Concert recordings

[MaamiAtHeart]

Mods - if there has been a similar discussion before, please guide me to that thread.

I have been a forum member for a while and I admire the way in which the admins and members respect copyright. Also, personally, I am big on music copyright as I used to work for a music distribution company and it was literally my bread and butter for a few years and i saw first hand how much havoc piracy created in the lives of ordinary people who depend on such companies for a livelihood. So, please read the rest of my post keeping in mind that i am talking about legal sources of music and listening to contemporary artists.

Carnatic music presents a unique challenge for fans like me. The greatest carnatic music is created in front of a live audience. And sadly, it is not practical for fans world wide to attend all their favorite concerts. Even chennai rasikas may have a lot of constraints which prevent them from attending concerts in person. So, how can a rasika listen to and enjoy many of the wonderful concerts that are reviewed in this forum everyday? I have checked out Sangeethapriya and while it is a wonderful source, I dont see much for contemporary artists and most of the concerts that do exist are from Jaya TV MMU or AIR.

So, if I want to legally purchase and enjoy live concert music, how do it do it? Sure, albums of full concerts are available but we are talking about barely 2 to 4 albums for musicians whose careers span decades. There are only 2 concerts of BJ that i know of (commerical releases) and many of the other CDs that she has released (except for Vatsalyam and Salokyam) do not really do full justice to her tremendous talent. Same with TMK. There are maybe 4 or 5 of his live concerts available commercially and nothing from recent seasons. Everyone is talking about Abishek Raghuram's brilliant Sindhu bhairavi RTP (Music academy i think)? I would gladly pay to buy an album of that concert legally. How can i do it? TMK had a great season (controversies about concert format not withstanding), and Ranjani and Gayathri did too. How can we listen to these legally? There is soooooo much incredible music that is being performed and it seems like only very few of these are going to be saved for posterity.

Have there been conversations about how to preserve and legally disemminate live concert music? Isnt it ironical that i can easily listen to nearly a 100 concerts of MSS but only 2 of BJ? Will our great grandkids be able to enjoy TMK and Abhishek the way i enjoy MMI?

If there are any legal sources that i have missed, please let me know!

PS - I went shopping at Giri traders and Shankara hall. I have a rhapsody membership too.

[arunk]

Some more choices: Sanjay's concerts can be purchased via his site (http://sanjaysub.com/sanjaysub/index.php) - I forget the price.

Charsur also used to have something similar (?) - but cant find - but I believe from their website you may be able to purchase concerts for download. I am a subscriber of their 24-hour channel (ctunesfm.com) - it does feature concerts quite frequently (but not always) - of course there you cannot choose what you want to listen to, its a radio after-all.

Arun

[harimau]

I think you should bug every concert auditorium with a microphone/transmitter combination so that you could record the concert from outside the hall sitting in a van which contains audio recording equipment.

This is what I can suggest after viewing countless Hollywood movies.

[Rsachi]

Or befriend artistes who record their own performances on small pads, pods or phones.
I am almost certain many avid rasikas are recording concerts they sit through. My refusal to do so has invited looks of consternation.
My refusal is not altruistic. I want to enjoy the concert in the moment rather than sit like those Hollywood horror movie van guys like in MI.

[Nick H]

Absolutely me too. Even though I am a gadget freak, and I would love to buy one of those Tascam pocket recorders, I don't.

--- I want to enjoy the music, not supervise the gadget.

--- I grew up in an Western environment (but, unfortunately, not following the Grateful Dead) where it got drummed into us that recording live music incurred all sorts of risks.

But, the van thing... Hmmm...

Nope! It would be just my luck to be parked next to another guy, in another van, putting talam loudly on the body of his van

[MaamiAtHeart]

And Nick, my luck tends to be even worse - the guy in the van next to me will probably be putting thappu thaalam and humming along with the alapanai too!!
And Harimau - when the copyright police apprehend me in my rigged up van, i will have to point to you as the mastermind!!!

Charsur is a great source for quality recordings - their Panchabutham by TMK is a perfect example of how a carnatic album needs to be, both in terms of TMK and RKSK's performance and the extremely informative album cover. They do have full kutcheri recordings but again, it is a small sample of each artist's enormous repertoire and some artists are not represented. I guess this is just me being a greedy listener I cannot get enough of my favorite artists and there are some live concerts that i have attended in the past which were so incredibly good but i dont have a way of listening to them every again. Why don't sabhas/artists record their concerts and find a way to make them available for the listening public? I know Music Academy has archives, but you have to go there right ? I didnt see it online. How about a subscription service? You pay a monthly fee and get to listen to webcasts of all concerts in Chennai/Banglore/wherever...

