War against terrorism – Indian grit

First let me place my deep condolences to Karkare, Sandeep & Gajendra’s family. Their sacrifice literally moved me to tears.

For a change NDTV aired a sensible unbiased, no-holds barred discussion moderated by Omkar Goswani. Arun Shourie and Suhel Seth participated.

The discussion was about the Intelligence System of India and the action being taken based on the reports published.

Suhel was very emotional and didn’t minced words in expressing himself. Arun also didn’t butter his words, was very forthright. The facts tabled by Arun where startling. The money spent on generating these reports is all washed down the gutter by the government machinery without realizing the fact that it also affects the people who wash it down the drain.

I was very impressed with Arun’s unbiased speech. He came out of his BJP coat and spoke as a true citizen of India. He was very much up to the point, didn’t digress; take political advantage of the situation for BJP. These traits are a rare among politicians. Shows his culture and education. Hats off Arun. Arun suggested that the white paper on any issue presented to the Govt. should be treated with utmost respect and implemented gradually. He wanted the pay commission to increase the salary structure for the armed forces rather the security personnel at large.

Suhel’s suggestion of making military service mandatory to the youth is a big welcome. He also wanted to have a Federal Intelligentsia to be above the politicians to combat these kind of situations. I would like to add situations like drought, floods and other socially relevant crisis also to be handled and decided by this – may I call it the Indian Federal Intelligentsia (IFI).

We shouldn’t let go this calamity unanswered by the men in power. As responsible citizens of the country we have to exercise our right to secured and healthy living. Pl. join force to move the boulder.

Once again from the bottom of my heart I pay my respects to Karkare, Sandeep, Gajendra and those who lost their life in this war against terrorism. My heartfelt condolences to the families of those who got killed.

Jai Hind

Cheap imitation – Uma Gold!!

I have some suggestions for the performers of this generation.

Get inspired by listening to great masters of earlier generation. Never attempt to clone them. This is a big problem with you all. Analyse the music of yesteryear vidwans’ music. They did what is best for their voice. They never tried to copy or clone others. They took the best from other vidwans and embraced it. More importantly, presented it in their own voice and style.

But unfortunately today’s performers try to even present in the voice of their mentor or motivator or whatever they call them. This is not good for the artform and the performers.

Trying to sing in your mentor’s or guru’s voice is suicidal. Know your strengths and weakness honestly and respect them. If your mentor or guru can sing a particular phrase or scale, it’s their capability. They would’ve achieved it out of practice over a period of time or nature would have been kind on them. If you want to achieve those virtues prepare yourselves for that. More importantly don’t try it on the stage and trouble the audience. It’s no mean task.

I have heard a lot of performers in their mid 30s trying to clone their mentors. I write about this practice here because I felt most of them, if they try to develop an individual style or avoid the glaring resemblance, can go farther. I can name a few here: 1. Sriram Gangadharan – bestowed with a phenomenal voice, very captivating and able to produce some breathtaking phrases. Good, comfortable reach of almost 2 octaves in the shruthi he is singing now. But has no originality. He imitates GNB. No doubt, the charisma of GNB is prevalent even after about 40 years of his death. But the charisma has not done any good to Sriram. Sanjay Subrahmanyam, also a great admirer of GNB, only takes GNB’s finer points and sings in his own voice, style respecting the limitations he has.

There are a set of singers in the TN Seshagopalan disciples clan. Kasturi Rangan is the only disciple performing now in Chennai. The others are more into teaching so we are spared. They all think of themselves as TNS. Forgetting the hardwork TNS would have put in his early days to achieve what he is today. Please do your homework well. Analyse his music, take the nuances and try to produce in a way it suits your voice. More importantly listen to other performers too. Your manodharma (creativity) will enrich only if you listen to other’s music without any prejudice. The more you listen the more ideas you get. If you are able to identify the mistakes of others and correct them in your performances, you are a clear winner.

Hold, this problem is not with the vocalists alone. Even instrumentalist do this mistake of trying to imitate their mentors.

I can hear you all ask – who the hell are you writing this nonsense. Am not a performer. Just a voracious  listener. And have listened Balamuralikrishna, Mali, MLV, MDR, SSI, SKR, S. Ramanathan, TMT, TRS and the likes live (an indicative list not complete) for well over 30 years. I should thank Sanjay Subrahmanyam for introducing me to some good music. He used to take me to SKR’s concerts in his ‘vErabadran’ (a Bajaj M80 bike) to IIT Music Club, Kalakshethra as I was having only a bicycle then. Many thanks to you Sanjay, once again. Listening to these concerts definitely has honed by appreciation skills. I have consciously avoided getting into the grammar of ragas, thalams etc.

But I’m a strong advocate of basic imperatives of Carnatic Music like adherence to shruthi, maintaining the tempo, voice control etc. Most of the present day performers literally yell at times in the pretext of sanchAras in the higher octave. And our audience will immediately give a standing ovation for this circus. Audience – Please don’t do this, you are doing no good to the performers or the performance.

So present generation performers try to develop a style, pattern which suits your voice best, practice it to atleast near perfection. Then get on to the performing stage or aspire for performances. Please don’t be a cheap imitation of your mentor / guru. Be original.

vAzhga vaLamudan.

Await my thoughts on the Super Singer and Dancer tamasha in the Tamizh TV channels.

Preamble

Carnatica’s Bharat Sangeeth Utsav is a perfect preamble to the yearly tamasha that will happen in Chennai during December and spill over till the 1st week of January. As a shrewd businessman Sashikiran started the concert series even before The Hindu’s Music Festival. Though Hindu’s Festival, born out of the identity crisis the media moghul (if I can call them one) is running under now, doesn’t serve a wee-bit to the art form, manages to fill the wallets of the performers. More a fad for the Page3 community flaunting around the arena.

Coming back to Sashikiran & Co., the intention of the music festival and the way the programs are woven seem to drive across a strong message of commitment. But over ambitious thoughts digresses the value of the performers. Take a look at the inaugural day (October 31, 08) schedule – 2 concerts of eminent artistes: Sanjay and TNS. Both of them are as ambitious or even more than Sashikiran in performing on the stage. Innovation is the way they drive their performances. Having this in mind Sashi’s team should have planned the schedule of concerts.

On October 31st Sanjay’s was the first program and he kick started the BSU in style with the time tested Viriboni varnam. But Sanjay made everyone sit up in the 30th second. He sang Viriboni in a totally different style. Rasikas could have appreciated it more if he had explained what he did differently. I for one feel that in programs like these, the artistes can give a brief of what they are performing for the rasikas to understand and appreciate better. Sanjay ofcourse told the audience the name of the raga he elaborated, its gAngEya bhUshaNi. Don’t get paranoid, am not reviewing the concert as in the newspapers. Am only going to share my thoughts on the concert, the ambiance, what i liked and disliked.

I expected Sanjay to briefly say about Viriboni only because he announced gangEya bhUshaNi after singing the alapana.

