DWINDLING AUDIENCE FOR VEENA ONCERTS

[CRama]

I use this opportunity to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to MUDHRA and Brahma Gana Sabha for organising the Veenothsav 2010.
It is a matter of concern that audience turnout for Veena concerts in general is very poor. Even the musically minded people and ardent music lovers prefer a vocal concert to a Veena concert. I have met some Veena students who told me that they will not like to listen to Veena concerts- but will love to listen only vocal concerts.
The commitment and dedication of senior vainikas like Kalpakam Mami, Smt. Padmavathi Ananthagopalan, Smt.Gayathri to many young artists like Ms.Punya Srinivas who have mastered this art deserves our namaskarams and appreciation. But if we the rasikas do not support this divine art, it will end up living only in the show case. In this backdrop, I am thinking what changes could be done in the format of Veena concerts so that it will sustain interest in the listeners.

1.Veena concerts should be of one and half hours-two hours.
2.The concert should be arranged in smaller halls.
3.The pallavi of the song, raga and composer should be announced for the benefit of audience belonging to various levels.
4.The concert should include a RTP or ragamalika tanam which will be of interest to the listeners.
5.It can be arranged preceding a vocal concert,. so that those who purchase tickets for vocal concert will also sit for the veena concert.
6. In season, the concerts of our preferred vocalists will be available in many venues. So let us devote some slot for promoting some good veena concert as well.
7.Veena artists should cultivate the habit of attending the concerts of their peers.
8.Similar festivals exclusively devoted to Veena may be organised in other parts of the city like Mylapore etc to attract audience for the Veena concerts.

The views of other rasikas are most welcome.

[nadhasudha]

Thanks CRama for bringing attention to an important topic. It requires a very musically mature individual to appreciate a veena recital. Even students of veena find it difficult to sit through a veena concert. In addition to all your suggestions, how about if future performers of veena practise to both sing and play on the veena together. I have heard that this is not entirely impossible. The grand dame of veena - Veena Dhanammal is said to have both sung and played the veena simultaneously. The pace at which the artist plays would determine the pace at which she/he sings. I think this would be a welcome addition. My 2 cents

[rshankar]

Another thought is to revive the lost art of using the vINa as accompaniment - may allow for more exposure. The few tracks that survive of the three sangIta kalAnidhis (Semmangudi Sri Srinivasa Iyer and Smt. MSS accompanied on the vINa by Sri KSN) in unison are spellbinding.

[gobilalitha]

I too welcome the idea of veena as accompaniment. On a lighter side, carrying a veena to various citiesi in and out of India presents a huge problem ,leave alone the expenses in carrying it gobilalitha

[Nick H]

There is a general lack of all instrumental concerts during the season, not just veena, and there are probably more veena concerts than nadaswaram, so the veena is not the worst off (and nobody can blame the difficulty of transporting!).

The recent veena concerts I have been to have been well attended. Is it really a audience, rather than a sabha problem?

[prashanth12]

If it's a head to head fight between melodic instrument and voice, voice will always win because there is an added element.

What needs to happen is more concerts featuring multiple "soloists" together. I don't see the harm in it. Each concert will be far more rewarding for the audience.

[radha bhaskar]

yes, there is a problem of poor audience for veena concerts. The number of invites that we have posted for this fest is mind bogglling ( which I am sure no other sabha would ever have done) but the ratio of turn outs was not as expected. Listening to the veena for a whole day from 10a.m to 9p.m was a blissful experience, absolutely unique only to this intrument. I do not understand what is the problem and why people do not attend veena concerts. Wish somebody could throw light on this!
As for the half an hour slots, we thought that seeing 32 artists on the same stage would be an incentive to rasikas, even if they did not care much to hear them! Moreover, this fest is not intended to prove the skill of the artiste. Rather, like Thiruvaiyaru Thaygaraja aradhana, we wish to offer a tribute to this great and most ancoent instrument of India through a Veenotsav. Also, showcasing so many styles of veena playing on a single day is very interesting to observe and enjoy.
As for singing while playing, Seshagopalan sir did an excellent job of that and kept t he audience spell bound by his truly introspective play!

[Nick H]

The entirely-personal feedback: I would rather listen to one person play for two hours than numerous people play for half an hour each.

This I entirely disagree with prashanth12

What needs to happen is more concerts featuring multiple "soloists" together. I don't see the harm in it. Each concert will be far more rewarding for the audience.

I see no reason why the format of a veena concert, give or take specialities of the instrument, should vary in format from any other carnatic music performance.

[prashanth12]

I'm not saying veena concerts should be different from other carnatic performance. I'm saying the format of a carnatic music performance itself should be less rigid.

Also, I did not envision numerous people playing for half an hour each, I envisioned collaborative renditions of individual pieces. I personally would love to hear such performances (I own a few albums which have something like this), but there is a certain inertia about format that needs to be overcome.

