Hindu reviews - margazhi 2009 total blackout

vganesh · Post by **vganesh** » 12 Jan 2010, 10:32

Dear RajeshJi and Others,
I beg to differ. Hindu has given a complete supplement everyday about music season. And there were continous review on KGS, MA, NGS and others. There were also review on nungambakkam cultural academy. Ofcourse they could have not covered all. Also there was an article on Bhushani Kalayanaraman. It was coming all days last week, Friday and also on Sunday. In fact due to my travel I could pick Hindu and read.
V.Ganesh

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 12 Jan 2010, 11:22

vganesh
I have no cribs about the hindu coverage and more importantly the frequency of thrice a week supplement apart from usual friday's review is commendable. But what I stated is quite clear from my first post.

HR · Post by HR » 13 Jan 2010, 00:16

This is a very interesting post , and as an ardent carnatic music listener and student , I would definitely like to add my two cents to it . Like many earlier replies to the post have rightly stated, the Hindu reaches a million readers everyday, and its December Season hand-outs are much sought after . Couple of points that the editor and team can definitely consider , to improve on this december season supplement

- Some artistes being reviewed multiple times , while other artistes not featuring through the month at all should be avoided. Even if the paper by principle only covers a certain set of sabhas, it can ensure featuring all artistes atleast once

- The number of sabhas in the city are finite , and hence it is not a himalayan task for the paper to cover all sabhas. It may be challenging in terms of logistics, but would go a long way in making the newer sabhas more well known, and giving the readers a glimpse of the concerts in these venues. If not for all sabhas, the paper can start with adding one or two new sabhas every year to its list to increase coverage

- Reviews without photographs - These should be completely avoided, because the photograph is as important as the review itself and makes the review complete. When the reader browses through a 10 page supplement , it is most times the photograph that catches the reader's attention immediately. If there is a review without photograph , there should be a headline on the review in bold and bigger lettering , to make it more noticeable.

- An introduction about the critic - It would be useful for each review to carry a foot note about the critic reviewing the concert. This would enable us in knowing the reviewer better.

rajesh_rs · Post by **rajesh_rs** » 15 Jan 2010, 01:18

I wonder why as members of Rasikas.org, a premier site for all things related to Carnatic music, some of our own members may not be interested in reviewing concerts they've been to. Why don't we invite guest reviews, for all important music seasons/concerts and publish them either as sticky threads which we can read/comment on, or on an appended set of review websites inside rasikas.org?

Any takers? Moderators, any thoughts?

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 15 Jan 2010, 15:18

Who would decide what is important? Who would decide who to invite to review? And... when we want to read the reviews of others, we just pick up the newspaper (or see it online, for those in other countries!)... so I think the idea is not very practical.

Reviews happen when people want to write them: it is entirely organic and entirely without compulsion. We are very lucky to have several members who give us very explicit concert reports. It is the way the forum is

rajesh_rs · Post by **rajesh_rs** » 15 Jan 2010, 18:14

Thanks for your thoughts, nick. You have a point - an organic, self-organizing scheme of reviewers is probably more effective in weeding out bias.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 15 Jan 2010, 19:26

Even the bias is not unacceptable!

I feel much more like writing about (even though I don't do proper reviews) a concert I really enjoyed.

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 19 Jan 2010, 12:38

I have read thro' most of the posts on this thread and thought i should add my 2 paise to it.

First things first. Each organization or individual has personal preferences. And that is something one should not comment about.

The Music Academy is arguably the most revered of institutions and The Hindu over many years has always patronised the Academy and published reviews of all their concerts. There is nothing new about it.

About artists being missed. If there are 20 people covered, there are always 200 others who have been missed.

It is absolutely pointless to try putting-up such a list which will run into pages and such rants are not going to lead to anything anywhere. waste of time, energy, webspace, bandwidth, blah blah..

To be frank, i consider this is a personal rant of rajesh only because R Suryaprakash was not reviewed on The Hindu.

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 19 Jan 2010, 13:05

I do agree on a couple of points made by HR, Reviews with photographs give a lot more impact and a brief intro about the writer does add to the credibility of the review and its reviewer.

and bias is absolutely unavoidable. It will stay. The amount of bias would vary from person to person, but it is very tough to find a completely unbiased and unopinionated musician/rasikas/reviewer. It might not be impossible, but it is very tough and only exceptions can be of that kind.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 19 Jan 2010, 13:37

rbharath wrote: First things first. Each organization or individual has personal preferences. And that is something one should not comment about.