I personally liked the choice of kritis Sanjay sang in this concert. My only concern is the time he took for the raga alapana. And the sanchAras he made in gAngEya bhUshaNi. Some sancharas would have been technically correct meaning confirmed to the raga’s arOhaNam & avarOhaNam but they weren’t aesthetically appealing. Atleast those sanchAras lacked finesse in Sanjay’s voice. Sanjay is a very brilliant, smart individual. Knows his strengths and weakness. For me he comes across as a head-above-shoulders guy. Based on these qualities of Sanjay I wish to suggest that he also listens to his own concerts and as a rasika evaluate it and avoid the burs in the future performances. It’ll not only enhance the rasikas turnaround, will also enable him to be in the arena for long. The artistes in the pre-1975 era didn’t sing certain ragas elaborately only because those ragas lacked the scope and finesse. Just in the name of innovation and the capability to mathematically arrange the arOhaNa & avarOhaNa swaras one can’t produce pleasant music. The produced sound may be technically correct but definitely not tolerable to my ears at least. I enjoy raga alapana more than the kriti but not all ragas are enjoyable in long alapanais. The Thamizh adage ‘even nectar is poisonous if taken more than the prescribed portion’ is also applicable for raga singing too. And my opinion why yesteryear artistes didn’t sing elaborate raga alapana for certain ragas is that

1. There is no scope for singing without any repititions
2. After a some time the alapana will start boring you.
3. The performer may not know where to stop ending up confusing himself

Sanjay, I felt, did that in Sahana alapana.

But the indisputable fact is that Sanjay works very hard with utmost commitment towards his chosen profession. This one attitude I find missing in most of the front runners today. And am puzzled at it too!!

I also want to mention about the accompanists of the day.
Varadarajan on the violin has emerged as the best violinist in that age & experience group. His virtuosity is amazing as much as his skills in reproducing the swara patterns, neravals, raga sanchAras. Keep the good work going.
Harikumar on the mrudangam. Though he showed signs of knowing about the different patterns Sanjay had planned to sing in Viriboni, didn’t pick them up in the 1st instance. He managed slowly and played well. But to me he dint fit the bill perfectly. At places he was more a hindrance to the listener, I don’t know what Sanjay felt, than a support system. I would have preferred to listen to Sanjay without the mrudangam at some sancharas. I have heard many say that silence is music. I wish the accompanists of this and future generation learn music and practice silence where required. It actually embellishes the concert. In one of his speeches on Layam, late Palghat Mani Iyer has said that its not important to know too many sollus and ragas. Its very important to sing / play atleast 2-3 of them excellently.
Guruprasad on the Ghatam. I have heard his father and father’s elder brother play. His father used to accompany MLV a lot. I can hear you all say why am talking about his father. Am coming to that point now! Guruprasad is showing promise in developing himself as the new age upa-pakkavadhya artiste. He has a good fingering technique, as a listener am able to hear the sollus distinctly which I consider as good fingering in mrudangam and other instruments. He also showed his dexterity and played some mathematical combinations which drew the attention of Sanjay and made Sanjay nod his head more than couple of times. As a lay listener am not worried about the mathematics or grammar. My only expectation is that the playing should be pleasant to hear. And Guruprasad just did that.

My thoughts on TNS concert will be up soon.

Movie watching experience in Sathyam

Today was a very hectic day. Morning attended a ‘upanayanam’ at Maharastra Nivas. Had breakfast there. Drove down to Sathyam theatre for the morning show of the film 180 (Tamil). A long film, ran for almost 3 hours. From there went to W V Raman’s home for a business meeting. Back home by 1.35pm for lunch.

Coming back to my movie watching experience:

Thanks to my friends Iqbal & Anu, I got the last row in the Elite class, Sathyam theatre. A very nice location in the theatre to watch a movie. Felt like sitting at home, relaxed, stretched legs, wide chairs well-cushioned chairs. What irritated me is the audience’s total lack of civic sense. The people who pay Rs.120 for a ticket care a damn for the upkeep of the environ. Shamelessly they throw popcorn, beverage cans, cups inside the theatre. This has not changed from the last time I went to a theatre around 3-4 years back. Yes the last movie I saw in a theatre was ‘dasAvathAram – Tamil film’ the day after it was released. I saw in Sangam theatre. Over the last 3-4 years the concept of cinema halls from the owners perspective has changed for good. But unfortunately the viewers attitude has gone from bad to worse.

A total deterioration of overall value system. No respect for anything under the sun. About 6 years back in a TV interview before the TN Assembly election Rajinikanth said ‘only God can save Tamilnadu’. It is valid today. Total lack of civic sense, no courtesy towards fellow citizens, no respect for the rule of the land, no discipline in every walk of life. They wont wait in a queue, allow others to take their vehicle out in a parking lot, give way for others in a road, won’t stop before the ‘stop line’ in a signal, will take a right turn from the extreme left in any junction and the list goes on. Anyway I’m going to say like Rajinikanth.

Sathyam cinemas is an experience. I had to congratulate the management for training their staff and should the thank the staff for practising what they were taught. Yes, the staff were so courteous, disciplined and well behaved. This starts with the security guard at the entrance itself.
keep the good work going Sathyam cinemas.

Now about the movie நூற்றெண்பது – 180 (http://www.180thefilm.com/):
Story: Nothing new

Conversations: NCL – naturally casual language. No dramatics, punch phrases. I personally liked this style.

Music: Sharreth – Nothing commendable to mention. I’ve a respect for Sharreth as a judge in music competitions running in the TV channels. And I expected a lot from him, I know it is my mistake and not his. He has attempted a Tamil version of Sufi song (its my guess). In Sufi music the lyrics has a very special and important place. But unfortunately in this Sufi style song it is butchered beyond recognition. In my previous post in this space I’ve written about Music, Sound and Noise. What ever be the era we live I don’t subscribe to the view that Sound can replace Music. When we have started experimenting Music therapy for various health & wellness disorders, I advocate the responsibility of music producers to produce and deliver music. No Sound or Noise please. Pl. graduate from being a sound engineer to music direction and produce good music. My judgement of Sharreth is not totally wrong, please am not trying to justify myself. The signature or identification tune or whatever (which sounds Rithigowla to me but unfortunately is only for about 10 secs so am not sure) you call when Nithya Menen and Siddarth are together is very melodic. But suddenly the melody vanishes in the songs.

Sharreth can be a good composer of 60 seconds jingle, definitely not a full movie particularly the background score. He claims to be a great admirer of Illayaraja, Sharreth don’t just stop at admiring Raja, there is nothing wrong in trying to emulate him. Start emulating him.

RR: Should have been better to enhance the presentation. At most situations the background score dissuades the emotions.

Direction: Not a director’s movie. Some sequences, characters should have been avoided.

Casting: Is this how this generation live. Near perfect. Suits the movie.