[CRama]

One of my suggestion is really happening. Narada Gana Sabha is organising a Veena Festival from 17-25 Sep 2010. Thanks to the organisers. It may be only in the evening. I wish our rasika community support the festival by attending the concerts whenever possible.

[Nick H]

I'm not saying veena concerts should be different from other carnatic performance. I'm saying the format of a carnatic music performance itself should be less rigid.

Ahhh... then we have different opinions, which is fair enough!

The current concert format seems to be one that works, going through warm-up, climbing to a peak, then bringing us down to ordinary life again.

[mahakavi]

How about a "jugalbandi" of sorts with a vocalist and vaiNika supported by a mridangist. The vocalist and vaiNika can take turns as well as go in unison.

[prashanth12]

How about a "jugalbandi" of sorts with a vocalist and vaiNika supported by a mridangist. The vocalist and vaiNika can take turns as well as go in unison.

Love it.

The current concert format seems to be one that works, going through warm-up, climbing to a peak, then bringing us down to ordinary life again.

I do not believe this would change with collaborative renditions of pieces. IMO the "peak" could be even more impressive.

I think I am not communicating my thoughts very well. I'm just saying I wouldn't mind hearing pieces rendered more like this instead of only and always like this in concerts.

[Radhika-Rajnarayan]

Here I am, bristling with indignation at the suggestions that a veena concert is not as attractive as a vocal concert, etc. It is far far more satisfying than many other instruments or many vocal concerts. We have many extremely talented and gifted performers today, spanning a range of styles: fast-paced to meditative, colourful plucking styles to intricate fingering styles - you just need to listen and appreciate them all.
Firstly, I think that many vocal concerts today (not all, but many) have become 'devotional music' concerts rather than 'classical raga music' concerts. So if the majority of people want to listen to devotional music, naturally they will flock to vocal concerts.
What I do not understand is why people attend violin and saxophone concerts but not veena concerts. Something to do with the volume levels they like?
The concept of using veena as an accompaniment, (although not new, it was the default instrument earlier) while ideal theoretically, may face some hurdles when you need to accompany at either 1-kattai or 5-kattai (solution=digital veena . Really, I've tried it and it sounds superb)
It is also a matter of appreciating the more delicate nuances of the veena. Appreciation sessions?
Jugalbandis with other instruments, fine. But half-hour recitals? Not really satisfying for the performer or listener, don't you think?
I heartily endorse the suggestion that veena artists should attend concerts of their peers. But why only veena artists? All artists should.
This is one thing the music community can learn from visual artists (painters). They, as a community are very supporting of each other, and attend shows by other artists. Many other concepts can be borrowed from them - I will start another thread for that and not digress too much.

[prashanth12]

I just want to reiterate that no one was suggesting half hour recitals.

[Nick H]

I would even go so far as to say that a veena concert is more accessible to the less-experienced audience member than a vocal concert. The order in of my wife's willingness to come to concerts is flute (her personal favourite), veena (not far behind), other instrumental, lighter vocal --- and a long way behind, what she calls "one of my elderly ladies", regardless of age or sex!

I don't think there is any need to change the format, and ideas such as as a veena intro to a vocal concert are not at all good. That, to those who have come to hear the particular artist, would be as bad as speeches!

[tkb]

Mostly now a days Veena concerts are happening with Veena & Mrudhagam and some times with an upapakka vadhyam. IMO our general concert format is like having a vocal or any instrumental artist supported / enhanced by violin or additional instrument with Mrudhangam & an uppa pakka vadhyam. I think the reason for this set up is that you do not become monotonous and it is indeed a fact we as human like to have variations. Also the fact remains that the main artists as well as the others get a period of rest while singing / playing raga aalapana, kalpanaswaram, while singing / playing niraval, thanam and vrutham &during thani avarthanam. May be this could also be a factor!

The Veena concerts of our own JJ's are always with good attendance as they play veena duet and as audience you have variations as they also have enhancement artists in a mrudhangam & a upapakkavadhyam. Well may be for the tours abroad artists / organisations restrict to just Mrudhagam as it involves major cost factor and logistic arrangements to be made for that upapakkavadyam artist.

[prashanth12]

You guys keep replying to ideas that no one made..half hour concerts, veena intros.........how about what I've been saying all along, the idea of multi-instrument, collaborative renditions of songs...instead of always soloist + accompaniement. Like the link I posted above. Of course, this would require more planning and preparation, and less ego in performers. But what's wrong with trying something different. There are many people who might not go to a 3 hour veena concert who would love to hear it in this sort of situation.

[i_worship_srkris&vk]

DWINDLING AUDIENCE FOR VEENA ONCERTS

probably they dont like it

[Radhika-Rajnarayan]

You guys keep replying to ideas that no one made..half hour concerts

Prashanth, I did not reply to a point made by you, per se, but commented on a few festivals where they featured half-hour veena concerts.

[srikant1987]

What I do not understand is why people attend violin and saxophone concerts but not veena concerts. Something to do with the volume levels they like?

Indeed, your "devotional music" thing is bang on target.

