The toll on touring artists - perspectives

[TheListener]

I pity the way they need to zig-zag across the country repeatedly over a month. Just follow the sequence of cities and their timelines on a map and you can see for yourself. This is one aspect of Carnatic artists tours that hasn't changed at all in several years. The music is supposed to take us beyond time and space. But such rapid traveling across time zones is a sure way to make the artists experience that. If the artistes aren't settled, how will the music be?

(Mod note: this is split from the Ganesh-Kumaresh 2012 U.S. tour thread )

[thenpaanan]

I pity the way they need to zig-zag across the country repeatedly over a month. Just follow the sequence of cities and their timelines on a map and you can see for yourself. This is one aspect of Carnatic artists tours that hasn't changed at all in several years. The music is supposed to take us beyond time and space. But such rapid traveling across time zones is a sure way to make the artists experience that. If the artistes aren't settled, how will the music be?

I have always wondered about what the artists go through when they are on a US tour. Concerts only on Saturdays and Sundays (rarely on Fridays), sometimes multiple concerts on the same day in different cities, must take their toll. I have hosted visiting groups a couple of times and the reaction to the "dead" time in between concerts has been quite different between the two times. One group got along very well and thus had no trouble passing time during weekdays but the other group's members did not have any common interests and activities other than music so time hung heavy on them. Of course, a husband-wife traveling pair is a very different proposition, probably makes for much easier touring.

But the other hardships are always there -- random places to stay, random food to eat, random people you have to be nice to, etc. After the initial tourism bit it must get pretty hard. And then there are the self-appointed know-it-alls like yours truly who pester them with idiotic questions, mostly highly theoretical and germane to nothing.

Has anyone had conversations with visiting artists to get their perspective on this?

-Thenpaanan

[vasanthakokilam]

>Has anyone had conversations with visiting artists to get their perspective on this?

Very interesting topic, Thenpaanan and TheListener. I think it is worth a separate thread. I have created this thread and moved your posts here. Please continue here.

[mahavishnu]

A number of the regulars have students, workshop commitments and other affairs that keep them occupied between gigs; so it is not really "dead" time. In fact, this is as big a motivation for them to come every year, at the risk of over-exposure sometimes. But this does not generalize to the younger artistes who do not have a established links in this continent.

The weekend concert scheduling is not something that will go away soon. A lot of trans coast zig-zag happens due to last minute schedule things, local hall availabilities etc. But most "agents", who act as proxies for the artiste, will never refuse an opportunity if there is date that opens up on the other coast.

[TheListener]

I have spoken to a few and even to one of the artists in the ensemble of the tour in the original thread. They all have this complaint about the zig-zag nature of the tour. It is a lament I have heard even several years ago. It takes a big toll on them physically and mentally. How much ever they are tired or upset, they have to smile and nod to strangers all the time. Yes, I have also been one of those who pestered them a little with questions initially. But learnt better sense sooner than later. If you are a host/aquaintance, please note you are often a stranger to them, even if you have met them or hosted them before. You may feel good about your 'friendship'. But don't expect them to open up for prodding controversial questions. It is sometimes really awkward for them with the kind of questions people come up with. However, it can be a pleasure when some of them open up and talk about various topics in music and the music world. I have found it helpful to just listen and only speak or comment only if absolutely required to aid the conversation. It is good to resist the temptation to show off one's musical knowledge. You may get to hear some beautiful insights.

One other complaint I have heard from them which is very relevant for all the hosts: Please don't make the same arachuvitta sambaar, bisibela bath, potato curry, paal paayasam, puliyodharai and brinjee vegetable rice. Every host thinks theirs is the only special lunch/dinner the artist has. The hosts often see it as their opportunity to parade their culinary skills. Your party lasts a day for you. Theirs lasts a couple of months. Party food everyday for two months is no fun. Please make something simple for them. They would love your simple vetha kozhambu, milagu kozhambu, jeera rasam and sutta appalam and light no-frills beans curry as well. Many of them long for these.

Most I have seen wants to have a normal time, normal food, normal ambience, whatever 'their' normal is.

[ramanathan]

Finally... a thread on rasikas.org that tries to see things from the performers' perspective!
There is nothing like experiencing it first-hand, especially if you have been just a rasika for eons and then get a chance to see the other side. I have had that experience and the points raised by thenpaanan and thelistener are spot-on... I especially loved post #5!

[arasi]

Yes, to see and feel from the perspective of the artistes is a good thing--especially when there are some rasikAs who think, 'we pay for a concert, they better deliver!'--attitude, forgetting that the artistes are human too, not just vendors of music.

But, "Finally'"?
While there are insensitive rasikAs like the above-mentioned, most of us appreciate the music we listen to, respect the artistes for their skills and knowledge. We respect them and like to be hospitable to them.
A very good thread indeed, to remind us of the travails of the touring artistes who won't be here but or the love we have for CM. Compared to the old timers and the rasikAs who hosted them, things have changed for the better in many aspects.
Yes, there are some difficult rasikAs and a few difficult performers who can really BE performers too

[Nick H]

"Finally" is indeed a bit much from someone who has been a member for over six years.

Actually, I think it is a subject that has been discussed quite often, and from all the different points of view.

I suppose it is an age old international tradition for touring to place a heavy load on artists. No doubt they need to maximise the benefits to themselves and to their audiences, but nobody else can be blamed if they set themselves impossible schedules.

If carnatic artists did not undertake international tours, I might not have been here today, so I'm mighty glad that they do. And, at the personal level, I do feel some concern for the older artists when I hear that they are flying to other continents, all though I probably don't need to: music keeps people wonderfully young!

[thenpaanan]

A very good thread indeed, to remind us of the travails of the touring artistes who won't be here but or the love we have for CM. Compared to the old timers and the rasikAs who hosted them, things have changed for the better in many aspects.
Yes, there are some difficult rasikAs and a few difficult performers who can really BE performers too

Let's take that point for a minute. A couple of decades ago the reality of touring must have been quite different for visiting artists. First, the group of visiting artists was small year on year and so was the set of families hosting them. So there was a familiarity on both sides -- the artists knew who would put them up in a particular city and because of the repeats over years there was a chance to relax on both sides. There were not as many concerts so sometimes there would be a few weekends in a row with no concerts at all (the horror!). The artists would get a bit restless but it also gave them time to learn the local habitat a bit better. Transportation was not what it is today, so they would spend long hours in cars and greyhound buses getting from place to place and what not. There was no skype so there was a limited opportunity to teach (which they quite looked forward to). The concert audience was smallish. Telephone calls to India were expensive, so you were on your own for the most part.

Today, all these aspects are reversed. Every week has likely 1.5 concerts, you can pretty much fly anywhere. The audience is much more diverse and there are many more host families, so they may be put up at different families even in the same city. There are students everywhere and even if they are not in your vicinity your students are now at least in your own time zone. And so on.

How much these things matter is something for these artists to tell us.

I know there are difficult artists too but let's focus on the difficult rasikas for now.

-thenpaanan