Artiste who gave highest number of carnatic concerts

[HarishankarK]

Hi all

Asking generally

Any stats available on this kind of stuff - could it be Semmangudi ? He lived a long life and was immensely popular too

[HarishankarK]

Could be Sanjay too

[kvchellappa]

What about MS?

[parivadini]

TNS?

[parivadini]

If we take accompanists into account - I would guess they would easily surpass the vocalist (or the so called main artist).

[Sachi_R]

This is a funny statistic in classical music, where popularity alone doesn't feature as such a big statistic (I remember Lata or someone has some one million records sold or some such thing)

However, for estimating purposes,

In my estimate, it would in all probability be someone male or female in the era of

Air travel
Internet driven propularity
US and other overseas tours (more concerts in more months in more venues with more festivals)


And an artiste with a long
concert popularity period.

(measured with 3dB cut offs, ie the period from start point 50% to peak average concerts per month to 50% end point)*

So it would be, as of today, someone who has been performing from 80s till date.

*explanation. If someone has at the peak an average of 10 concerts per month, consider the duration of the popularity period as starting from when on average they had 5 concerts/m to the end point when they had 5 concerts/m. I think the popular stars from 80s have had careers lasting 35 years or so as their popularity period.

So a rough calculation would be
35*12*8 =3360 concerts.
So for discussion we should consider only those who have more than this.

[shankarank]

It would be Vellore Sri Ramabadran Sir. The word is he would play for even Rs 100 at one time - this was 90s. He has played in a marriage concert for Mandolin Srinivas within my relative circle. He never rests goes the word!

[HarishankarK]

If we take accompanists into account - I would guess they would easily surpass the vocalist (or the so called main artist).

Agree 100%

[HarishankarK]

What about MS?

Don't think so

[kunthalavarali]

deleted

[hnbhagavan]

Here you must consider only main artists.The accompanists give more concerts as sidemen.

[arasi]

Quality-minded rasikAs, now on to quantity now
Well, data can't be as easily collected for old timers' concerts, of course.
ARI, MMI and Somu are in the list?

[Nick H]

Other than for a handful of stars, the quantity is not in the hands of the artist. It more like...

Artist given highest number of concerts

[ratanabhinav]

Present day leading female artists : Sudha R , BJ .
SSI , TNS
My take on this.

[HarishankarK]

Here you must consider only main artists.The accompanists give more concerts as sidemen.

Yes I thought of main artistes only when I started this post

[hnbhagavan]

By Now Sanjay would have exceeded concerts given by any one in any era.Last 10 years his engagements are high in number.The concert opportunities these days are far more than earlier days even though attendance wise it might have been better earlier.

[parivadini]

I used to keenly follow the Kannan's season handbook and lookout for the number concerts each artist has during the season.

From the 90s and right until 2005/6 - the consistent winner was TNS.

While average number for "On demand" artist during the season would be anywhere between 8 to 13, TNS was always an outlier with 20+ concerts season after season (Of course this included, Veena, Keyboard and (during the later years) Harikatha too).

In the 90s - I have heard TNS sing in so many temple concerts (not the famous ones like Kapali temple - the ones like an obscure temple in Ayanavaram and Valasaravakkam) during the Off - season. I'm not sure if the current day top rung artist perform such concerts frequently (not that they should - just saying!)

[bilahari]

I suspect the answer is TNK, with a prolific career as an accompanist and then soloist, with longevity to boot in a career spanning 7-8 decades and still going.

[Nick H]

I suspect the answer is TNK, ... ... ... 7-8 decades and still going.

Still going strong! As his concert, without any other violin support, a couple of days ago, showed.

[hnbhagavan]

While TNK definitely is performing since 8 decades,this thread is about the main artist concerts.

[Nick H]

I think he can be counted as main artist! I wonder when was the last time he played accompaniment?

[srikant1987]

While TNK is the main artist now in all the concerts featuring him, the total number of concerts he has given as the main artist so far maybe less than some non-violinist, non-percussionist musicians.