Maybe they like the instrumental gimmicks which violin and saxophone offer themselves too. Indeed gimmick-free violinists get essentially the same crowds as famous vainikas. I also feel that other instruments offer themselves better for slightly brisker (just brisker, not gimmicky) concerts, though some vainikas like Smt R S Jayalakshmi (and earlier, Sri R Venkataraman) challenge this totally.

And then there's Rajesh Vaidya, who, I believe, draws awesomely large crowds.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

First of all, an intended listening is required for Veena.

The Veena player has to be on his toes, sorry, on his fingertips from start to finish and absolute concentration is needed.

The sruti on the main (four) playing strings -especially the first two- must be perfectly aligned or else the micro tones would spoil the show. The Taala strings should also be perfectly tuned (Many ignore the taala strings even as Veena is the only stringed instrument where the Taala provides the dual purpose of keeping time and sruti). The frets (mettu) should be well set to avoid any distortions. Due to unforeseen reasons, if the melam is slightly tampered, the artist should be in a position to overcome such deficiencies by swaragnaana and approximation. The meettu (plucking) shouldn't be too harsh and sliding of the left fingers must be so as to give a feeling of free movement with required accents.

Well, I have attempted to cover a few aspects relating to the instrument and the player.
I shall continue.

[isramesh]

In the 80s, veena players like chittibabu used to attract good crowds. I remember attending two of his concerts in the tiny town of Srikakulam in the coastal AP in the 80s where the attendance was almost 200 or so which can be termed as very good considering the population of the place and very limited appleal of CM. One more concert I remember was of Sri Emani's which was also a well attended one may be 100 - 150. (Ofcourse none of these can be compared to Mandolin srinivas' concert where an entire high school ground was filled up.) During 80s and early 90s I remember many kids (especially girls) learning veena. I think Sri Chittibabu & Balachander were very much popular then, even at par with some vocalists. In the present scenario though there may be many great veena artists, In my opinion most of them lack the "star appeal" which CB & SB used to have.

[rasi]

Hi. Im a graduate student studying in Texas Tech University. I used to play the veena when I was in India. Its been a month since I came to Lubbock. DOes anyone have a veena here, or in Dallas that I can buy/rent?

[Sivaramakrishnan]

isramesh has rightly come in with his post on Chitti Babu & S. Balachander when I was about to discuss on 'what does it take to make a crowd puller for Veena'.

While CB made it it with his embellished renderings besides his winsome stage presence SB demonstrated the fullest the scope of Veena .
If CB's was a 'romantic novel', SB's was a 'book of Grammar' - both with huge following! When CB's was entertaining and enthralling, SB's was primarily educative.

CB's invariably included popular songs and ' born-kritis for instrumental music' like Raghuvamsa (kathanakuthoohalam), Ninnuvina (Navarasakannada) in his concerts. He had the laya aspect too safe in his hands.Nobody has led Veena ensembles as successfully as him. His LP records were huge sellouts during his times. He had Palghat Mani Iyer on Mridangam in several concerts and in one disc. But what turned to be extremely popular was the CB- T V Gopalakrishnan combination (during the seventies and eighties).

R K Suryanarayana enticed with his instrument equipped with several special effects

Emani's formula addressed the entertaining and aesthetic aspects in equal measure and attracted good crowds.

At the same time, puritans like K S Narayanaswamy, B Doraiswamy Iyengar and many practitioners of the Karaikudi Bani attracted dedicated audience.

We must be grateful to the present practitioners of Veena who have assimilated the good from every Bani and accepting structural changes in the instrument more out of concern for Veena and not career!!

[MV]

Yes, It is sad to see the dwindling numbers for Veena concerts. I also wish to add Trivandrum Venkatraman, Jayanthi Kumaresh, Shri K.S. Narayanaswami and Smt Mangalam Muthuswamy to the vainikas of note.

My observations on this topic are:
1) It is such a gentle instrument. The idea of having 2 or 3 veenas of equal ability in a standard concert might add interest.
2) Song selection is always important and more so for veena. You do tend to lose the audience with too many vilamba kala kritis, 2-kalais etc. Popular songs are also vital.
3) Even if an RTP is not performed, a thanam is a must even in a short concert. It soooo completes the veena and vice-versa
4) Though it can be used as one of the pakkavadyams, it still must be kept as the main.
5) I like the idea of having it before a vocal to contrast it and attract the crowds back.

[radha bhaskar]

With regard to the audience for the Veenotsav, I want to share one thing. Though TNS sir played on 28th, he came on 29th afternoon with his son by 2p.m and stayed till 4.30p.m and heard all the young veena artists play. It must have been truly inspirational ( perspirational!) to see such a doyen in the audience. Now, if such a great and busy artist like him could make time to come and sit through, I think other artists have no excuse to give! Also unlike other artists who make such a show during their entry and exit as audience, TNS just came in and left silently - something for all of us to emulate!

[Sivaramakrishnan]

A nice gesture indeed from Sri. TNS.
Lucky were those artists who had the great Vidwan to listen to them!!