Actors performance: The emotions are expressed very subtly or even inadequately by the actors, it is much better than over acting. Probably that’s what the director wanted from his actors. No complaints.

Presentation: A typical ad film kind presentation, well knit all thru with independent phrases. Very different presentation of a song where they displayed the lyrics seamlessly and beautifully as part of the lead lady reading her birthday greetings pasted by her husband all around their home. Definitely a fresh approach and a good idea to make the viewers know the lyrics, as today’s orchestration just wipes out the lyrics with loud sound.

Visualisation: Am listing this category last because there is a lot to write about this. This film is shot in Red Digital Camera. My good friend Balaji has been evangelising digital cinema since 2008. And Balaji is a self educated Digital Imaging Technician. Though he has worked in about half a dozen commercial films, this is the 1st film I saw in which Balaji is credited in the title itself as Digital Imaging Technician. This movie’s team has understood the power of digital imaging and has taken full advantage of the technology. They have used the technology, its features exhaustively and have presented a real visual treat. I would even say a new experience to the viewers. What Balumahendra did in ‘mOdu pani’, ‘azhiyAtha kOlangaL’, mOndrAm pirai’, PC Sreeram did in ‘thaLapathi’, ‘agni natchatthiram’, ‘anjali’, ‘thEvar magan’, Balasubramaniam and team has done in 180. Brilliant use of slow motions in songs (Mani Rathnam has done it in thaLapathi) bring out picture perfect frame compositions. subtle expressions by the artistes in the frame are all captured well. Brilliant color contrasts, skin tonal quality is amazing. 

Things I applaud: First & leading the list is the Director’s courage to make a film without a story line. His phenomenal conviction about his presentation skills.
Very special congratulations to the director and producer for not having the contriving Vivek or nauseating Vadivelu or suffocating Santhanam or irritating stunts in the film. As the Tamil actors have a fancy for prefixing adjectives I have given what (I think) perfectly suits them.
A very simple climax though expected didn’t disappoint me.
Taking full advantage of the visual media by avoiding unnecessary dialogs and communicating the sequences and incidents visually. The scene at the hospital in Chennai where AJ discusses with the doctor, calls his chief in US is well made without any melodrama.
Director & Screenplay writer’s clarity in what they want to say. I’m not debating on its validity.
One positive thought – providing education to the hawkers narrated very crisply without the ‘large than life’ projection of the hero.

Things should have been avoided: The parents of character Renu and AJ’s mother could have been avoided. They neither had a bearing nor added any value to the story, screenplay or film.
The dialog by AJ’s mother the previous night is very contrived and misfit for a movie of this genre.
A very accomplished doctor in the US getting depressed in less a minute and behaving cranky is not acceptable. Today Prostrate cancer is the most commonly checked for problem in men even in a country like India. I agree that the age of AJ is not more than 40 but as a doctor he is expected to show more composure than an ordinary man.
The duration of the film is just atrocious. Because of the duration am constrained to say its a waste of 3 hours.

My recommendation: A time-pass if you really want to kill 3 hours in a cozy atmosphere by spending just Rs.120. Do not expect any takeaway. Expect a couple of smooches there are nothing that will embarrass parents sitting with their children and watching this movie. Good effort would have bitten the producers’ wallet deeper.

Carnatic Music in perfect Harmony

The below anecdote was sent to the sangeethapriya group by Sri. V.Aiyah

Your message kindled memories of yore days from the bottom of my heart.
I belong to Kallidaikurichi in Tirunelveli Dist. which patronised fine arts for a long time. As you mention, I had seen “Terukoothus” , “Villu Paattus”, “Bommalattam” and the like also. Nawab Rajamanickam Pillai’s troupe would camp in our village every year. But, CM was uppermost in patronage. We had good opportunities to listen to the stalwarts of those days at close quarters.  Every marriage would have at least one concert and there were number of “Satir Kutcheries” ( Bharat Natyam!) and “Katha Kaalakshepams”.

I would like to mention here an interesting fact.

One wealthy Muslim gentleman celebrated his son’s wedding (Nikah) and he arranged two concerts. One was by Karukurichi Arunachalam (just, he had made his debut) and the next day, much to the delight of  inhabitants of our village as well as nearby villages, it was the concert of GNB with Kumbakonam Rajamanickam Pillai on the fiddle and PMI on Mridungam! (If one desires to under the real character of a Raaga (Aashiptikam) without any adultration with 100% melody, one should listen to Kumbakonam Rajamanckam Pillai).  The concert was held in front of the gentleman’s house a few yards away from the main mosque of the village! The audience which included people from all communities listened to the whole concert with rapt attention.

I think that this is a unique occasion!

We should be thankful to those stalwarts who made CM immortal!

V.Aiyah

Incipient Confidence#2

Mahathi

Surfing across TV channels, is one of my morning rituals, for some music programs. Yesterday while doing so, I saw a pleasantly looking lady singing in Zee Thamizh. It was Mahathi (hope the spelling is correct). Mahathi was singing pandureethi koluvaiya rama. Believe me she sang the neravals with good creativity (manodharma). I have heard her long ago in some chat show, she sang the bhavapriya kriti sri kaanthanee of thyagaraja saying it’s one of her favourites. She actually sang that kriti well then too.

I was told that she has sung some film songs. I’m not advising just a caveat. Like Jesudas she might end up messing both. For me she comes across as someone with an identity crisis. My take is that she can be a most sought after Carnatic musician if she concentrates and practices Carnatic music. She is naturally talented, that’s what I feel.

Natural singing

For her, sangathis flow with élan. More importantly she has a good pitch/scale range. And she is also able to sing 2 octaves without any strain. She doesn’t show any strain in her face or make it look unpleasant. I was told that she is training under TNS. My only suggestion is to take the best from his music and reproduce in her voice and ease. One shouldn’t try to emulate him.

Mahathi should identify aspects that suit her best and perform. Another important point I want to quote here is that she has got the lyrics memorized and didn’t refer a book, small piece of paper or a laptop. This is very important because multi-tasking on stage doesn’t bring out the best music. You can even afford to sing the lyrics wrong but not the ragam!! And I feel that the performers are not respecting their profession. A professional should be well equipped with the necessary skills to excel.

I’m looking for more of Mahathi’s Carnatic concerts. With what I heard in the 15mts capsule and the talk show may not be the right samples to arrive at an inference. If any of you have recordings of her Carnatic music, pl. forward them to me. I would like to listen to more and write more!!!

Indian Archives – A perfect oxymoron

In my early teens (1978 to 1981) I used to play tennis at the Corporation Stadium (now called the Radhakrishnan Stadium) in Egmore. Mr. Robin Mansfred was our coach then. From Triplicane I’ll go by the PTC (now called MTC) bus. I’ll get down opp. the Egmore Railway Station at the doorstep of Buhari & Vega Vasantha bhavan restaurants. Walk my way to the stadium. While walking, on my left, I used to see a red colour building built similar to the Madras University Senate house in the Indo-Saracenic style with a enameled board saying the Archives Department. I used to pronounce it as Archi as in Archies + ves.

