.Subbulakshmi sang a rare kriti, ‘Vachaamagochara,’ an ekaika raga kriti (the only kriti) in Kaikavasi by saint Tyagaraja. It fascinated one listener in Delhi so much so that he wrote a letter to M.S. requesting her to sing the song in her next performance in Delhi that was due after a short time in early 1962.
The melody queen responded to the request: it was the second song of the evening after the varnam. The listeners’ satisfaction was full. This epitomises the vitality and strength of the live Carnatic music concert. The musician knows it and the response of the audience is one of gratitude and an appreciative sabash.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