The Music Academy is arguably the most revered of institutions and The Hindu over many years has always patronised the Academy and published reviews of all their concerts. There is nothing new about it.

About artists being missed. If there are 20 people covered, there are always 200 others who have been missed.

It is absolutely pointless to try putting-up such a list which will run into pages and such rants are not going to lead to anything anywhere. waste of time, energy, webspace, bandwidth, blah blah..

To be frank, i consider this is a personal rant of rajesh only because R Suryaprakash was not reviewed on The Hindu.

Bharath
I think you got it wrong. I asked a simple question at the first post , are there any other artists not covered , only one name came up. I spoke for one and after 100's of post one more name came up that was bhushany kalyanaraman.This is a case of 200 artists and 1 artist not covered.I do know that you like others may mistake as this as a personal rant ,all I can say is that is not the case . To be as frank as you are ,you have got it wrong.

Incidentally can you tell me any other artists who is not covered, that way you and I can speak more for them Thats it, no other name has so far come . I doubt any artist other than R Suryaprakash who had more than 8 or 10 concerts but still not reviewed.

BTW I also respect both academy and the hindu as much as you do, but this is a clear blackout case. You just dont know how few artists have musical merit yet get passed. You said 20 are covered 200 are left out . Point out those few of the remaining 200.Be objective and point out names ,that way my personal rant will be exposed and I have no shame in accepting that I have posted a personal rant.

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 19 Jan 2010, 14:07

Trying hard not to get in the middle of this

) but browsing through the reviews authored here may provide a nice list

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 19 Jan 2010, 15:28

If the number of concerts is anything to go by, Rajesh, your count is not correct. Suryaprakash has given fifteen concerts this season, according to S. KAnnan's Reckoner for Chennai Music Season.

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 19 Jan 2010, 16:06

rajeshnat wrote:Incidentally can you tell me any other artists who is not covered, that way you and I can speak more for them Thats it, no other name has so far come . I doubt any artist other than R Suryaprakash who had more than 8 or 10 concerts but still not reviewed.

If there's no other musician than R Suryaprakash who gave 8-10 concerts and is still not reviewed in The Hindu, doesn't it all the more make it a personal rant?

If there are many other such musicians -- but you named only R Suryaprakash, does that again not make it a personal rant?

If someone gets as many concerts as Suryaprakash has without The Hindu drawing any attention to his talents (or the lack of them), it clearly shows he loses nothing, so why worry?

A rant about people who got no/very few concerts makes more sense to me.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 19 Jan 2010, 17:07

srikant1987 wrote: If someone gets as many concerts as Suryaprakash has without The Hindu drawing any attention to his talents (or the lack of them), it clearly shows he loses nothing, so why worry?

srikant1987,
The hindu review is very important as it reaches close to a million readers .Rant means boisterous loud or empty declamation , mine is not RANT

. Let bharath dig and mention any of the 200 performers that has been missed and who have not got review as he mentioned before, you can help him too

.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 19 Jan 2010, 18:10

Srikant,
Rant in capital letters increases the volume of a rant

As we all may agree, we can't stop any rasikA from rooting for a favorite artiste--particularly when he has been denied prime slots in some sabhAs after years of singing--while a few other less experienced ones have made it.
Suryaprakash is popular among many rasikAs. That accounts for the number of concerts he has had this season. No carping on the part o Rajesh there. It is his championing the under dog zeal which makes him get carried away sometimes

I wondered too as to why someone who sang in so many places did not get a mention in the reviews during the season in The Hindu.
Another thing about RasikAs is that we encourage fellow-forumites in whatever they pursue, and I know that only too well

Suryaprakash is one of our vidvAn members, and we cheer him on.

musicfan_4201 · Post by **musicfan_4201** » 19 Jan 2010, 19:52

arasi wrote:Srikant,
Rant in capital letters increases the volume of a rant
As we all may agree, we can't stop any rasikA from rooting for a favorite artiste--particularly when he has been denied prime slots in some sabhAs after years of singing--while a few other less experienced ones have made it.
Suryaprakash is popular among many rasikAs. That accounts for the number of concerts he has had this season. No carping on the part o Rajesh there. It is his championing the under dog zeal which makes him get carried away sometimes I wondered too as to why someone who sang in so many places did not get a mention in the reviews during the season in The Hindu.
Another thing about RasikAs is that we encourage fellow-forumites in whatever they pursue, and I know that only too well Suryaprakash is one of our vidvAn members, and we cheer him on.