What does Archives mean!!???

I never bothered to check, in the dictionary nor with my parents or teachers, the meaning of the word Archives. And to my dismay I find till date most of we Indians never bothered to understand the word Archives and its importance.

For those who believe in sentiments like being born in a blessed land (punniya bhoomi), born in a place or staying amongst the illuminati, you may then consider me blessed. Yes I was born and raised in thiruvallikeni (triplicane).

• One of the oldest settlements of Madras
• the illustrious Hindu High School was started
• where Bharathiar stayed during his last years
• where U.Ve. Swaminatha Iyer lived
• where the great GNB lived
• where Satyamurthi lived
• where Vai. Mu.Kodainayaki lived
• where Srinivasa Ramanujam lived
• the list is endless

You will be thinking why I have mentioned a list above. The reason is very simple you’ll find no traces of the above expect the ruined building of The Hindu High School (reminds me of the short story ‘leave no traces’ in the book Quiver full of arrows by Jeffrey Archer).

By now you should have started thinking about the meaning and importance of Archiving. Yes Archiving is the quintessence of life in the West. More importantly the Westerners market their archived materials well and make money to maintain the value. We lack the social responsibility. Let’s stop blaming the government machinery. What have we done as responsible citizens of the country? We have been thoroughly ruthless in defacing the monuments, destroying the materials, demeaning the contents, what not.

I can hear you all say – so you are one of those folks who emerge to advise the en masse. Sorry am not here to advise or lead you by example. I’m no Buddha, Jesus or Vivekananda. Am just an ordinary mortal but with an eye & ear for detail, if I could say so!!

Ok, let me tell you my listening experiences

My father despite his economic constrains started recording Carnatic music concerts (both vocal & instrumental) since 1965 and passed on the baton to me in 1978. With the limited financial and equipment resources, we recorded some of the finest concerts of the likes of Madurai Somu, Dr. S. Ramanathan, MDR, Mali, Balachandar, DKJ, Kalyanaraman, TRS, Balamuralikrishna etc.

And my regular attendance to these concerts connected me to a few like-minded teens (then) like Tharak, Sanjay, Madhu and some names I have forgotten now. Myself and Tharak used to pool in money to buy a cassette tape to record the concert. We never had the wherewithal then to buy tapes in bulk.

Those recordings were done using some mono recorders, I had a Panasonic 1857, Tharak had a Grundig etc. We used to buy prerecorded cassettes of any genre in the discount sale and copy the concerts we recorded in these prerecorded tapes. Sanjay inherited some recordings done by parents and grandparents.

We used to listen to one Madurai Mani Iyer concert with Lalgudi & Palani often. MMI’s rendition of kaana kan koodi vendum in khamboji in this concert and Palani accompaniment used to entrance us every time we listen to it. Sanjay also gave me couple of Ramnad Krishnan concerts which I treasure even today.

My first blush with a serious collector

Sri. C V Narasimhan, father of Bombay Balaji, mrudangist was an avid collector of Carnatic music. Sri.CVN was the secretary of a sabha in Bombay and also in Cochin. Sri.CVN had an enviable collection of spool recorders/tapes, cassette tapes. Infact he was the one who introduced me to Sri. T. K. Rangachari’s music. Sr. CVN gave me a concert of Sri. TKR with Sri. Chalakudy & Palghat Sri. Raghu organized by him in Cochin. It’s one of the finest concerts I have heard. I met Sri. Raghu at their home in Krishnapuri, Chennai 28. I vividly remember Sri. Raghu instructing (!!) me to listen to lot of Sri.TKR to enhance my knowledge of Carnatic music.

Unfortunately, before I could take his entire collection Sri. CVN passed away and I also lost touch with Balaji. Tharak told me that Balaji is somewhere in the Middle East. I’m keen in re-connecting and share my collection to him.

I can hear you all ask – What have you done?

As mentioned earlier, the recordings I did and some got from Sanjay, Tharak was passed on to likeminded people. And slowly we got connected with some other collectors as well. But to our dismay, they declined to share their collection with us. What they had were all priceless music by the stalwarts of pre1960s. We were desperate to have them. This urge rather humiliation made us think.

Tharak, myself and few others decided to go on a goose hunt. And saw some light. Incidentally Tharak’s father knew Sri. Tanjore S. Kalyanaraman too well. Tharak used to go to Sri.SKR’s home and nag him to copy his concerts. And Sri.SKR was very magnanimous. He gave few concerts of his. And our collection started bloating.

We then got connected to some people who had spool tapes. We then bought a spool player and transferred them to cassette tapes. Slowly our financial condition improved to buy more tapes and collection also increased. Tharak then bought a Marantz double tape recorder for making copies of the concerts we get from other collectors. Tharak then spent a fortune in 1980s to set up a good listening environ. We went to test Onkyo and the impulsive buyer in Tharak brought it home. We used to have long listening sessions at his home.

OMG, am crippled!! Yes this Tharak fellow suddenly disappeared from my vicinity. No clue about his whereabouts. So I used to go to the concerts with my father and my neighbor Raja, who is about 4 years younger to me. Raja was learning guitar under Ravikiran (yes chitravina ravikiran). Raja was recommended to Ravikiran by Sri. M.O. Srinivasan a great connoisseur of music particularly bhajans. MOS had an organization called Dasanjali and was teaching bhajans, abhangs etc to children. MOS passed away and Raja shifted from Ravikiran to Dr. S. Ramanathan who was staying in our area, Triplicane.

I have to mention the great experience I used to have. I have had the privilege of travelling in the local bus sitting beside Dr. S. Ramanathan. We used to go to Sastri Hall together for concerts. Dr.SR was one of the finest human being I have come across till date. Absolutely down to earth. I realized his value only during the 1990s when people started talking about his vidwath. He never showed his persona to anyone around. He used to interact freely with us as if he is our classmate. A perfect practice of ‘sowseelyam’.

My cassette collection started growing leaps & bounds. My small apartment couldn’t take on more. Just then I got the first blush at a PC. And the 1^st Creative SoundBlaster card burnt my pocket by Rs.22,000/- in 1998. I started digitizing the tapes to wav format. The cost of a blank CD was (hold your breath) Rs.35. Brands like TDK and HP were only available.

Next to music, technology always entices me till date. When I got connected to the internet,

I was totally flabbergasted. Here again I have to mention my first experience – the power of the internet.And oh again it’s with Sanjay and another friend. In the later 1997 the internet was used only for Emails and ICNET was the company offering the inevitable link. Sanjay called my office one day morning and said that he is coming in the next 30 minutes. He rushed into our office asked me and my colleague to leave immediately. We never knew for what. Sanjay just said, we are going to have a whole new experience. We went to Rosy Towers on Nungambakkam High Road. Sanjay dint have the patience to wait for the elevator, literally jumped over the stairs and reached the 4^th floor. The name board read Microsense. They were the distributors for VSNL’s internet connection and a demo was happening there.

