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Shri T.K.Murthy(mridangist)
Over the years, there has been an unwelcome proliferation of sabhas & concerts during the Season. It is nice to see that there are many youngsters who evince interest in Carnatic Music & perform. But the needed effort on their part is lacking. More practice & exposure is required before they are given a chance to perform. With this overcrowding of programs, audience get scattered, they are not sure as to which artistes' concert to go on which day, with most of the artistes performing in all sabhas. After all, these concerts are being organised for the audience, but the indifference from sections of the audience, makes one wonder, if the Music Season is really serving any purpose. In those days there were few sabhas & few performing artistes, but with a considerable no. of enthusiastic audience. Today there is a mushrooming of sabhas & increase of performances, with a decline in the strength of the audience, which is disheartening to the artistes. Hence, there appears to be a marked growth, but it is all widespread & shallow with hardly any depth.
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Shri T.N.Seshagopalan(vocalist)
20 or 30 years back,
only about 5-6 institutions were conducting the programs & it was only
for a week or so. But today with the increase in the no. of sponsors, there
are about 20-30 established sabhas conducting programs for 20-30 days with
there being several categories like sub-junior, junior, sub-senior, senior
etc., During the Season, one is treated to vocal & instrumental music,
dance, demonstrations, lectures, etc., A healthy aspect is that all levels
of artistes get a chance to perform. A person who has an aspiration to
come up gets an opportunity to display their talent. The audience have
a wide range to chose from & programs are available to suit their tastes.
Youngsters & upcoming artistes do get their share to perform during
the Season. As to whether the senior & accomplished vidwans get the
recognition, their due, it is a point to be contemplated.
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Shri O.S.Thyagarajan(vocalist)
Carnatic music
by itself is a thrilling experience, both for artistes & the audience.
In December, wherever you go there is Music, which makes it an even more
thrilling experience, where the artistes try to give their very best. I
have 18 programs in this Season, 16 in the city & 2 out of station.
This is a very enjoyable Season & listeners from US, Australia, London
and other places come down to Chennai to bask in this greatness. Music
Season is like a super market where the audience get a fare that is rich
with a wide range & variety from various artistes and the thousands
of artistes bring out newer & novel ways to keep the audience enthralled.
For me is a very thrilling experience.
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Shri Neyveli Santhanagopalan (vocalist)
Music, even if rendered repetitively, is always fresh
& new. For the musicians, it is always a festive mood whenever they
perform, but during the Season, the gaitey & festivity brought in by
the audience enhances this spirit multifold. Rasikas visit from all over
the world during the Season to listen & this proves beyond doubt that
Carnatic Music is appreciated world over. More & more people are learning
this art & they also want to perform & the more the no. of performers,
the better the level of appreciation. Even for a seasoned artiste, the
Season is indeed a prestigious affair, a great time to perform. There is
a continuos arrival of new talent on the stage of music. With the world
of rasikas & critics watching, the artistes are reviewed, criticized
& judgement arrived at about their calibre. But ultimately all of this
lead to the growth of the artistes & the Art. It is a great time of
publicity for the artistes. Art organisations, artistes & rasikas all
combine together to bring Heaven on Earth.
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Kum. Priya Sisters(vocalist)
It is very good exposure
for the artistes. It is like an annual examination. We have the cream of
the crowd visiting. Negative point, if any of the Season is that too many
sabhas are conducting the concerts & this makes it difficult for the
audience to select the event to visit. It is a time when people from different
parts of India & the world come to Madras . Every artiste looks forward
to the Season.
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Kum S.Gayathri(vocalist)
Over the years, Music Sabhas have seen highly enthusiastic
Rasikas during the Music Season. This overwhelming response has encouraged
the emergence of many new Sabhas in the city. This year, will yet again,
project a lot of highly talented youngsters.
In my opinion, the lecture - demonstrations which are
held in a few Sabhas in December are of a very high quality and it will
be beneficial for all Rasikas if a few of the private Television Channels
undertake the task of recording these highly educative programmes and telecasting
them.
A slightly alarming scene that is slowly emerging now
is the absence of youngsters in the age group of 8-15 among the Rasikas.
It is absolutely essential to inculcate the habit of attending concerts
among children. We, at YACM (Youth Association For Classical Music) have
undertaken a project called "Build A Rasika" which focuses on encouraging
children to appreciate the various aspects of Carnatic Music.
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Kum. Ranjani & Gayathri(violinists)
The Music Season is a very exciting & unique feature of Chennai. Audience from all parts of the globe visit, & artistes from outside Chennai also perform during the Season. Carnatic Music in different styles(banis) can be heard. There is also a chance provided for upcoming artistes to perform. Though there is a feeling that persons not competent to perform also get a chance, over the course of time water finds its level. Every year we look forward towards an educating & entertaining experience during the Season.
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Smt. Lakshmi Ramakrishnan(performer & writer)
The Music & Dance festivals Season in December is undoubtedly a unique feature of Chennai. For the rasika, the best part about it is the festive atmosphere & the immense amount of music & dance events to chose from. Artistes, especially dancers, do try to come out with new creations & that is exciting.
The downside of all this activity squeezed within a span of 2-3 weeks is that it all has become meaningless especially since there is hardly any audience at most concerts. The younger 'star' musicians do manage to draw some crowd, but on an average audience turnout is dismally low. It seems that artistes submit to some kind of cultural compulsion to perform in the Season & to perform in as many sabhas as possible, never mind if there are only 5-10 members in the audience.
The Season is meaningless in another way. Chennai is filled with music/dance events through the year. So the public of Chennai cannot look for anything particularly different in the Season, other than the sheer number of concerts organised within so small a span of time.
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