WEBCAST OF DEC10 PROGRAMMES

[Sam Swaminathan]

After witnessing a few programmes of Svanubhava 2010 in the net, I am indeed grateful to the organisers for having arranged this to be seen by thousands of rasikas all over the world. With technology being available, I am wondering why cannot MA or NGS arrange their "free" performances being web cast on a daily basis for the benefit of rasikas in various parts of the world ? Yes, the timings could be a bit difficult for people like us ( eg NZ), but that is some thing we have to make do if we want to hear some good music and demonstrations etc.

Would the authorities concerned please look into this?

Sam

[thanjavooran]

Nice idea. Organanizers can give a positive thinking on this .

thanjavooran 06 08 2010

[radha bhaskar]

As it is,.all sabhas are facing a problem of poor turnout of audience for most programmes and we are really working seriously everyday to devise methods to bring in more audience.Now, if all sabhas start webcasting their programme, everybody ( even local rasikas like me) would opt to sit before the computer rather than make an effort to go to the sabha to listen to a concert. So, who will be there to listen to the artist live? Empty chairs, empty hall! It will become like an All India Radio concert! The thrill of listening to an artist live is an experience in itself and nothing can replace or substitute it!

[VK RAMAN]

AIR during radio days successfully broadcast katcheries available in three bands, long distance being SW. Internet also may also do so for a fee perhaps.

[Sam Swaminathan]

Mrs Bhaskar, you are expressing an extreme view, which I am unable to agree with. If attendance in the currently happening Svanubhava 2010 is a standard to go by, I am sure, webcasting the morning and afternoon free programmes will only increase the carnatic music rasika base and not reduce it by any means. There are rasikas like your self who feel, and quite rightly, that a programme can be enjoyed immensely by the personal attendance rather than by proxy. But how about people like us...who are in the unfortunate situation of living so far away. We do make our two yearly visits to Chennai for this specific purpose, but cannot do so every year, for no other reason other than monetary considerations. How about thousands of children living outside India who are learning this wonderful art, thanks to the thankless efforts of their parents? Please have a heart and support this venture. I am pushing this agenda for the broader interest of the art than any selfish motive. Regards

[radha bhaskar]

Attendance to Swanubhava cannot be in anyway compared to that of sabhas. They conduct the programme in schools and colleges where attendance by students is compulsary. For example, my son who studies in PSBB, T.P Road branch was taken along with many other students to the KK Nagar Branch (where the svanubhava was held) and they had to compulsarily sit through the whole programme, immaterial of what they understood. I myself have conducted so many workshops in several schools and everywhere, the children are made to sit and watch it, immaterial of how involved or informed they are about the subject. Of course, that we are serving the purpose of exposing children to our art forms is another matter. For the children, another incentive is that they can have one day off from studies and can also enjoy with thier friends! But, I definitely cannot boast of a huge auidence and say that so many children came to see my programme out of sheer interest. Thus, this crowd can in no way be compared to sabhas where the attendance by rasikas is purely voluntary, where he has to most often buy a ticket and also make the effort to come to the concert on his own. It involves time,energy and money to come to a sabha for a concert and most importantly a deep interest in music itself. What I want to say is that if sabhas after spending so much money for concerts do not have an audience, it is a sheer waste. We are now actually battling to see how to bring in more audience. As I said, if we can webcast and make everyone see the programme form their home itself, we do not need a Music Academy or a Narada Gana Sabha. We can very well sing in a studio and webcast it. Singing at Music Academy does not mean just the hall or venue, it is the rich quality of listeners there that makes the place special to artistes. I am not against technology but there are layers of issues involved in it.........

[mankuthimma]

I agree with radhabhaskar.While my heart is with Sam.

Tv Serials brought in the death of Drama as we knew it.
With Music It will get worse. The neighbouring chap will be browsing on a gadget and urging his wife to go across to the next sabha before an alapana THERE , that looks to be promising , fully unfolds. On the otherside , The elderly mama , on seeing an Ad of Kurkure , will suddenly remember his own packet in the crispy plastic bag and start his own kurkure sounds.

So Sam and others . Stick to the Rasayana concerts and help us podcast them
In any case we rarely get more than 15 guys to our concerts. We have nothing to lose.

[kunthalavarali]

I do not think web cast will result in poor turn out. On the other hand it may increase. Many sports events could be cited as examples. Only thing is the camera should keep focusing on the audience and the commercials exhibited (they are plenty these days during the December concerts) in the hall now and then!

[vasanthakokilam]

radha bhaskar, for most rasikas, watching a web cast is no substitute for being there with others in the concert hall. So the fear of cannibalization may be overstated. I think it is worth a try. If there is a suspected erosion of audience, they can prevent Chennai rasikas from getting at the web cast ( like what happens with sports broadcasts ). I personally think that is counter productive but if that helps with getting this on, that is a compromise for the short term.

I think the world wide exposure trumps multifold anything that may happen on the negative side.

At a different level, I already sense this in talking to the casual rasikas of CM. They know the artists who have taken part at the Jaya TV MM but they do not have a clue about any one else. So having an exposure like this through other means will only help enlarge the pie. At least in theory. Why not try it out?

If MA wants to take it slowly, in baby steps, they can just web cast the morning lecture demos. They can assess the reactions from world wide web cast watchers and see if there is any decline in audience participation etc. and then decide to spread it to other programs. They can do the same for the end of the season sadas. (May be that is asking for too much.)

Finally, If audience participation is already a big problem, how does the December season, billed as the world's biggest music festval, survive? One possible answer is, the audience attendance problem is not with the top tier artists, it is only a problem for the ones below. If that is the case, the web casting of their concerts should only help them establish a name for themselves among a wider audience.

( As a side bar, if there are already well identified obstacles to rasikas attending live concerts, the sabhas should be doing something to help with those obstacles. Like public transportation after the evening concert, with their clout, they should be able to work with the city to make some accommodations. Pallavan does this for other occasions )

Let the svanubhava team take some rest since it had just concluded and we will see if they can release stats on how many different people watched the web cast and from how many countries. I think we will be pleasantly surprised at the breadth ( number of countries ) of participation. And this is with out much publicity and the web cast itself being arranged in the last minute.

[Sam Swaminathan]

As some of you are aware, I am part of NZCMS, an organisation whose learning centre is affiliated to University of Madras, offerring courses up to Diploma in Music. Well over 100 students take the examinations each year, across the board, from level 1 to Diploma. Over the last week, including the weekend, I had over 10 children coming to my house to watch the web cast of various programmes of Svanubhava. Fortunately, the timings were very helpful. Children enjoyed the programmes and greatly benefited from them. Ghatam Karthick's programme on upa pakkavadyam evinced a lot of questions amongst them and thanks to my mridangam friend, we could, some what, answer a few questions satisfactorily. The end result was children expressing their interest in going over to chennai in the dec season to attend to the music festival along with their parents. In that sense I think I have succeeded in doing some thing good for this art. I have been to chennai to attend the season and I have been depressed to see meagre attendance for some of the concerts of senior artists. Even attendances in some of the well organised demonstrations have been poor. I still maintain web casting of programmes will not hinder attendances of these free programmes.

[arasi]

Radha Bhaskar,
Your concern is understandable. You have a nice sabha there and a very nice big hall, plenty of trees and parking (!) at the Infosys Hall. During the season several years ago, I attended a star performer's concert and though the hall was filled, there was still room for more (unlike at the MA or NGS.
On the other hand, as others say, how about a sabha a day airing their programs--to include younger performers?

VK,
Last season, I saw this colorful bus everywhere, stopping at sabhas, picking rasikas up and dropping them at other venues--I liked that!