Sampradaya Presents: Samvada - A Conversation

vkr85 · Post by **vkr85** » 16 Aug 2009, 08:26

Sampradaya is a 30-year-old archival and documentation organization that has done extensive documentation and archival work in the field of south Indian music traditions. In continuation of our efforts we present Samvada - A conversation, a series of unique conversations with Masters of Carnatic music.

The aim of Samvada is to create a public forum where the great masters of our art can come and share with students, other musicians and the art lovers their musical journey. The idea behind this is that many of the greats leave behind a huge musical legacy in the form of their music but we are all always curious about their musical process and their lifeÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s journey. We very rarely get to understand the mind behind the musician. Therefore in order to facilitate this we have arranged this series of events. In order to make the conversation focused, in depth and revealing we have also made some of the top musicians of today to hold the conversation with these masters. This will also be an interactive event with the audience. There will be one interview every month.

We start this series with:

Sangita Kalanidhi R.K.Shrikantan

in conversation with

Sangit Samrat Chitravina N.Ravikiran

On 28th August 6.30pm

Kasturi Srinivasan Hall (Music Academy)

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 16 Aug 2009, 08:53

Can you tell us more about Sampradaya and its work? A link to your web site will be helpful. What books, journals, and recordings do you publish?

vkr85 · Post by **vkr85** » 16 Aug 2009, 14:21

The website is still under construction but here are some details about the organization:

Sampradaya is a voluntary, non-commercial organization engaged in documentation and archiving of South Indian music traditions for the past three decades. Founded in 1980, it was constituted as a Society in 1981. The perception underlying its founding was---

There is more to our musical traditions than what is identified and supported by the commercial concert system. Many master musicians, who are repositories of great musical traditions, live and fade away in relative anonymity. The resources thus neglected need to be documented, preserved, and made available to musicians, students of music, and researchers.

Thus Sampradaya came into existence with the purpose of documenting and preserving valuable musical traditions as represented by master musicians. As its memorandum declares, the objective of the Society is to procure such musicians and have them talk at length about their art, the tradition of music they represent, their times, their moments of glory and disappointment---- The resources thus built up over the years are simply invaluable.

While Sampradaya has been mainly concerned with documentation and archival preservation of musical material, it has also been engaged in dissemination of resources throughÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Â

karthikbala · Post by **karthikbala** » 16 Aug 2009, 14:22

Sampradaya used to be located on Oliver Road (now named Musiri Road). They recently relocated to Kalakshetra campus to minimise costs. I am a life member and some years back I used to stop for 30-40 minutes to sample their archives. While their collection is very interesting, the restriction on members not being allowed to borrow recordings IMHO was a serious limitation. I hope the students of Kalakshetra are making good use of the library and wish them the best.

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 16 Aug 2009, 22:23

Thanks, vkr85. It sounds like Sampradaya provides a valuable service to specialists, musicians and researchers.

Let me see if I understand your activities. At this time, you
- conduct concerts-with-a-difference, workshops, etc. These are recorded and placed in your archives. Access is limited to on-site use.
- have a library of books and audio material that have been published by others. Members may be allowed to borrow works for off-site use.

You do not, at this time:
- commission or publish new books (though you mention some "documentation work")
- publish a journal on music
- publish any of your recordings
- publish the proceedings of your workshops

You have plans to
- digitize your audio materials and original documentation for use by researchers on-site
- digitize your printed materials and make them available for online viewing by the public (presumably subject to copyright restrictions)

Is this a correct reading?

At this time, is any of your output available for sale to the lay public? And could you elaborate on your documentation work?

Thanks!

vkr85 · Post by **vkr85** » 28 Aug 2009, 11:17

Hi all - please find the invitation to the August Samvada here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36729647@N06/3863537851.

gn.sn42 - I would be happy to speak with you further about Sampradaya's activites at this evening's event if you are able to attend.

tkb · Post by **tkb** » 28 Aug 2009, 22:08

I feel lucky to have attended this session which was simply great. Sri RKS sir was so humble, polite, honest, straight forward in his answering and exchanging his views. I was also happy to see many artists who i am sure would have gained a lot by attending this session. Sri RKS sirs views on people not singing RTPs gana ragas, Performing ragamalika for a gana raga krithi, views on singing Hindustani numbers (he was not favouring at all) changing originally set raga for a krithi were all straight forward. He was also expressing his views on Innovations and it was in total, a great blessing for me to have had the oppurtunity to attend this session. Looking forward to the next on the 18th Sep'09. Special mention to be made for Sri Ravikiran who was interacting with Sri RKS sir on behalf of every one took the session in a very nice way. Kudos to Sampradaya for this great effort.

cacm · Post by **cacm** » 29 Aug 2009, 02:53

Dear Sri vkr85,
I am interested in participating & exploring how I can be of use to your organisation as I feel I can contribute to the common goal of preservation & propagation of our music & culture. I hope to be in Chennai for 3 months starting forst week in december. My email is [email protected] I prefer to discuss things oputside this forum. Hope to hear from you . Regs, VKV

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 29 Aug 2009, 09:21

A preview of events to come: http://www.hindu.com/fr/2009/08/28/stor ... 990100.htm

BTW, hats off to Sri TM Krishna - he seems to have boundless energy, given his busy schedule, students, and all the organizations he works for...