Sidelining, less talented artists getting prime slots at the expense of more talented artists etc - Are these new ??
This bias, favoritism, deserving artists egtting neglected etc have happened, happening and will happen !! This is just not in the field of CM. In any profession or Art or Sports this is prevalent.
Imagine with the number of artist that we have today as compared to the 50s/60 and had the sabhas not mushroomed what would be the fate of these artists

With the so called increase in number of sabhas ove rthe last 10-15 years, sabhas are still not ready to give a fair chance to deserving artists. This is because the art has been commercialied so much that they want just collections to maximise. For that only the so called established artists are preferred who are crowd pullers. And more than collections there are so many equations that need to be taken care of !
This is a rat race and unfair game. But that is reality !!

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 20 Jan 2010, 12:27

rajesh,
well if u say it is not a personal rant, i believe u.

Dr. R Ganesh too sang a bunch of concerts around the city. i dont think he got reviewed. i dont think he ever got reviewed even on our website, even if he did, may be just an odd one or two..

here u go, i found another name for u... well there are many others.

there sure are many artists who sang a few concerts during the season but never got noticed anywhere by anybody. the volume of the season is so huge and amount of time for anybody is finite. And given the bias that one is bound to have, there is always somebody who was missed. there is no point making noise about it...

so what if somebody is not reviewed? does it stop him/her from performing or does it stop his concert chances or does it reduce his reputations in the world or does it reduce his honour or musical abilities.. so what?

As an aside, i can also come up with person-specific-post-qualifications to make sure that only the one person i like is there on such a list of people and start making noise about them not being given enough response. And i can come up with many such people with specific condition on each list. it is not going to lead us to anywhere...

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 20 Jan 2010, 13:52

rbharath wrote:rajesh,

Dr. R Ganesh too sang a bunch of concerts around the city. i dont think he got reviewed. i dont think he ever got reviewed even on our website, even if he did, may be just an odd one or two..
....
....

As an aside, i can also come up with person-specific-post-qualifications to make sure that only the one person i like is there on such a list of people and start making noise about them not being given enough response. And i can come up with many such people with specific condition on each list. it is not going to lead us to anywhere...

Bharath
Dr Ganesh got reviewed in the hindu-so what you think is plain wrong. Here is the url
http://beta.thehindu.com/arts/music/article69536.ece

I am making a specific case here and I don't have this habit of randomly building a case for some one . I take my time and only post after sufficient analysis after discounting all benefit of doubts . If again and again if you come up with these statements like I can come up with person specific post qualifications to make sure that only the one person i like is there on such a list of people , u start making an impression it is just damn easy for you, and people like me are just ranting .

I bet it is not as easy as you think it is, try again after Dr ganesh.

musicfan_4201 · Post by **musicfan_4201** » 20 Jan 2010, 14:34

Rajesh
You seem to completely ignore the intent of rbharat's post and trying to prove it right or wrong. The issue is more than that to state that these analysis or head breaking is not really going to help anyone (ur or the musicians)

Also please read his post - he said, he does not think that Ganesh was reviewed in the Hindu, he never claimed it was not !

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 21 Jan 2010, 13:01

rajesh,
one is not so jobless to sit and go thro' all the papers and schedules to come up with names.

but yes, it is true that there are many others. i was glancing thro' the kannan mama's reckoner and defly came up with a handful of names within a few minutes. men and women, young and old, who have performed ~7-8 concerts in the season and dint get reviewed on hindu..

but the point is, it is well known that there are such people everywhere...

i only repeat my previous question.

so what if somebody is not reviewed? does it stop him/her from performing or does it stop his concert chances or does it reduce his reputations in the world or does it reduce his honour or musical abilities.. so what?

and do u think, discussing it here makes matters any different.

look at dinamani on the other hand, they had reviewed all the raga sudha concerts amongst others, infact it is believed that the secretary of one of the sabhas which is situated in the same area actually called up dinamani office to quarrel with the editor that they have not been covered while all concerts in nada inbam are covered. free copies of dinamani were distributed in many sabhas everyday evening, which means ppl who got reviewed in dinamani prolly got the same kind of attention tooo.

some publicity, somewhere, any publicity anywhere is good.

rajesh, i dont know what ur motives were in starting this thread, nor do i wish to go into it. however, it has given enuf (good and/or bad) publicity to a few artists.

