Oli Chamber Concerts - Event 1

[olichamberconcerts]

Dear Friends,

Oli, our yearlong project to revisit the mic-less chamber music tradition, offers two concerts per month. Senior artistes showcase their style, young artistes reclaim heritage with a theme-based recital.

Please do come to share this experience.

Warm regards from the Oli Team

[rshankar]

Best wishes! A lovely invitation, by the way!

[VK RAMAN]

I like the revival of the concept of Mic-less performance. Best Wishes.

[PUNARVASU]

All the best. Nice initiative.

[Nick H]

Tonight might have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience ... to see TNK play, "unplugged" as one might say.

Amazing.

What it really needs, though, is a new kind of audience: one that will listen in silence, simple absorbing the music, without all the usual fidgets. I doubt that will ever happen in Chennai.

Such a concert needs a special kind of mridangam player and Shri Vaidhyananthan was certainly that. His playing was in perfect proportion to the volume of the single violin, which, even with TNK's hand on the bow, is not very much. He did a fantastic job, and Sri N Guruprasad was the third contributor to the gentle delicacy of the evening, with his amazingly melodic ghatam.

Aarkay Convention centre is a perfect location for the event. There are not many houses with halls that have good enough acoustics for going really mic-less.

There were mics on stage ...for recording. The concerts will be available on the net (I think mention of something to do with Sruti magazine was announced?) Those who listen to the recordings will hear some wonderful music, but the real experience could only be had by those who were lucky enough to be there: acoustic music, simply acoustic!

[vasanthakokilam]

Sounds wonderful. Such mic-less concerts should work very well with vocal, flute etc. The auditorium matters very much. At the ECE building of Guindy Engineering College, there was a mini-auditorium. It is probably still there. I always enjoyed the acoustics there. When no one is around, I used to go in there and just play Sa-Pa-Sa just to enjoy how well it sounded. What a luxury! If It it is still there and if they allow, we should try organizing a mic less concert there.

My experience with mic-less music is during Navrathri time in the living rooms. I recall now such a music session sitting 3 feet from a talented Veena player. It was wonderful. ( but don't look at the player's hands. The focus will shift to the amazing dexterity of those floating fingers over the strings!! ). Another environment is temples, but the conditions have to be just right. There was one exhilarating moment at the Marundeeswarar Temple in Thiruvanmiyur a few years back. The screens were closed after Abhishekam and there were quite a few devotees waiting. One woman started singing, in a full throat-ed manner.She was an excellent singer. The temple structure ( in the sannidhi area ) provided the necessary echo chamber and the people maintained absolute silence for those 10 minutes. It was blissful.

On any day, if you want to experience such aesthetics, walk by a music teacher's house during lessons. A bunch of students ( not beginners ) singing in unison even the early geetham is so wonderful to hear: S R M. G R S R G R S.. sounds so sweet. There is no expectation of performance or impressing an audience, except to just get it right to the satisfaction of the teacher. There is some wonderful musical quality there.

[Sam Swaminathan]

I was lucky to do a little more than "go in there and just play Sa-Pa-Sa" at the Aarkey convention center at the time of Anna's 60th birthday celeberations and it was devine. Yes, playing mikeless is indeed an experience which every one should try and enjoy. For the purposes of record, I think I played Kambodhi ata tala varnam, Ganamurthe and entharo....and anna provided the accompaniment. No mikes!

[srikant1987]

Am I right in thinking you play the violin, Sam Swaminathan sir?

Thanks for the report, Nick! Roughly how many can the hall seat?

Hope someone posts the list also.

[Nick H]

The announcer said that Oli was aiming to use venues which were for thirty to forty people. Much of the floor was left empty of chairs, and people sat on it. I would have done too if I had had my cushion with me: it would have been great to have been close to the stage. As it was, though, I did have a very good seat. I guess RK could seat a hundred or so?

[olichamberconcerts]

It was a wonderful start with an exhilarating concert. Here is the song list for those of you who missed out:

01. Gajananayutam - Vegavahini - Adi - Muttusvamu Dikshitar (RS)
02. Deva Deva - Mayamalavagaula - Rupakam - Svati Tirunal (NS)
03. Heccharikkagarara - Yadukulakambojhi - Kanta Capu - Tyagaraja (RNS)
04. Enduku Dayaradura - Thodi - Misra Capu - Tyagaraja (RNST)
05. Jagadoddharana - Kaapi - Adi - Purandaradasa (R)
06. Saravanabhava - Shanmukhapriya - Adi (R)
07. ? - Behag - Rupakam (R Sketch)
08. Venkatachalanilayam - Sindubhairavi - Adi (R)
09. Sri Venkatagirisham - Surutti - Adi - Muttusvami Dikshitar (RS)
10. Mangalam - Saurashtram - Adi - Tyagaraja

Yes. You read it right. There were ragams for all the songs except Mayamalavagaula - and what a treat they all were. It was a wonderful experience to be there and it was great to kick off this experiment with his blessings. Hope to see you all in our future events.

Thank you

The Oli Team

[Nick H]

What it really needs, though, is a new kind of audience: one that will listen in silence, simple absorbing the music, without all the usual fidgets. I doubt that will ever happen in Chennai...

You might consider adding to your list of audience requests that, especially given the low-volume nature of the music, that those who wish to physically keep the talam do so silently .

It will have just as little effect as all the requests about mobile phones, etc, but still, if a percentage comply, then it's a start

Anyway, looking forward to future concerts, which are bound to be among the most remarkable of the very many in our remarkable city of music. Very best wishes for the project --- which I hope will not stop at one year?

[olichamberconcerts]

Thank you Nick for your feedback. We'll definitely keep that in mind. Apart from these, we are also thinking about opening the floor to the audience for their requests to musicians. We are still young and hope we find concrete steps as we do more programs. This atmosphere for concerts is new to us as well. We look forward to your presence in our future concerts as well. And with respect to the duration of this project, lets hope it goes well enough with all your support for us to continue even after one year

[srikant1987]

A review of this concert: http://srutimag.blogspot.in/2012/03/oli ... certs.html

I enjoyed reading it.

I would like to overtake anyone who only sees the mention of kAkali niShAdam in suruTTi and criticizes that. The feeling with which the yadukulakAmbhOji and the suruTTi are described is so thrilling! It is poetry!