Carnatica and Parthasarathy Sabha arranged a programme of Pallavi Darbar for 3 days from yesterday at Mylapore Fine arts (MFAC)
It also marked the rememberance of Dr.Pinakapani’s and the original schedule was 6 PM- Malladi Brothers RTP followed by Abhishek Raguram’s RTP at 7.30 PM. Actually, it was preceded by speech by stafwarts on Dr.Pinakapani.
When I entered at 6.35 PM, Malladi Sriramprasad was still giving speech of his “GurugAru”. Well. the programme started at 6.55 PM, Malladi started with a Sanskrit sloka on Dr.Pinakapani in Bairavi and continued with a brilliant rAga delineation. Both the Brothers with Varadarajan on Violin made that day, a sort of Bairavi Day.
He had taken a “Adi Talam, 4 kalai Pallavi” = “sadA bhajEham sangeetha Sri padam pinAkapAni” with kalyani, saveri and ritigowla rAgamaliga swaram. The Problem was, the duo did not have the homework ready and missed the Talam few times and ravikumar struggled to pick up on 2nd kAlam. KV prasad too had initial hiccups in talam.
Ended the concert at almost 8 PM with another Sanskrit slokam on sadgurus including Dr.Pinakapani and came the real “story” of the day.
Carnatica Sasikiran, while thanking the accompaniments informed “Abhishek Raguram has just informed his inability to perform as he did not come “well prepared” for the 2 Ragam (or 4) Tanam Pallavi. Apology for this confusion and he has agreed to perform on Firday at 4 PM”. This was a real shock for almost full crowd as they came to enjoy a roller coaster ride of AR, “son of the state/soil” whose repertoire on RTP is a well known fact and he could have rendered only RTP for 3 hours.
Then AR came to the mike and apologized and promised to enthrall the audience on Friday.
My questions are :
-Why did the orgranisers not tell Sriramprasad to finish the “discourse” short so as to start the RTP in time.
-How come Sriramprasad himself did not know the time management properly as delyaing his own concert ?
-AR refused to perform, definitely, not because of “short of preparation” but Malladi took his time also. So, AR got irritated and refused to perform to the agony of many rasikas. If he had “practice phobia’ he could not have come to MFAC. He could have told over phone.
-AR’s guru Sri PSN came well in advance and waited for the performance of his disciple. Akkarai Subbulakhsmi’s parents, friend of mine, were sitting in anticipation of her daughter returning of volleys for AR’s aces. They too did not know and I could see them visibly upset.
Malladi Sriramprasad was trying to talk to AR in the dais and he just smiled at him shook hand and went out. The former must have understood the situation. He was also confused what to do ?
At least, Malladi duo must have been asked to sing some more kritis, had AR announced well in advance. Though it is Pallavi Darbar, some more kritis would have mellowed down that atmosphere.
Overall, a good concert coupled with some “oH No’s”.
The problem in RTP concert is, the mridangam and Ghatam had to sit idle for half of the time. May be irritating for them as they get used to blasting from varnam. n K.V.Prasad and Vaikam Gopalakrishnan were doing exactly the same, sitting idle….