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 21 Jan 2010, 13:12

one general observation is that any afternoon slot artist will get reviewed iff they sing at academy. not otherwise. and that is well known. except for a handful, nobody sings year after year at academy and hence will get left out in reviews as well. it is bound to happen.

why attach so much importance to a hindu review or an academy slot. i do understand it is a great matter of pride. but, if not today, morrow everybody who is deserving will get both, why make it such an issue.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 21 Jan 2010, 15:41

rbharath wrote:rajesh,
i was glancing thro' the kannan mama's reckoner and defly came up with a handful of names within a few minutes. men and women, young and old, who have performed ~7-8 concerts in the season and dint get reviewed on hindu..
....
....

rajesh, i dont know what ur motives were in starting this thread, nor do i wish to go into it. however, it has given enuf (good and/or bad) publicity to a few artists.

Bharath
From a young age ,I have a very good memory in general and I can recollect a lot, i have spoken for one , if you have read the reckoner and you already know the names put it down let it reach the ears of the hindu and also rasikas of rasikas.org. YOu and i speak for lots of artists that is why we both write lot of reviews in general. Let us all know .Now that you already know , it will just take few seconds.

Let me tell you one thing , if you mention those names :

1.Very likely the hindu review would have been there where you had mistaken that it was not there (Like Dr ganesh).

2.And even if you come up with names they will be those artists who are in general not that much known in the yearly concert circle in chennai.

3.To an extent artists who are well past their best of performing years and very likely a combination of not having great quality as of today AND not having too much rasikAs (AND is the key).

Here is my motive in general:
--------------------------------------
The hindu published 3 weekly reviews (sat , monday and Wednesday)and the usual friday review and in total there were rougly 20 editions covering 120 to 140 artists in the margazhi season.Thats a lot, hats off to them .

Do you know about 15 or more artists had more than 2 reviews, most of them have musical merit and very few of them perhaps just put there so that possibly deserving artists are blocked .

This guy(suryaprakash) has immense musical quality and has a reach to rasikas too and performed 14 or 15 concerts , few of them with UKS , eashwaran sir ,MAS etc. ?

How did he alone get this exclusive aryabhatta zero that no one else yet has not got it? Is he in madura mani sishya paramparA or is he part of aryabhatta sishya paramparA?

There has been so much planning in covering lot of artists and the hindu has done a great job, at the same time it also appears there has been planning even to block .And my point it is only him.?Unless you or others explicitly write any more, it is so far just only him .Suryaprakash is singing for 22 years being at chennai , his age is 42, he cannot be passed by the hindu .

My take on Hindu review:
------------------------
If you think the hindu review is not important ask each of the remaining 150 artists , "if they dont want to be covered in the hindu, will they say NO". every one will only say YES. In short it is very important, the reach is there? What a musician covers singing in 200 sabhas in 1 year , he gets that in a year of few margazhi reviews,, for people like bharath and me and most of the rasikas here (less than 2 %)we dont need the hindu. But for the remaining heads who dont care a damn about this forum(that big 98%), the hindu is quite a big marketing asset .A million readers in one stroke.period.That is a fact

I write it because :
------------------
I am quite fearless ,if I am confident of few injustice and that too it is so very glaring , i will write it,as such I have no inhibitions in holding
anything. Also deep down I believe we all have to speak for deserving artists. Period nothing more nothing less.

After all this forum is only for the performing artists and rasikas like me are doing just too less, compared to what artists do for us.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 21 Jan 2010, 18:12