Sanjay had fixed an appointment with them for the demo. We went into a small room, the executive asked us to close the room. We had only 2 chairs, Sanjay and that executive were on the chair, my friend and I stood behind them. They were obviously in front of a PC. That executive then started explaining about the power of Internet. I still remember the 1^st word I searched over the internet – its tyre manufacturers. You know why I searched for rubber manufacturers, I wanted to see MRF’s name in the search results!! So mean of me right!!!

Back to my music collection. With the help of the Soundblaster card, I started digitizing the tapes I had. And the bait I had for other collectors was the CD with the digitized music. Today my digitized collection is confined to a box of size 2” x 4” x 6”. Yes this is the physical size of my 1TB external hard drive.

Fortunately last Sunday the New Indian Express carried an article.

The benefit of the above article about archiving has literally opened the eyes of many. Calls keep pouring to my mobile, I don’t know how they managed to get my number. Those who call me after congratulating me for the effort without fail offer their collection for digitization.

My objective of recording and digitizing is to transfer this finest art form for the future generations. I am afraid if we fail to do it now, Carnatic music will face the same problem what neem, turmeric, basmati are facing now in the international patent arena.

But what hurts me most is the attitude of most of the Carnatic music performers of today. They have all imposed an embargo. Literal policing is happening in concerts of some performers. The sleuths of the performers check the audience for possession of recording gadgets and take them away. If only the recordings of yesteryears artistes are not available how could have the present day performers learnt some of the kritis, ragams.

I request those of you who have good music, pl. digitize and share with as many people possible.

Double Sundae

Nice to be back, though not with a full update on my experiences during December 2008 in the sabhas.
But before I write about my December 2008 experiences, I wanted to share with you all my experiences on January 10, 2009 at Narada Gana Sabha. Rasika Ranjani Sabha – one of the oldest patrons of fine arts in Chennai are conducting a series of concerts. That day was the arudhra darisanam day.
Thanks to my friend Mr.Hariharan for prompting me to attend. He is a very strict disciplinarian when it comes to attending concerts – he will be in the hall much before the start of the concert, won’t leave the hall in between, won’t talk,et all. So I was very careful while listening to the concerts (yes 2). Infact couple of times when I wanted to tell him something, thanks to technology,I typed the message in my cell phone and showed it to him. A worth while way of listening and emulating too. I request you all to try it.
Coming back to the concerts. I actually went late to the first concert of Gayathri Venkataraghavan (GV) which started by 4pm. When I went in she was singing Hindolam ragam, she sang ‘nambikettavar evar aiya’. I have heard this kriti very often sung by Sri. DKJ. I always felt there was a lot melodrama in his rendition, where the lyrics always prevailed over the ragam. But GV sang it brilliantly. I know her since 1988 when we were in YACM. Honestly I never thought she would come up to this level in the carnatic music arena. She was a very lovable friend, never had any cliched persona. And am happy that she is still the same. But what am writing about her performances are not because I know her, my views are as genuine as her music.
I had a feeling of listening to MLV in her last days despite her ill-health. What I mean by saying so is that I find a clear emergence of a distinct style of singing. She has an ingenious ability to produce good music. And she has understood that.
One important aspect I want to highlight here is the mutual appreciation and respect the artistes showed on stage that day. GV was thoroughly enjoying Charumathi’s raga renditions and so was towards Manoj Siva on the mrudangam and Anirudh Athreya on the kanjira. They made a perfect combo!!
Coming to the music delivered by this team, it was harmonious in the true sense of the word. GV’s singing is very ingenious and true. She never tries to imitate anyone. She only delivers what comes best to her. It was a real audio-visual treat for us that. What I mean is that the stage was very pleasant to the eyes too. None of them showed any strain,infact very warm towards the audience too.
Anirudh’s smile was very infectious as much as his playing. A perfect pedigree he is. He showed a lot of respect for Manoj, as a upa-pakkavadhyam, understanding his position on stage. I want to compliment Manoj in particular. I also know him since 1986. He is a good musician not just a percussionist. I know he used to like TNR, Ramnad Krishnan’s music a lot. The sensitivity in thier music has ingrained in Manoj too. The way he got involved in the music of the evening and the space he gave Anirudh should be commended. But the pinnacle stays in his way of setting the shruthi while the raga alapana by Charumathi was getting to a close. He shifted the mrudangam away from the mic and checked it showing perfect finnesse. Keep the good attitude going Manoj.
Charumathi Raghuraman, probably the youngest disciple of Prof. TN Krishnan. She is just too good for her age. Her playing shows that she is an ardent listener. I have seen her in 2004 (if am right) sitting beside me in aSanjay’s concert at Gurukulam at R A Puram , Chennai. She was present till the concert ended around 9.45 pm. She should have been in her teens then. I still remember the attention she showed in the concerts and Idont her as a violinst then. She is living up to the promise she showed 4 years ago. May this tribe flourish. Actually the violionists of this decade are too good in terms of their playing skills, music value. I should say violin as an instrument has matured over the years.
GV sang a brilliant Kedaram ragam and as expected sang the immortal dikshithar composition ‘aanandha natana prakaasam’. And the swara patterns she sang were very impressive and spontaneous. The slow tempo rendition of kedaram was succeeded by the brisk bhavapriya kriti ‘sri kanthane yadabalaathi’. She made the audience sit up in this song. The kharaharapriya ragam and the very rarely sung thyagaraja kriti ‘koori sevimpa raare’ was a real treat. A soothing desh and ragamalika with sama, ranjani finished the concert. I had to mention the thani avarthanam played by Manoj and Anirudh. I was very soft on our ears. Infact during the 3 song Dr. Venkat prompted Manoj to instruct the PA guy to increase the volume for mrudangam. I remember an anecdote of ARI refering the mic as micasuran. It is valid even today. For Pete’s sake, why can’t the organisers engage a good person to handle the public address system. Let me do it as an organiser sometime and set the trend!!!
I met the team on stage and gave my compliments from the bottom of my heart. I have requested Dr.Venkataraghavan (GV’s husband), incidentally our family ophthalmologist, to send me pictures of this concert to include in this page. Will upload as soon as I receive them.
The 2nd concert of the day was by the living legend TNS. This is the 5th concert of TNS in this season am preparing myself to listen.
TNS started the concert with the Sri ragam varnam. He then sang ‘sivaloga nathani kandu’ without singing even a short sketch of the ragam. He compensated with a good panthuvarali ragam, I have heard some more brilliants by him earlier in my collection of more than 150 concerts of his. His voice was very good, heard that he had a tooth extraction, probably the antibiotics he took as post operative therapy helped his voice. And the audience were the obvious beneficiaries. He sang ‘siva siva yenaradha’ with his usual kankku in the kalpanaswarams.
A short digress. I forgot to mention about the accompanists of the day for TNS. The best violin TNS can ask for MC was there. I say this because LGJ, TNK, VVS, MSG have all stopped playing as accompanists. And the younger ones who are good haven’t started yet. Though my take will be Mysore Nagraj, Manjunath, MA Sunderaswaran, Embar Kannan, Varadarajan, Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi (infact its very sad that she is not accompanying these days), for reasons best known these artistes are not seen with TNS over the last couple of years. Guruvayur Dorai (GD) was on the mrudangam, a great admirer of TNS. Guruprasad on the ghatam. I’ve to mention the way Guruprasad carried himself on stage was not pallatable to me. Particularly after seeing Anirudh Athreya an hour ago, the difference in attitude was very loud. No doubt he plays well and infact grasped most of the korvais TNS sang well before GD got them. But that shouldn’t give him the audacity on stage. I have seen TNS ruthlessly slaughter the pakkavadyams and even went on record saying that they can’t accompany him. And Guruprasad remember this, if TNS gets a clue that you are trying to over power him then that concert will be your Waterloo. So better be careful.
TNS then sang sahana and a song I haven’t heard before – ‘appa naan venduthal kettarul puri’. Alas TNS is starting kedaram ragam. We were for sure he is going to sing ‘aananda natana prakaasam’. And he did. But, believe me, it was very refreshing. Infact I typed in my cell phone and showed it to Sri. Hariharan too. The rendition was totally different from what GV did. The tempo was much slower than her version. At places GD didn’t play enhancing the effect. ‘innamum santhega padalAmo’ was the next kriti TNS sang. Kiravani is another ragam TNS freaks out. Particularly his ‘amba vaani nannu’ is one rendition I like very much.
In the 150+ concerts of TNS I’ve, one RTP I used to yearn was in aabohi. And TNS fulfilled my desire that day. Yes he sang one of the finest abohi ragam (I have heard a rendition by MLV in one of her US concerts, where she announced at the start that she will sing ‘manasu nillpa’ and changed to a RTP, my mother always used to talk high of this concert. I rate this the best abohi rendition). This one TNS comes next to it. He sang the phrase ‘oru tharam sivachidambaram enruraithaal modhume’ as the pallavi in khanda triputa 2 kalai. The ragamalika he sang after the kalpanaswarams was something I can’t write about. Because the way he brought the ragams’ full structure in a minute was amazing. He sang ahiri, amrithavarshini, hindolam, kaanada etc. After the thani TNS sang a virutham ‘paal ninaithu uttum’ again in ragamalika – the ragas he choose were saveri, yadhukula khamboji, boopalam, hamsanandhi, darbari kaanada, yamuna kalyani and shankarabharanam. Here I have to mention the large heartedness of MC. In all the concerts this season I heard of TNS & MC, MC was gracious enough to say that TNS has sung enough in a ragam that he wont play it. MC did it for y’kalyani. TNS sang a mangalam praising all the celestial pairs and concluded the concert.
Now you know why I have named this post as Double Sundae. Yes it was.
To rasikas – Try and listen to more of GV’s concerts.
To GV – please maintain the consistency in your performances and provide us with some good no gimmicks music.