Malladi Duo’s Pallavi Darbar and Dri.Pinakapani Rememberance
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grsastrigal
- Posts: 884
- Joined: 27 Dec 2006, 10:52
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shashikiran
- Posts: 26
- Joined: 23 Mar 2011, 00:36
Re: Malladi Duo’s Pallavi Darbar and Dri.Pinakapani Remember
Dear rasikas
I would like to clarify the whole episode as wrongly understood and presented here. Firstly, would like to thank the poster for attending the event. Malladi brothers were aware of the time factors and also had a train to catch at 8 .45 PM and in the pallavi series everyone is informed to sing pallavis and they had dedicated their pallavi to Pinakapani Gaaru and composed exclusively for this...I don't want to comment on the music part as all artistes do the homework and come prepared being professionals too. Next, as organisers we do plan and allocate time and 5 mins was told to each speaker, but in the flow of things it so happened that, the speaker got a bit more nostalgic and wanted to keep the audience informed of some more contributions that people may not be aware off and so it got a bit more lengthy than expected and the concert ended at 8 12 PM despite efforts. That being the first day we couldn't do much. The brothers had a train to catch and barely made it thanks to us keeping the cab ready. They didn't have much time to sing more. Abhishek Raghuram was very well prepared and so was his team. I don't think the poster heard me right. AR had a discussion with us and it was decided by all of us, that he could either sing that day itself but the event would end at 9 45 PM or 10 Pm as it was a Pallavi concert and he cannot dilute the components of the musical form itself as it being a creative form and festival itself being an exclusive one. The other option was to reschedule it and we after a discussion with the accompanists as well decided that AR would come and sing on the last day. Knowing the Chennai crowd, where most people are forced to leave at 8 45 or 9 pm Max, we thought for an exclusive pallavi concert, it won't be fair to start so late and finish late. Last day being a holiday owing to Ramzan, we decided that was a better day to have his concert so, it was moved. Clearly no one was angry or upset and Abhishek has a great relationship with us and so do most musicians. We as organisers, too want to give the audience his best and guess most people have welcomed the idea and I stated that in fairness to time that was needed to do justice to his concert he would come back and perform at 4.30 PM on August 9th . Clearly to avoid rasikas from thinking otherwise, or understanding it wrongly, Abhishek himself said the same in the microphone. I never said he wasn't prepared musically, knowing these artistes, no one would. Usually we don't have long speech functions. But this time since it was a tribute to a great Legend, it got a bit more lengthy than expected and I guess the decision was taken with everyone's consent and also a reasonable thought. Hope this clarifies. The day 2 had all events on time and went off well. Please do join us for the last day of the Pallavi Darbar and we announced an early start today and have re scheduled the Pallavi Puzzle contest at 3 PM followed by Abhishek Raghuram's concert at 4.30 PM , at 6 PM Akkarai sisters and conclude with a concert by T.N.S.Krishna at 7 .30 PM.
The changes have been announced and also corrected in the media.
We only hope the facts are stated correctly and understood properly before being represented.
I would like to clarify the whole episode as wrongly understood and presented here. Firstly, would like to thank the poster for attending the event. Malladi brothers were aware of the time factors and also had a train to catch at 8 .45 PM and in the pallavi series everyone is informed to sing pallavis and they had dedicated their pallavi to Pinakapani Gaaru and composed exclusively for this...I don't want to comment on the music part as all artistes do the homework and come prepared being professionals too. Next, as organisers we do plan and allocate time and 5 mins was told to each speaker, but in the flow of things it so happened that, the speaker got a bit more nostalgic and wanted to keep the audience informed of some more contributions that people may not be aware off and so it got a bit more lengthy than expected and the concert ended at 8 12 PM despite efforts. That being the first day we couldn't do much. The brothers had a train to catch and barely made it thanks to us keeping the cab ready. They didn't have much time to sing more. Abhishek Raghuram was very well prepared and so was his team. I don't think the poster heard me right. AR had a discussion with us and it was decided by all of us, that he could either sing that day itself but the event would end at 9 45 PM or 10 Pm as it was a Pallavi concert and he cannot dilute the components of the musical form itself as it being a creative form and festival itself being an exclusive one. The other option was to reschedule it and we after a discussion with the accompanists as well decided that AR would come and sing on the last day. Knowing the Chennai crowd, where most people are forced to leave at 8 45 or 9 pm Max, we thought for an exclusive pallavi concert, it won't be fair to start so late and finish late. Last day being a holiday owing to Ramzan, we decided that was a better day to have his concert so, it was moved. Clearly no one was angry or upset and Abhishek has a great relationship with us and so do most musicians. We as organisers, too want to give the audience his best and guess most people have welcomed the idea and I stated that in fairness to time that was needed to do justice to his concert he would come back and perform at 4.30 PM on August 9th . Clearly to avoid rasikas from thinking otherwise, or understanding it wrongly, Abhishek himself said the same in the microphone. I never said he wasn't prepared musically, knowing these artistes, no one would. Usually we don't have long speech functions. But this time since it was a tribute to a great Legend, it got a bit more lengthy than expected and I guess the decision was taken with everyone's consent and also a reasonable thought. Hope this clarifies. The day 2 had all events on time and went off well. Please do join us for the last day of the Pallavi Darbar and we announced an early start today and have re scheduled the Pallavi Puzzle contest at 3 PM followed by Abhishek Raghuram's concert at 4.30 PM , at 6 PM Akkarai sisters and conclude with a concert by T.N.S.Krishna at 7 .30 PM.