I am not in London now and yet it seems as though I am in Hyde Park corner

Good soapbox oratory, Rajesh!
One thing most of us know is that you speak your mind and are a champion for the underdog. Stay that way, though you may get into trouble once in a while. We speak at length in admiration of generations of vidvAns. You come from a long line of rasikAs and I admire you for that. Your love for CM is indisputable. Your ability to remember details is not forgotten even by me who easily forgets details.
Above all, you believe in 'give and take'--if their music gives me pleasure, I want to do my bit for those who give me joy with their music, you say. What's wrong with that?
It is not because we are friends that I am saying all this. I respect your gnAnam, interest and also ,your concern for CM and its practitioners. For those who think that I support you because we are friends--they have to hear us when we differ in our views and argue!
Yes, yes, yes, tastes do differ. Besides, there is also nothing wrong in liking different kinds of artistes, all at the same time . One doesn't cancel out the other. You can appreciate renaissance painters, Degas, Monet, Picasso and abstract painters all at the same time. You may enjoy reading the classics, humorists and Agatha Christie without worrying that your love for the classsics will fade awa,y (or the other way round) that you will end up being a highbrow. I think you cause worry in a few because to them only the supreme classicists among musicians matter. That's fine too, I guess because tastes do differ, of course.
Don't put that soapbox away. We all need it at some point or other because that's what the forum is all about, I think--to make things better if at all possible, in the name of CM.

aDANA · Post by **aDANA** » 22 Jan 2010, 12:04

Reviews are mainly useful for artistes who are upcoming and needs their names to be established so that their career will develop.. What Mr.Nat speaks is totally weird.. And absolutely a personal rant.. Suryaprakash as nat says is quite well off in terms of fame and name.. If he had argued for a deserving NEW candidate then this thread is absolutely justified.. I don mean to say SURYAPRAKASH does not need a review.. Of course he is a torch bearer of a great school and a good singer.. There can not be a case where EVERY REPORTER is against him .. Its just a coincidence.. And USELESS talking here.. Better luck next time.........

aDANA · Post by **aDANA** » 22 Jan 2010, 12:08

@ rajeshNAT. I can give one suggestion.. U can write reviews on hindu if u feel they are against ur hero

Not mentioning the PANIC index there

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 22 Jan 2010, 13:08

aDANA wrote:Reviews are mainly useful for artistes who are upcoming and needs their names to be established so that their career will develop.. What Mr.Nat speaks is totally weird.. And absolutely a personal rant.. Suryaprakash as nat says is quite well off in terms of fame and name.. If he had argued for a deserving NEW candidate then this thread is absolutely justified.. I don mean to say SURYAPRAKASH does not need a review.. Of course he is a torch bearer of a great school and a good singer.. There can not be a case where EVERY REPORTER is against him .. Its just a coincidence.. And USELESS talking here.. Better luck next time.........

adAnA
Did you get that line which I mentioned before:
"For people like bharath and me and most of the rasikas here (less than 2 %)we dont need the hindu. But for the remaining heads who dont care a damn about this forum(that big 98%), the hindu is quite a big marketing asset .A million readers in one stroke.period.That is a fact "

# Take all the sangeetha kAlAnidhi's they also have reviews. Why?? Some sangeetha kAlAnidhi had two and more too... Why? coincidence ?

# Very very established artists have reviews one at the beginning of the season, one at the mid season and one towards the end of the season? Why coincidence?

# As I said before , ask any musician to say I dont need the hindu review any where from RK Shrikantan to Rithvik rAjA ? As such reviews are for establishing upcoming (as you say agreed), and also for retaining the establishment period .BTW both rithvik rAjA to RK Shrikantan had a review. Every one under the sun who is an artist needs it.

. Let any artist come here and say I dont need it. Then that would be a miraculous coincidence.

# Did you notice that for some artists when a not favourable review is not coming ,then after few weeks within the season they get reviews like they are much better, there is a lot of improvement shown by them

. Is that coincidence . I am not naming them, but there are cases ?

# And finally I suggest you to add that one person who was not reviewed in the hindu other than whomever I have mentioned in this spectrum of vidwans and vidushis? That way we will add one more to the coincidence. Try working with another person on that who said he can look at the kannan reckoner and add them?

USEFUL discussing here,Best of luck for you on adding to coincidence ....

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 22 Jan 2010, 14:52

Just at a glance... I see that, in today's The Hindu Friday Review, no less than four major articles/reviews concern events at The Music Academy.

I leave it to those better qualified in weighing the items to say whether the representation is justified.

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 22 Jan 2010, 15:14

I second aDANA .. he has pointed out correctly. there is no ruing about what has not happened. I do accept my good friend surya hasnt been featured in any of the reviews and i also sincerely feel it is just a coincidence ... and i also sincerely feel that it was unintentional. Who knows there are hundreds of reviews written by reviewers for magazines and newspapers but only a few find place due to space constraints as mentioned by someone in one of his posts. Who knows Surya might have been written by some reviewer and might have been left out also. You may ask why "Surya" needs to be left out and why not anyone else ? I still feel it is purely unintentional on the part of Newspaper side. But at least we all have made an effort to put things straight.