[rshankar]

And Harimau - when the copyright police apprehend me in my rigged up van, i will have to point to you as the mastermind!!! ...

MamiAtHeart, I was going to explain to you that Harimau has been making such tongue-in-cheek remarks for ever so long and a day that bridging vessels seem to have sprouted between his tongue and cheek anchoring them firmly together! But you seem to have caught on very well..

[S.NAGESWARAN]

The best way will be to meet the concerned artists with a group of fans and

ask him to record each of his concerts and give the concert copies for a price.

S.NAGESWARAN.
08.02.2013.

[Nick H]

...Why don't sabhas/artists record their concerts and find a way to make them available for the listening public? I know Music Academy has archives, but you have to go there right ? I didnt see it online. How about a subscription service? You pay a monthly fee and get to listen to webcasts of all concerts in Chennai/Banglore/wherever...

I'm sure it will come, but we might have to wait a few years.

As someone who prefers to get their carnatic fix live, rather than recorded or broadcast, I'd rather the sabhas invested in acoustics, pa systems, and user training before getting on to internet streaming of archives.

[MaamiAtHeart]

Agreed Nick - good acoustics is absolutely necessary for good recording and good quality archives and then the streaming etc comes in... I am so jealous of you when you say "get their carnatic fix live" That is the dream! (but i am 20 years away from it )

[harimau]

Absolutely me too. Even though I am a gadget freak, and I would love to buy one of those Tascam pocket recorders, I don't.

--- I want to enjoy the music, not supervise the gadget.

Some of the Tascams are too big.

There are very small recorders that run for 10+ hours on a single AA battery. You can turn them on, leave them in your shirt pocket, and turn them off when you leave the hall. No need to supervise the gadget. The recordings are better than what you would have gotten 20 years ago with huge reel-to-reel tape recorders because the mics in these devices are so much better.

You will pick up ambient noise but you can minimize that by putting a foam windbreaker or a "dead cat" on it. The "dead cat" (that is the technical term for it!) is so much better as it would look like a flower in your shirt pocket!

PS. I don't carry these devices as the "dead cat" would be a dead giveaway of Harimau's identity!

[harimau]

Charsur is a great source for quality recordings

...

So is Carnatica. Some of their Bharat Sangeet Utsav concerts, recorded at Narada Gana Sabha by Mr Venkatesh, are unbelievably good. The music is good and the recording is outstanding. I was blown away by the production values in his recordings.

Mr Venkatesh runs a professional audio studio and provides recording services for Sri Krishna Gana Sabha (this Season) and for the Lalgudi siblings. These may not be available commercially.

[Rsachi]

Thanks a lot, Harimau.

I just went and ordered a bunch of their CDs online.

(The website is not all that slick though )

[varsha]

PS. I don't carry these devices as the "dead cat" would be a dead giveaway of Harimau's identity!

A cat - What a sweet name for the thing that demysifies ...

Hats off for keeping the Carnatic Schrödinger's cat paradox / mystery alive for so long . The world will be poorer the day this box is opened and we are allowed a peek .

[Rsachi]

I have a 4GB Sony Walkman/FM that records well for 16+hours on a 30 min. charge with the file size less than 2 GB. It is smaller than a Halfsize Mars or Perk. It needs no hug from a dead cat but sharing the recording or bragging about it will be rather smelly. Here is a recording I made of AR and JM jugalbandi on FM 100.1 some time ago:

http://bit.ly/VKtWvL

[Nick H]

I am going to be giggling at the idea of taking a dead cat to concert for several days

Do you mean those very fluffy windshields that one sees, for example, outside-broadcast news crews waving around on poles?

Hmmm. One better than taking a dead cat to a concert: taking one, and waving it around on a pole! ]

I am not mentioning this to any live cats I know. It would be most tactless.

[harimau]

I am going to be giggling at the idea of taking a dead cat to concert for several days

Do you mean those very fluffy windshields that one sees, for example, outside-broadcast news crews waving around on poles?

Yes.

Here are some pictures:

http://www.amazon.com/Rode-Deadcat-Wind ... B000BH437S

http://thewindcutter.com/shop/index.php ... ory&path=1

I have also seen one that looks like a bunch of multi-coloured ribbons clumped around the microphone. That would resemble a flower more than these which truly resemble a dead cat!

But it would be fun to throw a dead cat at the stage at a place like Raga Sudha hall when a young female musician is singing! She would be frightened and let out a squeal and we could all discuss whether that was off-key or not.

[Nick H]

]

You can't fool me that easily --- the cat in the first link is alive!

[ramanathan]

Dear rsachi, I have sent you a private msg thru the forum re: your post #13. Could you pls check and respond? Thanks.

[Rsachi]

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