View on a few kutcheris attended this month by Deepak Chari

These reviews were given by my good friend Sri. Deepak Chari based out of US. As he has very limited access to the net, requested me to post on his behalf.

Here are some impressions about what we heard during this season so far.
We heard TM Krishna at Narada Gana Sabha Hall for Kartik Fine Arts (2^nd kala kritis (like Kanchi Kamakshi in Bhairavi) and true music used to flow out of him. Karnatic music cannot be fast paced and it spoils the fun if you do that often. May be one or two fast paced kritis in a kucheri are ok (like Nenarunchi Nanu). But one must not race thro the swara prastharam. TM Krishna on those occasions gives the impression of fighting with an invisible enemy. It was a disappointing opening kutcheri for me. But I shall continue to here him because I know that he can be brilliant when he decides to be.
Though children of a great living legend, Lalgudi Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi don’t make a fuss about it. Their music speaks for them. (16^th Dec. Karthik Fine Arts). They are content to play their violin and walk out. Their bowing style is quite distinct. It is soft and does not produce the screeching sound that normally emanates from a bowed instrument. As much as his music one is attracted by Krishnan’s very composed bearing on stage. That day his main was Ragam, Tanam, Pallavi in Sahana. His alapanai was delicious—sweet as Sahana should be. The pallavi was in Chaturasra Jhampa talam with technical embellishments like anulomam, vilomam thrown in. I don’t think a full-fledged R-T-P fits into a 2 hour concert. Viji perhaps is a little slow on the uptake when it comes to kala pramanam. But it was a wholly satisfying concert.
Gayatri Venkatraghavan is the new star on the firmament. Suja and I have heard her 6 times in these 3 months and we are amazed that she has not repeated any kriti even once. Seeta was her neighbor in T.Nagar when Gayatri Venkat was a kid learning music. Seeta says that she did not show all that interest in music those days. You can’t believe that if you hear Gayatri singing now. I rate her at no.2 above Sudha but just after Jayashree (whom we haven’t heard so far this season). We heard Gayatri in Ragha Sudha Hall which has very good acoustics. There was not one jarring note. Her voice is a little (just a little) like MS. She does not over do the swaras and brings before you the Ragarupa early in her alapana. She sang Pakkala neela in karaharapriya that day, and touched a chord in all her listeners. She has no Godfather in the music world and our highly politicized sabhas may not accept her quickly. But her day will come—no one can stop her.
If you rate them on the popularity scale Sudha of course is tops. 50% of the audience come to see her; the others to hear her. She is of course beautiful and Pothys is making a lot of money on samudrika pattu (not paattu) only because of her. She started off with abhogi varnam on a rather weak note (varnams are like warm ups; they are meant to take the singer thro 2or 3 kalams in swaras and sahityam. So they have to be lively) but picked up later on She is MLVs disciple and it showed. (MLV & MS were contemporaries and even though MS was immensely popular, the fact is that MLV was strong in her fundas. Her voice could travel with ease in the higher octaves and her kalapramanam was extremely sound. MSS in comparison was pedestrian) Sudha has been at the top for quite some time now and I think complacency has set in. Uzhaichu paaduvadhillai (உழைச்சி பாடவில்லை). She will be soon overtaken by the likes of Gayatri Venkat.
Ranjani and Gayathri (the sister duo) have been around only for a couple of years but are already making waves. They combine well and complement each other. During raga alapanas when the elder one struggles to reach tara sthayi the younger one takes over seamlessly. Gayathri’s (I think she is the younger one) alapanas are always soothing to the ear. Their performance that day was well spaced out and was quite enjoyable. They are specialists in Abhang (marathi bhajans) and they bring a North Indian flavour, which, if truth be told, is nice to hear.
We missed out on Malladi Bros this season. We are keen on hearing Jayashree on the 26th at Music Academy . I hope to get daily tickets on that day. When we were in Mylapore, I remember my chittappa and I used to stand in the queue at Music Academy at 6am to get tickets for MS or Balamurali .Surprisingly even today the situation is the same. The other day I visited Music Academy to book tickets for then 26th.They said they don’t issue tickets in advance. Why ever not?