Did anyone notice ? after we had discussed in this thread about Lalgudi Siblings being left out in the reviews of Hindu it was very surprising to find their Review in the HINDU today (22-1-2010) under the title "Siblings shine". (http://www.hindu.com/fr/2010/01/22/stor ... 940700.htm) I think it must be an aftermath of our rantings here about the lesser-sung heroes of the music season. In the same vein we all will pray and hope that good music is heard and well-written in the coming days irrespective of who the artiste is and also without prejudice.

Mannarkoil J Balaji

aDANA · Post by **aDANA** » 22 Jan 2010, 15:17

hehe.. I never talked about the reviews that were made.. I talked just that the reviews which weren made.. yeah repeated reviewing can be avoided thats one good point u make.. But the thing is NOT ALL REVIEWERS CAN TOGETHER BOYCOTT ONE ARTISTE. I don think there are that biased or rather the have THAT MUCH CONSENSUS among themselves

.. Its just that it didnt come.. Well just answer this.. Would u have opened this issue if the artiste who u have mentioned had been reviewed ATLEAST ONCE???? U know who i mean

aDANA · Post by **aDANA** » 22 Jan 2010, 15:19

Well said JB sir.... Well said... Take that people....

aDANA · Post by **aDANA** » 22 Jan 2010, 15:24

And remember. I never said reviews are unnecessary but just that IT DOESNT MATTER SOOO MUCH for artistes like HIM... Does matter but not very much. He already has his own fan following. No one will stop attending his concerts just because he wasn reviewed. There are other ways of marketing that the musicians know.. So u need not worry about that........

musicfan_4201 · Post by **musicfan_4201** » 22 Jan 2010, 19:09

It seems Rajesh's personal rant

has created members to tarck who has / not been reviewed in THE HINDU to challenge his claim

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 23 Jan 2010, 18:09

how much ever one trys to tell rajesh that we all know that it is his personal rant, he is not going to accept. why spend our valuable time and precious energy on it.

He started off with saying Suryaprakash is the only artist who sang a handful of concerts and dint get reviewed. Then he added things like he is the only one from MMI tradition, he is the only 42 yr old man, he is the only guy singing for 20 yrs in chennai, etc etc.. next he will go on to include post qualifications like he is the only one to wear blue kurta to concerts.

I have nothing personal against Sri Suryaprakash at all. however, i find this thread pointless totally.

I too can list a few names here as somebody who sang 10+ concerts and still dint get reviewed, but, i dont want to start personal rants for musicians who are good friends.

and i will not list names here, because i find that whole idea of doing such a thing is doing disrespect to them artists and hence wouldnt subscribe to such an idea at all...

i wouldnt comment more on this thread and leave the madness to the source itself.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 23 Jan 2010, 22:13

rbharath wrote: He started off with saying Suryaprakash is the only artist who sang a handful of concerts and dint get reviewed. Then he added things like he is the only one from MMI tradition, he is the only 42 yr old man, he is the only guy singing for 20 yrs in chennai, etc etc.. next he will go on to include post qualifications like he is the only one to wear blue kurta to concerts.

I have nothing personal against Sri Suryaprakash at all. however, i find this thread pointless totally.

dear all,
Read the first thread and read the thread no #72 which bharath has taken as his source. I have made a passing mention that he is from sishya paramparA of mmi and he is the 42 year old man. What I dont like is bharath's continuation of things like he is the ONLY 42 year old , the ONLY one from mmi tradition (which I have not claimed at all) and more going to cheap extensions like "post qualifications he is ONLY wearing blue kurta", it appears he is personally demeaning the artist even while finally saying there is nothing personal against
suryaprakash.

rbharath wrote: I too can list a few names here as somebody who sang 10+ concerts and still did'nt get reviewed, but, i dont want to start personal rants for musicians who are good friends and he will not list names here, because i find that whole idea of doing such a thing is doing disrespect to them artists and hence wouldnt subscribe to such an idea at all...

i wouldnt comment more on this thread and leave the madness to the source itself.

When bharath is so confident that there are artists who sang 10+ concerts and can very easily list the names, instead of taking a stand of that does not want to not publish those names and claiming it is a disrespect to his good friends , is "studied madness" on the part of bharath (I am just quoting his own term). I wish bharath comes out openly with those names which is the objective of the very first post of this thread.