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 30 Aug 2009, 09:11

Yes, Ravi.
An energetic artiste like TMK might help in bringing Sampradaya back to life from its hibernation. The samvada with RKS with Ravikiran reflects Krishna's desire to gather the wisdom of veterans and preserve them for prosperity. Hope the content of these events as well as what is already there in their collection becomes available to all, especially to students--no matter where they live.

Rasika911 · Post by **Rasika911** » 31 Aug 2009, 15:44

vkr85 wrote:Now we are in the process of completely digitizing our audio archives and printed archives. The process of digitizing our audio archives has already started and we have almost completed archiving our own documentation work. The next step is to digitize all the recordings of the past masters that we posses in the form of tapes, spools, records and 78 rpm records. This has been possible only with the support of the Sangith Natak Academy and the Shanmukhanada Sangeetha Sabha, Mumbai.

We also plan to digitize our printed library. Our plan is to make our library completely available for people over the internet. This is to make information from our valuable collection available to anyone in any part of the world.

Read the hindu article and it seems very interesting but the part above is what i like the most. Living abroad i can comprehend the lack of exposure for students, teachers and performers. No doubt a big task but hats off to the organisers. I think it will also be useful if video/audio clippings of discussions are also made avalible to the public. Im sure many a rasika will be willing to donate to the organisation.

padoos · Post by **padoos** » 27 Dec 2009, 21:46

This Rasika attended the Samvada on "Artists & Rasikas"

KNV · Post by **KNV** » 27 Dec 2009, 22:31

The fundamental problem was the frame work for the discussion was not defined properly. While Aruna started off well, R. Vedavalli made casual observations. She said she does not understand what it means when people say that an artist must feel the pulse of the audience. She stated that her approach to singing is to stick to Sangeetha Dharma & ended up saying that her Dharma may be different from other artists Dharma & Rasikas Dharma. One Rasika asked what she meant by Dharma & gave the example of Vibishanan (went to Ramas camp & fought against Ravanan) & Kumbakarnan (stayed with the Ravanan & fought for Ravanan). All artists joint together & concluded both are correct in their own perspective. Therefore Dharma is matter of perception & convenience!

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 28 Dec 2009, 08:07

bharathwaj of IIT M is our rbharat, hope he reports

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 30 Dec 2009, 10:04

I do agree that this session did not add as much value as expected, despite the best efforts of the audience, moderator and panelists.

However, before pointing fingers at the artistes / rasikas on the stage at this event, it might be worthwhile to mention the inexplicable and boorish behaviour I witness from a rasika in the audience - grabbing the mikes from the hands of other rasikas in order to get one's point across, failure to express one's point after being given at least 5 minutes to do so, verbally haranguing the moderator and panelists when asked to give up the mike, and worst of all, naming specific present-day artistes whose music 'does not touch them'. A modicum of respect towards panelists and other rasikas would be help in creating an environment conducive to constructive discussion.

KNV · Post by **KNV** » 30 Dec 2009, 10:41

I thought Krishna handled this character properly. The character was under some influence....Don't call him a rasika.
There was no effort from Panelists. Vedavalli & Sudha were casual. Sudha was smiling all through. Comments like "picking up mami from other sabha" was not OK with me. This is going to be in Sampradaya Archive.They could have taken a Reference musician say Ariyakudi, & MS & discussed how they connected with the audience. Aspects of their music, attractive & appropriate concert plan, their stage presence, No banter or gestures, keeping the audience glued to their seats. We can go on adding "¦. The essence of it is connecting with the audience. They never sang for their atma tripathi. They did not get moved or shed tears on the dias (remember Aruna Sayiram in Margazhi Mahotsavam). They made the Rasikas shed tears. They lifted the Rasikas to a higher plane. Sangeetha Paramartha swaroopees.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 30 Dec 2009, 19:06

KNV wrote:They could have taken a Reference musician say Ariyakudi, & MS & discussed how they connected with the audience. Aspects of their music, attractive & appropriate concert plan, their stage presence, No banter or gestures, keeping the audience glued to their seats. We can go on adding "¦. The essence of it is connecting with the audience. They never sang for their atma tripathi.

My take is different - I think they sang particularly for their 'Atma tripti', and in that proocess, they took us along on that wonderful ride with them. Some artists of today sing not for themselves (I would hope they had better taste), but rather for a 'rasika' group they have very wrong ideas about! If everyone stayed true to themselves, the truth in that presentation is bound to be so much more appealing than any contrived attempts at genius. 'Touching the heart of the audience' can only happen when one is not trying so very desparately to do it!

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 30 Dec 2009, 19:44

KNV wrote:...... say Ariyakudi, & MS & discussed how they connected with the audience. Aspects of their music, attractive & appropriate concert plan, their stage presence, No banter or gestures, keeping the audience glued to their seats. We can go on adding "¦. The essence of it is connecting with the audience. They never sang for their atma tripathi. They did not get moved or shed tears on the dias

I will agree with Ravi on this. They did sing for their Atma Tripthi. I can recollect quite a few instances when MS was choked with emotion while singing and the tears did flow.

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 31 Dec 2009, 18:05

I can quote Madurai Somu as another example gobilalitha