Incipient confidence#1 contd.

As promised to you all, I attended Toronto Brothers concert [Toronto Brothers (Vocal), Kandadevi Vijayaraghavan @ KV (Violin), Trivandrum Balaji @ TB (Mrudangam), H. Prasanna @ HP (Ghatam)] at Krishna Gana Sabha yesterday noon. I dragged couple of my friends along. One elder and the other much younger to me. My friends were very unhappy that AR announced the ragam, kriti, composer. But I thoroughly appreciate this practice. This helps the audience being informed. Just because a minimum percentage of the audience know these details doesn’t mean that they will be offended if the performers announce. I again reiterate if the performers announce atleast some of the will not start discussing about the raga, kriti,composer et al.

AR started the concert with the hamsadhwani kriti raghunAyaka. The rendition was neat. No frills. They then sang a not commonly heard Muthuswami dikshithar’s kriti krishnananda mukundha murare in the raga gowlipantu. A welcome change. Though the kriti was very verbose, the raga essence was clearly established in the rendition by AR. After this kriti they started an alapana which sounded like abohi to me first and then sriranjani. But AR didn’t confuse me further by singing a kriti I had not heard. And they also announced it. They sang yegyAdhulu confirming its Jayamanohari. They sang some kalpanaswaras and also tried some mathematical combinations, am sorry I can’t understand what they sang. But what I could make out was that they fumbled to land in the samum. I had written about listening to great singers and learning. Just learning won’t suffice, you have to practice it to excellence. And practising should be done at home and not in a concert platform testing the perseverance of the audience. If its done by TRS, TNS, MBK audience will accept it because they have proved their mettle amongst us. Upcoming performers should abstain these tribulations. Even KV essayed the ragam the way AR sang.

My elder friend is a veteran of about 50 years listening experience. He has heard the transition from ARI to GNB to MBK to MLV to TNS alongwith the scores of great accompanying vidwans like Papa, TNK, LGJ, MSG, PMI, UKS, PR, VGR, TS, CSM (the list is exhaustive, mentioned here is only indicative). You know why am mentioning this here. He was very critical on this performance. He was of the opinion that these young performers should impress the audience with some popular kritis, ragas and get repeated audience. Once that comfort level and confidence is built in the audience the performers can start trying new things. My young friend who also learns vocal music for his satisfaction, also was of the opinion that just swara stanas doesn’t make music. Readers of this post, pl. react to this.

Coming back to the concert – after yegyAdhulu they started purvi kalyani ragam and sang the immortal meenakshi mEmudham. Even in this AR tried some swara combo and fumbled. The subramania bharathiar’s poem Asai mugam has been to set to tune in ragamalika by AR’s guru Prof. SRJ and AR sang that. I don’t have the capacity to comment on the tuning, can only say about the rendition. The rendition was neat. KV played a brilliant alapana. His bowing is very smooth and has lot of substance in his playing. Infact I mentioned to my elder friend that KV reminds me of Sri. V. V. Subramanyam whom I used to describe as the one whose playing has the sweetness of Sri.TNK and vidwath of Lalgudi. Keep practising and sustain the quality KV, all the best.

Prof. SRJ has done a lot of research on annamayya’s (annamacharya) kritis and usually gives lectures, lecdems too. AR sang a kriti akati velana in the raga shubali which seems to be a half-sister (usually ragas are referred to as devathais hence sister) of subha pantuvarali. This was very soothing to the ears and also relaxing to the mind. Good rendition.

AR sang a not so commonly sung thillAnA of Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyer in the ragam thOdi. I used to always disturb Sanjay Subrahmanyam to sing this thillAnA and he often chides me for asking to sing this thillana and the ragam Ahiri often. Infact Sanjay’s father once even commented that he had the feeling of starting the concert again after listening to a thillana in thodi as the penultimate item in a concert.This happened at Apparswamy koil during the navarathri concert series of 1988. There is nothing much for me to mention about AR’s rendition of this thillana.
I forgot to mention about the thani. The ambient temperature played havoc on TB’s mrudangam that day. TB kept on aligning the shruthi. I didn’t see anyone as part of the organisers. The organisers should stay put someone who understands and operates the PA systems and also the electrical gadgets. The airconditioner should have been kept at a few temperatures higher than what it was. This would have helped the percussionists. Anyway these weren’t deterrent factors on TB. He gave a very good support and also played a very impressive thani avarthanam alongwith HB.

My conclusion on this concert is – the accompanists of the day gave the necessary support for this concert to gave a sense of satisfaction to the audience. Infact the accompanists played their roles very effectively.

Incipient confidence#1

Under this heading I propose to write about the emerging good performers of Carnatic Music. The first in the series is on Toronto Brothers (AR) – Ashwin Iyer and Rohin Iyer. Honestly a perfect beginning for this series.

Toronto brothers with T. Hemamalini on the violin, Mudra Baskar on the Mrudangam & VVS Manian on the kanjira performed today from 4.30pm at the Narada Gana Sabha mini hall. I had to leave the concert by 5.10 pm to attend an important client’s call. But as the old Tamil adage goes ‘oru pAnai sotrukku, oru sOru padam – ஒரு பானை சோறுக்கு ஒரு சோறு பதம்’ today concert till I heard was good. Iyers showed a lot of promise.

The every aspect I want to highlight, though very sad to highlight, was their perfect shruthi alignment. There is a lot of debate happening in various forums on the shruthi aspect of leading, established vidwans, hence I write about it here. Probably AR’s exposure the music of the West imbibed in them the importance of shruthi. The every definition of music itself is shruthi alignment, uniformity, being in unison. I know its enough defining music, let’s discuss about the concert.

I strongly advocate the importance of shruthi alignment as the basic ingredient of any form of music across the world. I also decry people saying that the raga phrases are good, the swara patterns are exemplary blah blah when the singer’s voice is not aligned with the shurthi instrument used in that concert. These adjectives are valid only if the shruthi is perfectly aligned. Else we can’t for sure confirm what swara the singer is singing. So those who are prejudiced about the importance or mention of shruthi, please revisit the very meaning of music. And please don’t say that its music to my ears and not yours. There can’t be 2 ways about this aspect.

AR started the concert, n the traditional format supposed to have been devised by Ariyakudi, with a varnam composed by their guru Prof. SRJ. Prof. SRJ needs no introduction, a treasure trove of classical music. What needs mention here is his translation of the knowledge to action through AR. He should have been a taskmaster with AR, if not with others. I wish he shows the same restraint towards all his disciples. I have an example where he has slipped or could be that disciple is beyond repair. Coming back to the concert.

