Audience pulse, differs with place?

cacm · Post by **cacm** » 11 Oct 2009, 23:30

Believe me organising ANYTHING is an Excedrin Head Ache only the number is different in terms of TV Commercils here pushing that product!...However I have found a way which so far has worked so far reg. sticking to Time which has so far been working! .....VKV

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 11 Oct 2009, 23:53

Would you be willing to share your secret, VKV sir?!

cacm · Post by **cacm** » 12 Oct 2009, 01:12

I am afraid if I said it my scheme would fail! ...A Hint: I use word etc & come up with a schedule like a NASA Rocket launch claiming accuracy of a second & WIDELY distribute it to spealers & audience & have a NBA like clock.....VKV....Seems to work so far....

munirao2001 · Post by **munirao2001** » 12 Oct 2009, 12:56

vkv43034
To achieve the results and success, it is mandatory to announce the programme and the schedule, at least One week in advance and definitely on the date of the event for CM rasikas.
The speakers must be well qualified and the event organizer should ensure that they come well prepared, preferably with written text of the speech. The presentation is best when relevant portions of the Audio-Video clippings are played for instant appreciation and understanding the values/specific contribution of the celebrity, planned for highlighting by the speaker. Hand out on the profile of the celebrity, attractive and brief, to the interested rasikas, is appreciated. Q&A on the discussions, with targeted and definite time, encourages better participation by the rasikas. There must be at least 15 minutes break time between the presentation/speech and the concert. The performing artists of the day, must have either imbibed the values/qualities or a rasika of the celebrity chosen for discussion and must plan the concert to reflect the same.
Finally, availability/serving of piping hot coffee/tea during the break-time, with crunchy snacks, definitely a must and strong ingredient of success and the results in CM events!
munirao2001

coolkapali · Post by **coolkapali** » 12 Oct 2009, 12:57

Hehehe good one VKV

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 12 Oct 2009, 13:04

Yes, that was a good one! I would LOVE to see this happen in reality and watch people scrambling to be punctual to the second!

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 12 Oct 2009, 13:55

vkv43034 wrote:.However I have found a way which so far has worked so far reg. sticking to Time which has so far been working! .....VKV

Vkv sir
I do know the secret sauce of your organizing skills. I remember when you organized MMI rememberance day , you invited many speakers and inclusive of you spoke well, the trick is you gave each of the speaker only a specific context to talk about , for eg that day vellore Shri ramabadhran only talked about how MMI used to sequence his concerts.

I think apart from your mmi day , i distinctly remember another day where sishyas of TNS organized an exclusive day of celebrations in NGS for TNS on his 50th year celebrations of his musical innings .That day also each speaker just was given a specific context and every speech was timed and boxed.

In short that only happens only once in blue moon, usually when they invite a dias full of speakers each of them dont hear what the other person has told , and he/she just repeats the same thing again and again. Also in few cases if a speaker does not have an agenda or if he has not prepared , it just eats too much the next concert schedule.

IN chennai sabhas ,there are few speakers who just start by saying something "nAn onnu mattum soLLA virumbigErEn" (I just want to make one point), that's it 20 minutes atleast is gone, he/she keeps tossing and twisting and turning, just trying to speak that one point . :rolleyes:

cacm · Post by **cacm** » 12 Oct 2009, 21:04

Dear Rajeshnat,
I think every one is on to something esp. you!...I would like to invite you& every rasika to this year's function of MMI REMEMBRANCE DAY at Raga Sudha Hall on JAN 8TH starting at 5 P.M. It would be interesting & different than the the previous year....Will write later about this & two other functions I have planned soon when details are finalized....VKV

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 14 Oct 2009, 16:32

vkv sir,thanks for inviting , most likely i will be there

Just want to take this thread from gn.sn42's post #45:
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"He just said in a nutshell that organizers need to publicize the concert much earlier and come up with calendar much before the concerts , so that more audience indeed comes to concerts."

They make sense , but more than that publicity I think we need to target more at the source of creating newer rasikas in new unexplored territories.Let me back up a bit.

Carnatic music is very generally prominent in mylapore,malleshwaram,matunga,vizag,pockets of palakkad and trivandrum etc, well these pockets have developed reach a maturity and inturn they incubate more pockets like nanganallur,chembur,etc... and also cleveland, cmana,toronto etc. But to me this market is fairly getting saturated that too with the supply of artists, demand does not seem to pickup, it has reached somewhat diminishing returns.Let us assume this whole market is only X.

