Initiatives by artistes/orgs to promote Carnatic music

[nulls]

I'm currently writing an article on Carnatic music in India for a cultural magazine, and want to have a section in it listing initiatives by artistes/organisations/rasikas for promoting/popularizing/serving the cause of Carnatic music. Initiatives could include organizations providing platforms for upcoming artistes, conducting music appreciation programmes/workshops, musical camps for school children, creating digital archives of past masters' music, orgs offering stipends to aged artistes, orgs to protect music copyrights of artistes etc etc - any kind of initiative that shows that the art form is alive and kicking, with a vibrant community of artistes, students, gurus and rasikas.

While I do remember reading about such initiatives off and on, now that I have to write on it, I can recall only a few recent ones off the top of my head like Sumanasa, Swanubhava, the appeciation programmes conducted by Mudra, the digital archives of the Madras Music Academy, Shanmukhananda Sabha (Mumbai) etc. But I'm sure there are a host of other such initiatives which I can't recall.

Would be grateful for any information on the above lines.

[Nick H]

Every single sabha promotes carnatic music by every single concert that they hold. Of course, there are other activities apart from concerts, and some sabhas/organisations (eg Nada Imbam) make a point of supporting young and upcoming artists. Such activities are vital, and it is nice that they should be highlighted, but it is still the entire scene, including all the mainstream sabhas (and such organisations outside of India too) that keep the art "alive and kicking, with a vibrant community of artistes, students, gurus and rasikas."

[nulls]

Yes, it is these other activities that I'm looking to list, because though there are scores of concerts, audiences for these concerts are quite meagre. So maybe other initiatives are needed to bring in more audiences. Examples of these are what I've listed in my initial post. In fact, an example could even be as simple as the exuberant style of an artiste that could attract new listeners - I'm reminded of a concert by Sriram Gangadharan in this context, in Mumbai couple of weeks ago - whose swara prastara and neraval sessions were more like a rock concert than the sedate atmosphere that one would expect from a Carnatic music concert!

Looking forward to more posts..

[Nick H]

Ouch. Major controversy in sight!

Whilst recognising that carnatic music can be very "funky", changing it into something else is not the way to keep it alive.

And I disagree that the audiences are often meagre: the ones I go to are quite well attended.

Of course, I do not disagree with your intention to create even more awareness of CM. Looking forward to the article

[kamavardhani]

But I'm sure there are a host of other such initiatives which I can't recall. Would be grateful for any information on the above lines.

Some that I can think of:
1) Carnatica: Sowmya & Sashikiran pioneered the 'anubhava' line of thematic events... Raganubhava, Layanubhava, Vadyanubhava, Sahityanubhava as well as several interesting efforts to unearth new talent.

2) Jnanarnava: RKS & Krishna came out with one recording based on Sampradaya Pradarshini. Haven't seen any more releases after the first one...

3) Issai Mazhalai nurturing young talent

[nulls]

Thanks Kamavardhini for your points and Jeyaraj/Jayashri for your very enlightening mail. Rasikas, pls keep your responses rolling in.

[yogambala]

There are more sites, like,
http://www.vdsartsacademy.org/vds.php