AR sang Muthuswami dikshithar’s Natanarayani kriti Mahaganapathe with élan. The 3^rd kriti was the TakkA kriti rAgA sasivadhana of Thyagaraja. Though fragment shades of mAyAmaLavagowla was shown, the rendition was brisk. AR sang crisp kalpanaswarams for just 2 avarthanams and finished the kriti.

Hope you all would have noticed – today is Saturday. I struck me only after AR started the kriti. So what do you expect other than the brilliant (am not qualified to pass evaluation comments of MD’s kritis) yadhukula kAmbhoji navagraha kriti divAkara thanUjam.

Oh bad luck for me. My damn mobile set in vibration mode started fluttering. Yes I had to leave the hall in a hurry to take the call. I had to rush to my office to send some info to my client. Folks I’ll certainly attend to AR’s other concert, stay thru and write about it.

I wish Toronto Brothers maintain consistency in their performance and scale more heights. All the best AR, keep the good works going.

Carnatic Concert Pattern – The Ariyakudi Legacy

This anecdote was added by Sri. V. Aiyah in www.sangeethapriya.org forum
in topic ‘The Ariyakudi Legacy…. some questions’

“During early days, the pattern of concerts was entirely different. Musicians were more concerned with the purity of music.
They will go on elaborating a Raaga for hours or indulge in Thaanam or Swara prasthara for longer duration. They were more concerned with “Nada” than “ Nadopasana’. They never bothered about Sahithya. This type of performance could be enjoyed only by those who had an intense knowledge of music and not by an average Rasika.
Sri Maha Vaidhyanatha Iyer (1844-1893) belonged to this earlier generation. He felt that some changes were necessary so that CM could be enjoyed by one and all. It looks as though it was he who conceived a new pattern in concerts which was a forerunner for today’s pattern. His contemporary artist, Sri Pattanam Subramania Iyer also contributed towards this change. This change enabled everybody to enjoy CM.
After this, further improvements and embellishments were made and the credit for this revolution goes to Sri. Ariyakudi. Thus, the present day pattern came into being. Ariyakudi marshalled the items as Varnam, Kirthanas, RTP, Raagamalika Slokas,Thukdas (Padam, Jaavali, Thillana Thirupugazh and so on)”

(Compiled from the book “Ariyakudi” by Elarvi)

V.Aiyah

Squalid Cognizance

Airtel Super Singer in Vijay TV – The biggest voice hunt of Tamilnadu (Thamizhagathin miga brimanda kural thEdal aka TMBKT- தமிழகத்தின் மிக பிரம்மாண்ட குரல் தேடல் aka தமிபிகுதே), at least that’s what the MC or DJ Chinmayi screams every time the camera focuses her, is one trash of a program to be aired by any Tamil channel. I can’t believe VijayTV can afford to deviate from the basic positioning of the program.

The kind of mockery happening on the screen is shameful to the competitive spirit of the participants.

One participant, I don’t want to name her and give her an undue publicity, from Round 1 has been passing thru to the next round by crying before the camera. Once that female cries the evaluators immediately start cajoling her and give her all the necessary confidence that they are with her all through. Initially I thought that the evaluators were trying to instill confidence in her to perform better in the other events but then it wasn’t, they selected her to the next round. The same strategy by that participant continued in the following rounds making her a successful contender. In any competition the participant’s performance on that given day matters irrespective of what they are capable of or achieved in the practice sessions. But in this program there seems to be no space for quality. Why should the evaluators empathise with the participants? Pepping them up is different from empathizing. I condemn this attitude of the panel or the organizers. If the panel is forced to act so then they should walk out. Every reality program of Vijay only has drama rather than focusing on bringing in the best talent to the limelight. No doubt the channel is being run as a business venture to make money. Let there be some social responsibility in it.

You all would have thought why I mentioned about positioning in the first paragraph. It is to highlight the dilution by the channel or producers of this program. Why should the often ridiculed angels in a Bharathiraja duet song come in a voice hunt program arena? Every time Chinmayi is shown in the screen she screams TMBKT (தமிபிகுதே). Probably Chinmayi is searching to get the voice attached to her throat, some new technique in the medical field, who knows. The most ridiculous statement was made by one of the evaluators Anuradha Sriram. She was commenting about one of the participant’s performance. Anu said that the participant has a very good voice but lacks stage performance skills. Come off it lady. The competition is to evaluate their singing skills, please remember the promise made in the initial promos (still seen in some MTC bus rear panels) – the selected candidate will get a chance to sing under Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music supervision for a movie. So why should one have stage presence? How many of us have seen the playback singers singing on stage till about 1995?

Why should the participants have other skills? Even if they are imperative for their career let them acquire after they get selected as a singer. By giving these idiotic suggestions the participants are being confused. For Pete’s sake don’t give these useless suggestions. Another comment by an evaluator to a guy – your energy level was good. What nonsense is this? If a singer is not fit enough to sing for 3 minutes, better not attempt. Starting from Naina Pillai to TM Krishna in the Carnatic arena and scores of light music singers have sung for well over 4 hours continuously. How can someone afford to compliment for singing for 3 minutes with high energy? I think the producers train the evaluators to say a set of words after the performances. Adjectives like good energy level, good attitude, style blah blah…. are developed as the Reality shows parlance or lingo or whatever crap you call it!!

The main point to note here is that most of the evaluators are under severe identity crisis – neither here nor there kind. They got carried away by the eulogies poured on them couple of years ago and never concentrated on improving their strengths. And now have missed the bus to success and glory. So are trying to get some publicity and visibility by being evaluators.

Please have a look at the Malayalam channels particularly Amritha and Asianet. The music based reality shows strictly adhere to the core objectives and definitions promised at the launch of the show. And they don’t take any partisan views and judgements on the performances. Tamil channels please grow. Television entertainment is stripping, screaming, crying, caressing, petting, etc in front of the camera – OMG even I’ve picked up the adjective culture from these channels.

In our country there are enough fine art forms and entertainment scopes to showcase to the public and make them healthy mentally and physically. Indians are in no compulsion to embrace the Western art forms for entertainment. We should take the Western art forms for comparative study and adapt the best practices which will suit our land. Not just ctrl-C+ctrl-V the concepts and programs from the West. Let me cite an example of adaptation. The movie magaLir mattum produced by Kamalahasan is based on the English movie 9 to 5 starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton. Kamal intelligently adapted the concept to suit the Tamil audience. Infact he brought it in a lot of nativity in the screenplay. Our channels producers should also involve in some original thinking.

These issues drive me to endorse the policing done by Dr. Ramadass of PMK. Am not an advocate for upholding our culture et al. But I can’t be a silent spectator of a denigration of principles in the media. The media houses can’t flout their own promise and take the viewers for a solid ride. The irony is that they are supposed to be monitoring the politicians and report to the service deficiency to the public. But the media houses themselves operate with vested interests. If I may say so, the frontline channels have all become sleazy. And I just don’t blame the channels for this deterioration of content quality and sleaziness. If the audience condemn it and abstain from watching, the channels will certainly have to change their schema.