The objective of my starting this thread is to list out the names of major artistes who have been blacked out by The Hindu, this margazhi season. I was not able to come up with more names other than suryaprakash and bhushany kalyanaraman, simply because I find that the other names aren't there, for the similar caliber of concerts (please list those names, if any, that has been my repeated request) . I repeat IT IS NOT MY PERSONAL RANT for suryaprakash, mine is a rant for all the artists who have been missed in the hindu , incidentally the other black-out was lalgudi siblings for which the review has come out yesterday and I only identified lalgudi siblings even before the review came in the hindu. Incidentally bharath has already pointed out a name before(Dr Ganesh) thinking he was not reviewed in the hindu ,for which I posted the url in the hindu of Dr ganesh, so his bharath's claim of not bringing any artist is not true.

After mridhangam's last post, I thought I need not repeatedly make any point after that and actually didn't wish to post, but since the last post by bharath is aimed at giving a permanent colouring to my entire job with rasikas.org, I am pressurised to write this one, even though I am sure my other friends in this forum will not allow any mudslinging on me.

Yes, there is no point in continuing this thread any further, friends, as the margazhi season is over. Let's look forward to rAma Navami!

aDANA · Post by **aDANA** » 23 Jan 2010, 23:00

@ rajeshnat : U have not answered my question yet.. Would u ve taken up this issue if suryaprakash sir had been reviewed at least once?

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 23 Jan 2010, 23:42

>even though I am sure my other friends in this forum will not allow any mudslinging on me

This is just a bystander chipping in... Since Rajesh feels there is some mudslinging on him,

let me just state 'Don't debate the messenger, debate the message'.

Ok, back to the debate.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 24 Jan 2010, 00:21

Rajesh is a generic lover of good carnatic music. His reviews at the Forum have been enlightening, clean and impartial. Accordingly it is wrong to attribute any motive to his legitimate claim (I hate to call it a rant) that some fine musicians have not been reviewed by HIndu which is widely read. Again we got to know the partiality for MA due to their association. His defence of Suryaprakash for example is fully justified since he is a fine up-and-coming musician. It is totally unfair to take Rajesh to task for bringing the issue of bias in 'Hindu Reviews' to our attention. Let us make sure there is no such bias in our Forum Reviews which also is read internatioanlly. Finally VK's message of debating the message than the messenger is spot on!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 24 Jan 2010, 01:48

We all come together in the name of music and in our love for it. In the forum we get to know each other and we become friends. Mud slinging among friends?
There are all kinds of rasikAs in this world, listening to their own kind of music and appreciating it on their own or with a handful of friends or as a family. We are somewhat different in that we belong together here as rasikAs on this forum . We come from everywhere and bring different perspectives to the forum because we have different tastes,skills and experiences. That's how we have a number of reviewers too--each bringing his or her own flavor to the forum. Another asset to our forum is that there are a number of members who are performers.There are no hard and fast rules, but we respect each other in general. Music is supposed to make us better and is supposed unite us in our diversity. And with all the things we learn here and share!--is there room for mud slinging in all this?
Pesky people come and go, also spoilsports who have their own reasons for acting up. We try to shrug them off with humor or try to ignore them. Some flex their muscles to show their might, others justl ike to make some noise, others have no clue as to how they act. Still, we carry on happily.
This is a forum where there is a lot of goodwill and a willingness to share. This is a gathering of friends. Can there be mud slinging among friends? We like music, we also like our friends and are happy for them when they find happiness and we care about them when things don't go well for them. We are not a sterile lab where we just analyze music. We are a family and music binds us.
I am not defending, heavens, no, I am not preaching either. I only have our forum family's values to think about. A few of my friends who have been here longer than I have been, and are valuable to this forum have to stop for a moment and refresh themselves with the values which are dear to us.

VK,
After your to the point (and wise ) counsel, this long drawn plea. Folks, bear with me. I was rather stirred by it all and had to give vent to my thoughts...

balu · Post by **balu** » 24 Jan 2010, 08:52

if you are close with somebody,and if the man is thrown out of the institution you may have to suffer the repurcusions.suryprakash is paying the penalty.but he also enjoyed the fruits when that somebody was in power.

