Review quality

[VijayR]

This might be an old gripe for many veterans in this forum, but let me add my 2 cents by voicing my disappointment with the quality of recent kutcheri reviews in newspapers. I am sure most of you will recall the back and forth between TMK and Hindu's N. Ram on this topic.

Here is a review that I read in today's Hindu: http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/article2496905.ece

This one had me shaking my head... There is almost zero substance in the review (what is "The sancharas in the raga alapana in his solo versions chased each other without proper spacing" supposed to convey to a reader?) Several of the sentences don't even seem to make sense. For example: "He made sure that each phrasing served the purpose he held in view", "Though there are many ways for a vidwan to excel, the voice holds the key as Prasanna revealed in sound refinement, not to add excitement to exposition." In this case, most of the review just resembles an attempt to demonstrate the literary prowess of the reviewer (as they say in Tamil, "vAk chAturyam"). Unfortunately, even that fails rather badly.

To be fair, a significant number of the reviews are still of high quality (of course, the more cynical ones among us might not even agree to that). However, the frequency of such bogus, vaporware reviews certainly seems to be on the increase. Real shame...

[ Ok, I'll end my rant now... ]

[srikant1987]

But VijayR, TM Krishna himself has said that SVK is one of the better reviewers in The Hindu. That said, I always thought he's bananas about Thyagaraja compositions, and including more of them and singing/playing them well means a very fondly-written review from him. That's not a bad thing, really. Thyagaraja is just Thyagaraja -- if you take away his compositions, Carnatic Music will be shaken at its roots.

The flowery language (vAk cAturyam) is probably one of the "Policies and guidelines" of The Hindu, but indeed I went through this review and could again see why TMK said what he said about SVK. It's extremely good, compared to many reviews I've read in The Hindu.

The "chased each other without proper spacing" sentence is crystal-clear to me. There were no pauses to make the AlApanais relishable.

Of course, "phrase" should have been used instead of "phrasing" -- but many people like to use "usage" instead of "use", etc. And probably it's purpose Prasanna had in mind and not "held in view".

[VijayR]

Srikant1987: My point was that "simplicity in prose" is a quality that is under utilized (and perhaps, also under appreciated). When I read a review, I want it to be direct, in-depth, and as full of "real" information as possible (of course, this is just my preference). If the Hindu's editors nudge writers towards using such flowery language - that is just a crazy policy, according to me! SVK is obviously a very knowledgeable rasika. I just don't like the "literary" quality of his reviews. The people with whom I have discussed SVK's reviews fall into one of two categories. One group really likes his reviews and the other is very lukewarm about it (to put it mildly). It is clear that we lie in opposite camps.

This particular review is just an example that triggered my original post... It has less to do with SVK than the general style of a lot of recent reviews. Not to my taste at all... Maybe I am just picking out the wrong reviews to read.

[Ranganayaki]

VijayR, I commiserate with you. It has been many many years since I stopped reading Hindu reviews for precisely this reason. I am therefore unaware of the fare the newspaper dishes out (or, more kindly, offers) now, but I heartily agree with you that this is nonsense (a mild word I've chosen not for the want of much harsher terms available to me, but just out of kindness to those who like this kind of review). I would read the Friday reviews from start to finish, plod through them, really, and be absolutely none the wiser about the quality of the concert. But I knew whether it met the reviewer's approval or not, and I always suspected that it was, at least then, a question of personal favors or vendetta.

"Flowery" or even "florid" are words too kind to use here, in my opinion, and the writer of the review you quote seems to simply want to appear pedantic (as though that were a quality to aspire to). I disagree with you on just one thing: I don't think at all that these sentences have any "literary" quality to them. To me "literary" means the economical, precise and especially beautiful use of words to succinctly convey a specific mood, thought, or feeling.

"...the voice holds the key as Prasanna revealed in sound refinement, not to add excitement to exposition."

Srikant, a friendly question: I don't mean to argue with you, but I find it hard to believe this sentence makes any sense. Is this one very clear too? I just don't agree with you that a reviewer deserves any praise or slack just for being the best of a bad bunch.

In any case, a newspaper should be easily readable, good writing is when the average reader doesn't have to contort their brain to understand it.

I've jumped into this topic, so I don't want to miss saying hello to all after a few months of absence and offer my thanks to the few people who emailed me privately to ask how I was doing.

[Nick H]

The Hindu, in terms of quality of English writing, is a lost cause.

On the one hand, is the old-school nonsense, the stuff of which florid concert reviews are made, and on the other is the young-school nonsense, where words are frequently misused and mismatched, idiom (rich and vital in English) is mangled... I could go on. And on (even if it does mean starting a sentence with a conjunction ).

My wild theory is that the organisation has been streamlined, and that really skilled and knowledgeable subeditors were dispensed with. The Hindu's standard of English is now hardly better than that of The New Indian Express, which has raced ahead it's coverage of news and issues. It is now the paper I read first each day. One day it may be the only one. That would be sad, as it, and the p.4 listings, have been a part of every one of my Chennai days since my first tentative steps here. If this is rant, it is one of sadness.