The changes have been announced and also corrected in the media.
We only hope the facts are stated correctly and understood properly before being represented.
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rajeshnat
- Posts: 10121
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Re: Malladi Duo’s Pallavi Darbar and Dri.Pinakapani Remember
Dear Sashikiran
It still beats me finishing at 09:45 or so ,even if abhishek started after malladi would not be that late considering lot of them have already come . Kootam sekkardu or retain panrathu need not be such a mandatory objective for esteemed organizations, for sure what you have faced where some speakers speak bit more and having a delay is not some thing rare it always happens.
Quite frankly with the conviction that GRSastrigal wrote and what you say the reasons are poles apart , nevertheless as rasikas we need everything to end up with harmony. I am very happy on one thing that the sabha is willing to extend the time not insistent on 9pm cindrella closure.Thank you for clarifying in person and best wishes for today.
It still beats me finishing at 09:45 or so ,even if abhishek started after malladi would not be that late considering lot of them have already come . Kootam sekkardu or retain panrathu need not be such a mandatory objective for esteemed organizations, for sure what you have faced where some speakers speak bit more and having a delay is not some thing rare it always happens.
Quite frankly with the conviction that GRSastrigal wrote and what you say the reasons are poles apart , nevertheless as rasikas we need everything to end up with harmony. I am very happy on one thing that the sabha is willing to extend the time not insistent on 9pm cindrella closure.Thank you for clarifying in person and best wishes for today.
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shashikiran
- Posts: 26
- Joined: 23 Mar 2011, 00:36
Re: Malladi Duo’s Pallavi Darbar and Dri.Pinakapani Remember
Dear Rajesh
Thanks for your wishes and hope to see you today. Kootam serkardhu is not in our hands or not our primary goal, if that was the case we would organize events with popular themes than the value based Pallavi darbar....Any change in the schedule done in the last minute is based on with artistes views as well and I would like rasikas to understand that it was unavoidable that the delay took place and in this particular case, die-hard rasikas like you would stay but artistes too like to think that for something they had worked so much, they would need reasonable time, as it is not a concert where 5 - 6 compositions are sung ....so, if he or she started an alapana and only saw the clock, he too would be cramped to sing freely.....and I guess in this case, the previous concert ended at 8 12 PM so to balance the mikes and start would have been 8 30 ....and it might not have been great to see people walk and leave when you want to present them something unique and so I guess in the best interest of most people involved this was taken. But on a different note, organisers or artistes may not only do events for getting more crowd but sponsors do ask for crowd to support events....and we know if an event has to be self - sustained and no money generated through rasikas, how do you run an event without sponsor support also. So, many factors come into play to balance a niche art form like Carnatic music and the tastes of rasikas too are diverse. But I am happy that, Chennai still has rasikas willing to stay past 9 PM.
Thanks for your wishes and hope to see you today. Kootam serkardhu is not in our hands or not our primary goal, if that was the case we would organize events with popular themes than the value based Pallavi darbar....Any change in the schedule done in the last minute is based on with artistes views as well and I would like rasikas to understand that it was unavoidable that the delay took place and in this particular case, die-hard rasikas like you would stay but artistes too like to think that for something they had worked so much, they would need reasonable time, as it is not a concert where 5 - 6 compositions are sung ....so, if he or she started an alapana and only saw the clock, he too would be cramped to sing freely.....and I guess in this case, the previous concert ended at 8 12 PM so to balance the mikes and start would have been 8 30 ....and it might not have been great to see people walk and leave when you want to present them something unique and so I guess in the best interest of most people involved this was taken. But on a different note, organisers or artistes may not only do events for getting more crowd but sponsors do ask for crowd to support events....and we know if an event has to be self - sustained and no money generated through rasikas, how do you run an event without sponsor support also. So, many factors come into play to balance a niche art form like Carnatic music and the tastes of rasikas too are diverse. But I am happy that, Chennai still has rasikas willing to stay past 9 PM.