What we need is more out of box thinking to solve this problem, instead of attacking the periphery of X and growing more and more we need to create brand new X'ses much outside the domain of present X. Here is my theory/speculation?

Why should we all paint an useless and untruthful message that carnatic music is south indian based, that is just incidental the music is very much universally appealing for various describable and undescribable reasons. Considering many rAgas and compositions have indeed come from other pockets than this periphery of X , we need to take that message more to folks outside of X.

Some solution to grow this X to 10X in new unchartered territory:
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Why cant musicians and organizers all sit together and start attacking the myth that CM is southindian based. Let them organize concerts in the banks of ganges in varanasi and sing all muthuswamy dikshitar compositions . How about Kasi vishalAkshi in Gamakakriya as main and annapoorne vishalakshi in shyama as submain in the banks of ganges. How about musicians singing all sanskrit compositions of ST and MD in the banks of ganges . Infact more rasikas in banks of ganges will understand the sanskrit lyrics better

than a typical south indian :rolleyes: rasika based concert. Slowly and Steadily the myth that CM is south indian based will just melt away .

Then with the rapid junk of television penetrating , most of us will have good ears for music for generations to come and the so called north of south india pockets will just realize carnatic is not south indian music, in fact they will have more dikshitar akandams there . Once when it reaches a fair and even distribution within india there will be more and more pockets of carnatic music created everywhere including abroad as it is truly appealing to more and more masses.

In short seek markets in outside pockets of south india and brand newer miniatures have to get created.Prashant Prasad has to hit bandra from chembur as frequently for concerts, not just besantnagar rathnagireeshwarar temple .

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 14 Oct 2009, 18:51

rajeshnat wrote:annapoorne vishalakshi in shyama as submain in the banks of ganges.

This composition of Sri MD is on annapURNi of kuzhikkarai ('unnata gartA tIra vihAriNi') - not of kASi (not 'unnata gangA tIra vihAriNi)

cacm · Post by **cacm** » 14 Oct 2009, 20:23

Rajeshnat,
Why don't YOU organise an informal meet somewhere- may be even in beach somewhere where interested persons can shoot the breeze & discuss your important idea. I have SEVERAL some of which are being implemented. VKV

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 14 Oct 2009, 20:42

I wrote this in post 33 above in response to Rajesh's valid point that he has seen CM rasikas in reasonable numbers in suburban locations. Since I firmly believe this is a sure fire approach , let me repeat it here.

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- Let us assume demand exists. The problem now is figuring out the concentration/density and hold concerts in places that are easy to reach.

- We need to do a simple market survey to determine the optimal areas to hold concerts at. It can be done with phone calls or through in person contacts ( shishyas/volunteers can help out ). Figure out the sample set of households scientifically, ask them if they are CM rasikas and will they attend concerts if they are held in near about places. There may be companies providing such survey/data collection services already.
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In old times, by trial and error, people sort of knew which areas attract audiences for CM concerts. But that old knowledge may not be valid any more with the greater mobility of households.

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 14 Oct 2009, 22:03

rajeshnat, a few quick points.

- I entirely agree with and support your idea that CM audiences can be nurtured in new centres. There is definitely a lot of potential for this.
- I think you're trying to say that CM can be appreciated outside South India, but I don't think we can or should deny that CM is South-Indian based. In the future, perhaps, we will have enough material and musicians from the rest of the world that it can be a global music, but at this time it is, and I think rightly so, a South Indian music genre.
- I don't agree that the market is saturated in Mylapore. I made some points in this regard earlier in rbharath's thread lamenting poor turnout for high-quality violin concerts.

I'm sticking to my theory that a high-quality CM concert series can be organized wellin many geographical settings (including Mylapore) if the organizers schedule the event well in advance, publicize it well, sell tickets early and for a high price*, use a hall with good facilities

, and pay the artists well.

Specific themes such as the ones you suggest may be a good way to build interest, but, I'd argue, only within a well-thought-out framework that addresses the points above. I think vasanthakokilam's market survey idea is a good one, with the caveat that interpreting the results should be done by experts (the number of people who say they will attend concerts is different from the number that actually will).

*This always gets a negative reaction. My point is that unless people commit to attending your concert (and spend a large amount of money to do so), they are likely to blow it off because their cousin is visiting from out of town on that day. (Funnily enough, after I'd made this point, one poster responded with that exact reason.