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 24 Jan 2010, 09:01

I definitely become inclined to review mind-blowing concerts I've attended (unless there's a strong personal reason for me not to) irrespective of who gave the concert. In addition, I like to review youngsters mentioning their good points, and also other less popular -- less-often-performing -- artists, since they really stand to gain a lot from a good review, yes, even a review read by only 2% or so of concert-goers.

A harsh review is generally useless -- while of course, mentioning weaker points of a performance of younger vidwans can help, because they are likely to have an idea of what's going on in this forum (as compared to older vidwans who may not be as net-savvy), and there's more time for younger vidwans to improve. But I do this only if I generally liked the concert and saw great potential and eagerness to learn and improve in the young performer. A performance I totally dislike wouldn't normally get a review.

I like to tell others about artists I find very good, but merely stop attending concerts of artists who've done badly in a few concerts I attended -- but won't tell others not to attend them. The artist stands to gain a loyal rasika, and the rasika stands to gain much fulfilling music if the potential rasika attends the concert but the concert goer only loses a few hours of that day if that performance didn't fulfill them.

With this introduction of what I review and what I don't, I am going to listen to Sri Suryaprakash asap. My review of the concert or the absence thereof should be my next communication in this thread.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 24 Jan 2010, 09:34

Somebody in 'power'? We are all empowered here to share our thoughts and ideas. It is ironic that Rajesh whose intent is to promote music and to recognize talents is being berated here (he heads us all in finding new talent and in encouraging young performers). He brings to focus unknown but talented artistes who do not live in Chennai. He respects and speaks highly of
elder vidvAns nd vidUshis. He has written about more concerts than any other, I would think. Above all, like most of us, he has CM's health and growth at heart. You see that some reviewers write exclusively about their favorite performers(no harm in that). We share our appreciation with others--a positive thing). Rajesh does not stop with writing exclusively about Suryaprakash! He tops all reviewers when it comes to the number of artistes he covers. True, he gets carried away with his zeal, and most of us do, anyway.
Subrahmanya bArati:
veLLai niRattoru pUnai, engaL vITTil vaLArudu kaNDIr, piLLAigaL peTRadap pUnai, avai pERukkoru niRamAgum (a white cat which we have at home, had kittens--each of a different hue. One of a snake's color, another a milky one, yet another a shade of ash....however different they all look, aren't they all of the same strain? To say this is of lesser worth and the other superior--is it fair?) This applies to members on the forum, to the music we all listen to and adore and also to those who perform.
OnRenRu koTTu murasE, Sakti ONgenRu koTTu murasE, nanRenRu koTTu murasE, inda nAnila mAndarukkellAm-proclaim to the world that we are united, let positive energy flourish, and let goodness rule--play the message drum, play!

CML,
Thank you for your post. Did not see it until this morning. I bet you agree with me that Rajesh IS guilty of excessive zeal.
Yes, Rajesh. I find you guilty, but look at the finger that is pointed at you. Okay, I plead guilty too

musicfan_4201 · Post by **musicfan_4201** » 24 Jan 2010, 14:07

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 24 Jan 2010, 14:15

musicfan,

You didn't have to take off the whole post just because of that! Its intent was very good and apt for this thread. Sorry for being such a spoilsport!

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 24 Jan 2010, 21:07

arasi
You have started teaming up with our mahakavi

Rajesh is going to get you for getting distracted from your goal

(..next to Suryaprakash his focus is on you

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 25 Jan 2010, 08:53

CML,
You mean, mahAkavi? That bArati? He better stay with us all at all times. His lines are there to inspire us to think better, better ourselves at least an iota, if that is possible. If you were thinking of mahakavi, the terrestrial one, I welcomed him back and I hope he has noticed that message!
As for Rajesh, as I have said before, there is nothing I need to do at the moment until gnaanam and Sumitra have finished their work

He understands...

Akshara · Post by **Akshara** » 25 Jan 2010, 10:03

Well said arasi madam - on camaraderie, common platform and no mudslinging...I completely second the stance that Rajesh is very fair in his observations and comments...yes of course i second his statement that the reach of Hindu as a marketing tool too is phenomenal and it is at times quite disappointing to note a newspaper of this caliber is pretty unfair at times to the deserving ones...Like in every activity where feedback is so important , I think the Hindu should also be made to take cognizance of the feedback of this forum very seriously as it is from a set of knowledgeable and fair individuals whose goals are the promotion of cm and encouragement and support to deserving artists...