grand music concerts organised by SRI SRI Ravishankar founda

[sagars]

The grand carnatic music concert organised by SRI SRI Ravishankar foundation at chennai is now avaialable live at www. naadhavaibhavam.in

[Sreeni Rajarao]

I am watching what appears to be a live streaming.

There is a huge gathering at the venue!

It must have been a challenge to manage the logistics on this grand scale.

Congratulations to the organizers - everything appears to be working well!

Very impressive!

[Nick H]

It's all about numbers... how many musicians, how many dancers, how many sri-sri-sri-s ;(

[kssr]

The participants are happy that they were part of the gang. The SRiSris are happy that they have created such a spectacle. There was a similar dance show in Thanjavur periya koil recently. It is like a circus and admirable for the simple fact that it has been made possible- like four motor cycles driving simultaneously in a spherical cage- definitely a great feat.

If you were expecting to get music or dance there, it is your problem

[venkatakailasam]

There have been two such concerts earlier one at Kochi and another at Bangaloru ( Silver jubilee celebrations)

These are available at my Mediafire collections. If any one is interested, this can be reached through my blog at 'E'-SWARA at

http://myblogkumara.blogspot.com/

In the side bar you have the link to mediafire. Choose Video I collections and browse for Art of Living celebrations.

venkatakailasam

[venkatakailasam]

The Naadha Vaibhavam concert held on 31-01-2011 of The Art of Living is available at my channel at You Tube http://www.youtube.com/user/vkailasam

venkatakailasam

[semmu86]

It's all about numbers.. how many sri-sri-sri-s ;(

[venkatakailasam]

There was also another programme at Delhi on 28-11-2008 "Massed sitar recital in New Delhi" Largest numbers of Sitars playing at once, in a massed fashion, with Indian bamboo flute (bansuri) and tabla accompaniment. The players are from multiple faiths, religions and disciplines across India. Organized by Navbharat Times and titled Brahmnaad / Brahm Naad, the concert was a global first indeed. The Art of Living hosted this historic event - Brahm Naad,

You can view it at You Tube -by browsing for "Massed sitar recital in New Delhi"

venkatakailasam

[vasanthakokilam]

I am not part of the Sri Sri movement but I do know a few who are. That is my disclaimer for this post.

If you take a critical view of this from a music point of view, you are missing the context. I interpret what kssr says in that context, though his comparisons are too crude for my tastes. A closer comparison is the Olympics opening ceremony where there are thousands of people doing the same thing, whether it is drumming or dancing. There they get to rehearse a lot and put up a good show. Any misstep would be widely reported, so they take great pains to get the minutest details right. Here there is no attempt at such a level of perfection since the objective is not the show itself. Given the wide variety of instruments and various sruthis of voices I think they have pulled it off, both logistically in getting all the 5700 people on the same page and the performance itself. I listened to the Venkatachalanilayam and there were a few goose-bump moments for me. Those are the effects of group singing, no matter how perfect or otherwise it is.

When I was in Chennai, I heard about this event which had been in the works for months. I also heard that Vijaya Siva was one of the chief consultants on the musical aspects. And the interest to participate was quite huge from a wide cross section of the CM music community, from students to professionals. People want to be just part of the process, be there with others and be part of this new experience.

It is all good. We do not need to be skeptical about good things when there are enough bad things around us.

[Nick H]

I remain sceptical. Very sceptical. :devil: ] :devil:

But, taking the musical event just for itself, I can see what you say, and can accept that without reservation.

[venkatakailasam]

Nick H
'Sceptical' means not convinced that something is true; doubtful
tending to mistrust people, ideas, etc., in general

In the context of the meaning of 'Sceptical' , will you be able to provide further details as to the reason for your feeling so?

I also feel 'Sceptical' as to whether it is possible to have an event with such gigantic proportions?

venkatakailasam

[mohan]

I didn't get to see this. What were the songs rendered and who led each item?

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Che ... 140658.ece

[vasanthakokilam]

Mohan: You can catch the program at the youtube links vkailasam provided.