)

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 14 Oct 2009, 23:21

All very good ideas.
Yes, a survey, yes, pukka arrangements, advance arrangements and announcement, advance sale of tickets.
For those who love CM but wonder about tickets as if they are a fancy idea, I ask this. Yes, you have a lovely (or otherwise) free meal at a wedding as a guest--but don't you spend money on a gift? Buy a train ticket if it takes place out of town? Don't you buy tickets when you go to a movie? Why is a CM concert an exception?
Sponsors, if they are really encouraging the arts with their contributions should think about this: to allow minimum-priced entry tickets to be sold--just for the public to get into the habit of paying at least a nominal amount to listen to a concert. If CM is entertainment too, I don't see why buying a ticket for a concert is any different from buying one for a movie. The prices can be reasonable, with half the price for children.

On the organizer's part:
Advanced announcement and facility for the rasikAs to buy tickets. Clear announcements about time, venue etc in newspapers and at every concert about forthcoming ones.
Prompt start.
No speeches if it is just a concert and not an event where speeches are called for.
If anyone is going to say: it's all very well with those of you living abroad, my answer is this. It all depends on one's attitude. You can find both kinds of rasikAs (the willing to pay and not wanting to kinds) in any part of the world

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 15 Oct 2009, 01:44

Vital is CM and trivials are the ones which irritate rasikas, such as -

Bike/car parking availability; if shoes not allowed, some arrangement for safe keeping, pass on the rules of the hall, such as cell phone, tALam pOdal, murmuring and loitering; keep cafeteria open only until the start, interval and 5 minutes before end of the CM

k_pavan2 · Post by **k_pavan2** » 27 Oct 2009, 05:53

My 50 paisa on the karnATaka part.

* Once again a cool place to listen. However, i find a lot of regional fantisicm here. I was told one of the artists on the stage must be a Kannadiga.

Really? I wonder how true this is or if this is a sweeping generalization. Personally, I've attended lots of concerts that I can recall with no Kannadiga on stage.

* SPEEECH during concerts looks to be an integral part of karnataka concerts.

You meant before the start right? True!

* Compared to the other two states, i would tend to think they prefer Thukkadas than the intricacies.

I've not much idea about the other two states, but I agree.

* Majority of the audience are Tamil speaking.

Wrong. Depends on the sabha / venue. Places like oDakattUr matha et al will have a Tamizh majority. Not a Malleshwaram, B'guDi or a Jayanagar. Obviously, this is also specific to Bangalore and not karnataka.

veeyens · Post by **veeyens** » 16 Nov 2009, 07:20

Since I ceased to be a Mylaporean some twenty years back, I have no personal knowledge of the current attitude of the audience and organisers in Chennai, but I can relate to couple of undesirable traits in concerts especially california. One is the practice of annoumcing what is practcally the bio data of the days artists after giving them a short welcome ,although all this information are available on the flyers. . The other is the mass exodus from the auditorium as soon as the percussion team is about to start on the Tani. Some vidwans have openly commented on this habit with some of them even delaying the commencement till all those leaving are really out of the hall

sivapriya · Post by **sivapriya** » 21 Nov 2009, 21:14

To answer this very important query, the answer from would be yes.

Somehow the concerts at the Academy Auditorium, Pettachi Auditorium, Raga Sudha Hall and Museum Theatre are very memorable, sonorous, wholesome and lasting. Raga Sudha Hall takes the cake in this list, as there is something about he auditorium, which elevates the singer and audience.

There are some big auditoriums where I dont seem to get a similar feel.

balusatya · Post by **balusatya** » 22 Nov 2009, 23:03

sivapriya wrote:To answer this very important query, the answer from would be yes.

Somehow the concerts at the Academy Auditorium, Pettachi Auditorium, Raga Sudha Hall and Museum Theatre are very memorable, sonorous, wholesome and lasting. Raga Sudha Hall takes the cake in this list, as there is something about he auditorium, which elevates the singer and audience.

There are some big auditoriums where I dont seem to get a similar feel.

True. I felt it during my first recent concert there.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 23 Nov 2009, 00:32

How many of these halls were built by music enthusiasts for the purpose of music?

Whilst Raga Sudha isn't the only one, it has both the acoustic and the atmospheric stamp of being built for its purpose. I may not know so many halls as some of you, but Raga Sudha is most likely to remain my favourite