Ranganayaki, welcome back

[rshankar]

Ranganayaki, welcome back!
The kindest thing I can say about reviewers for the Hindu and some other newspapers in India is that I hope that the crap that is finally printed is arrived at when a completely ignorant editor sends their reviews through a food processor and prints the output. Most of these reviews (or at least the part that's printed) is the reviewer's personal take; and one has to have a degree in archeology to dig out the details of the performance (like the songs presented) that's buried deep in the drivel.
Another gripe is how the reviewers do not take the trouble to figure out the correct names of the songs or rAgas - a few examples from the Hindu (in the past) are:
1) 'Ananda natamaduvadillai in purivikalyani' (are we to infer from this that Siva has decided to not perform the AnandatANDavam if the music is in pUrvikalyANi?)
2) siddaranjani instead of cittaranjani

[VijayR]

@rshankar: "Ananda natamaduvadillai"? Oh, man... that is simply hilarious!!

@ranganayaki: Bravo! You put my thoughts into words even better than I did.

@Nick: Judging from all their publicly-aired dirty laundry over the past few months, I am not surprised that the editorial quality has slipped.

[sureshvv]

This one had me shaking my head... There is almost zero substance in the review (what is "The sancharas in the raga alapana in his solo versions chased each other without proper spacing" supposed to convey to a reader?) Several of the sentences don't even seem to make sense. For example: "He made sure that each phrasing served the purpose he held in view", "Though there are many ways for a vidwan to excel, the voice holds the key as Prasanna revealed in sound refinement, not to add excitement to exposition." In this case, most of the review just resembles an attempt to demonstrate the literary prowess of the reviewer (as they say in Tamil, "vAk chAturyam"). Unfortunately, even that fails rather badly.

[ Ok, I'll end my rant now... ]

Here is something you should know about SVK's reviews. The quality of his review is usually directly proportional
to the quality of the concert. If you find that his review is somewhat lackluster (regardless of what
he actually says about it in the review), you can safely assume that the concert was of a similar quality too. But
regularly he pens reviews which read like poetry and compete with the actual concert itself for the emotional charge
(though you sound like you are the type who would prefer "just the facts"). I still recall a review of a concert of
Sowmya that Rajesh provided a link to here. His in-depth understanding and enjoyment of the music was showcased
in it and conveyed how deeply a performance can touch a rasika.

So be patient, read his reviews regularly and I am sure you will feel rewarded soon

[sureshvv]

For the impatient, here is a past review. It still falls short of the original poetic one which I can't seem to find anymore.

http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/article623004.ece

If you find this one just as opaque, may be SVK is just not for you!

[Ranganayaki]

Nick and Ravi, thanks for the welcome.

Suresh, I guess you are right, this writer is not for some like me, though in my case it is not for want of patience. But I'll leave it at that. I was only curious about a couple of sentences.. just wondered what they could possibly mean.

[VijayR]

Suresh: Thanks for the pointer to the review. I am with Ranganayaki on this one; SVK doesn't seem to be for me either (and for the record, yes, I did find this one pretty opaque too).

[bilahari]

+1 in the "we just don't get SVK" group. I know he's an A graded AIR vocalist and a knowledgeable musician and rasika, but not much of this shines through in his reviews. As for his writing style, cluttering one's writing with florid language (much of it used in a clumsy and awkward manner) does not make for good prose. He should read Coetzee.

[Ragjay]

I think if a reviewer writes what he really feels about the concert then there is a hue and cry that it is his personal opinion and if he writes without bias and in a manner that is very general in content then it is considered opaque. I guess that the art of review is a double edge sword and it is not possible to please everybody. The fact that the management of Hindu still thinks it fit to get SVK to review a concert speaks volumes about the faith that they have in his ability to review. His language and his writings are of a high standard and it is bound to be as he has served as a subeditor of this paper. You cannot expect a man of his age to change his style of writing merely because some of us do not like his style . I find his reviews much much better than most other reviews of this paper and am able to appreciate what he writes,though it is a different matter that I do not agree with whatever he writes most of the times. ragjay

[Nick H]

...His language and his writings are of a high standard...

As per the link given a few days ago, no they are not. That is a simple, objective view of language that could be given by a primary-school teacher, or even, maybe by the students.

The management of The Hindu have given up their old standards: their faith is no indication of anything.

On the other hand, it may be that what SVK actually wrote bore little resemblance to what was published. Newspaper pages are obviously finite and are planned according to column inches and number of words per article. If, as I suspect, they have lost a generation of education, then a writer's work may be cut by almost random removal of words, truncation of sentences, and so on. This is not a problem unique to The Hindu: writers all over the world complain that newspapers even change vital meanings.

[Nick H]

Since reading this review, today, I am wondering if it could be written by the same person.

If this had been the example under discussion, I would have agreed with Ragjay.

[varsha]

That was no review . I could only glean that it may not have been a typical concert of hers . It is the same stuff in a new bottle ." Truth that past karma has a grip over the inability to please Rama ". Now what kind of a statement is that ?
And then
The list of songs was long and perceptive. It brought out clearly the distinction between Tyagaraja, the sublime, and Tyagaraja, the commercialised. :devil:

[Nick H]

Oh well... I guess I read it in a good mood, especially having enjoyed the concert. I won't argue with your criticism!

[arasi]

Nick,
Good to hear that the concert was inspiring. Whosoever wrote the review, caught the spirit of the songs. Even better to know that you carried the 'SAntamu lEka sowkyamu lEdu' message home with you I hope you have the time to go to Tyagaraja Vaibhavam, V.Govindan's dedicated work on line, to find the fuller meaning of the songs.
Suguna P. would have conveyed this 'progression in thought' in Tyagaraja's songs very effectively. Glad that you could be there!