There was an over all 'conductor' type person. Each song is given to a leading personality to start the song.

siddhivinayakam
Anandamridaharshini - P.S. Narayanaswamy
thanam followed by ananda natamaduvar
manasasancharare - G.S. Mani
himadri sudhe pahimam - Suguna Purushothaman ( a bit of alapana with a short return by violin at the beginning )
nagumomu - Allepey Venkatesan
thani led by Trichi Sankaran and K.V. Prasad
venkatachalanilayam
Aduvome - Charumathi Ramachandra and Trichur Ramachandran
Muddhu gare yashoda - OST ( he just sang a tiny bit )
Raghupathy Raghava Rajaram - Suguna Purushothaman and Suguna Varadhachary

[venkatakailasam]

At the beginning of each song, Smt. Sudha seshiyan made the announcement as regards the song and artists who led the song.

They were Shri Ps Narayanaswamy, Smt Suguna Varadhachari, Shri Gs Mani, smt. Suguna Purushothaman, Smt Chitra, Shri. OS Thyagarajan ,

Thrissur V Ramachandran and Smt. Charumathi Ramachandran and others. ( may not be in same the order.)

venkatakailasam

[srikant1987]

I too disagree with kssr. The amount of skill needed to ride a motorbike inside a spherical cage is just too great! And with three others doing it in the same cage, we need to avoid colliding with them too!

Venkatakailasam's comparison makes more sense. But I don't think such a great amount of rehearsal is needed -- apaswarams have a tendency to dissolve to insignificance in a large group of reasonably talented musicians, unlike in dances. That is when they are each singing the same piece (unlike a small group producing harmony music).

[vasanthakokilam]

Actually, the Suguna Purushothaman led Kalyani was sung by the group fairly well including all the sangathis. In spite of the thousands singing, the kalyani subtleties were brought out in many places. I was half expecting such subtleties to get drowned in the collective chaos. But it was not.

[Nick H]

Nick H
'Sceptical' means not convinced that something is true; doubtful
tending to mistrust people, ideas, etc., in general

Yes, that's about it.

... but probably better to settle for each to their own in these areas.

If vasanthakokilam got goose-bump moments from the event, then that is good enough for me.

[kssr]

Quite impressed with the attention my comparison to the motor cycle circus has attracted OF course it is crude and greatly exaggerated. Sorry about it. The point made is that it is a "show", a Grand spectacle, etc., and should not be treated strictly as a "musical event". Any such large scale event involving many singers and/ or instrumentalists is still most welcome and good for CM.

[venkatakailasam]

Nick H:


A Graceful act of Dance performed by 1000 participants at Silver Jubilee Celebration - Kerala

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF4jVa0k ... 475B8F8C32

Art of Living's 25th Anniversary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPtPWvKQAd4 (Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Art of Living's 25th Anniversary-Silver Jubilee Celebrations: Feb 17 to 19, 2006, Bangalore. Glimpses of a historic celebration:
Carnatic Music:
Galaxy of Musicians: You can see them. What an INCREDIBLE feat! A 3-Acre Stage? 3,800 musicians playing together! The world should learn from them. Maybe then we could all make music!

Mirudangam -650
Ghatam -100
Kanjira -100
Thavil -138
Morsing -30
Veena -770
Violin -782
Vichitraveena-10
Thambura -60
Mendolin -10
Flute -750
Nadaswaram -138
Saxaphones -92
Keyboard -20
Guitar -150 )

Are you still 'Sceptical'


venkatakailasam

[Nick H]

About a certain purveyor of lifestyle consultancy? Indeed I am!

I've already said I'm happy to settle for the music and the pleasure it gave, especially to those who took part.

I am doubtful that any of these spectacles (regardless of cause or event) actually do anything for carnatic music as such. But, for those who enjoyed taking part, and those who enjoyed watching ... I can't argue with their experience and have no wish to.

[srikant1987]

I'm very surprised at the number of flutes!

While veena concerts don't seem to get audiences, flautists seem to not get concerts at all! I didn't know there were so many of them, really!

[vasanthakokilam]

>About a certain purveyor of lifestyle consultancy? Indeed I am!

Understood. I did not catch on that your skepticism was about that.
This will take us way beyond the scope of the discussion in this thread since there are people who have dedicated their entire lives to that style of lifestyle consultancy and it will become a discussion on that.

Let us move on!!

[Nick H]

Agreed