Rama Navami concerts 2015

[hnbhagavan]

The 77 year old Ramaseva Mandali of Chamarajapet conducts Ramanavami Music festivals every year and is an important cultural landmark in Bangalore.The organizers share their funding problems here.
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp ... all&test=2
The matter of financing concerts has been discussed under different threads.The funds crunch is universal - be it Music academy,Chennai or Cleveland or Bangalore.Perhaps any other place where such events are organised.

[rajeshnat]

HN Bhagavan
It is unfortunate to hear and i am glad that they came out openly stating exact numbers .
# When they reduce from 45 days to 31 days , automatically it means 14 artist have lost an opportunity to showcase the art. That is the most unfortunate part.

# When they spend 25 Lakhs for 300 artists, but if the overall expense is 60 lakhs - I am quite surprised. I am assuming 35 Lakhs cover marketing , publicity in newspaper,electricity , miscellaneous expenses. I am not sure where the travel expense of artist is accounted is it part of 25 Lakhs or is in remaining 35 Lakhs.

# Also with more sabhas grooming in different parts in bangalore the patronage drop is inevitable.I have been to that place just once to hear A k violin concert , there was way too much of lighting that day and just too many lights - they can also work on few immediate austerity measures. Also that day it appeared that the hall was way too big for 95% or 100% of the concerts. I know some of my relatives who are in airport road area- they are so impressed with sabhas like unnati that they prefer not to go to this place fearing traffic and damn one way near that chamrajpet- kr market area. Infact for AK concert i drove them in their car and it was way way too long to wade through the traffic to enjoy a concert.

# Bangalore is more lousy in traffic than chennai , vishweshwaraya had a faulty and myopic plan of building way too many circles because in his days only he , mountbatten and jawahar lal nehru were only having cars .In another decade when the metro is complete there will be more patronage for sure.

IN any case more people can indeed come and pay for a concert and listen. I am pretty sure this campaign in the hindu would reach the big financial babus and they will help ramanavami to move on...

[hnbhagavan]

Dear Rajeshnat,

One of their recurring expenditure is the huge pandal erection,lighting and other decorations.Somewhere along the line,they have missed the bus to acquire suitable land and construct own building.I am sure this should have been very easy in 1960's or even late 70's.This is a wasteful expenditure year after year and perhaps little optimization can be done as mentioned by you .
The completion of metro perhaps to some extent may reduce traffic problems.I wish people buy tickets in large numbers to help this festival.

[hnbhagavan]

Dear Rasikas,

As per my observation there seems to be no support available from the IT Industry in Bangalore for this event.I request influential Rasikas to take up the matter with respective Management and help the Mandali.

[varsha]

Sir MV myopic ?
You have any idea of what you are talking about ?

[hnbhagavan]

Dear Varsha,

There is no sponsorship from any one of the leading players in IT Industry.I am sure that there are many Rasikas in Bangalore in top management positions (I know many attend the concerts ).I am appealing to this community to coordinate with Rama Seva Mandali and these firms to get a few sponsorship.Sri Varadaraj is the Chairman of RamaSeva Mandali.
The Bangalore Gayana Samaja is patronized by Ganjam and Mayyas for their annual conference in Aug-Sep.There is very little encouragement from the IT Industry in Bangalore.
I am requesting Rasikas ,a number of whom are in good positions to help the music events in Bangalore.At present it is the RamaSeva Mandali which is short of funds.

[ramamantra]

Carnatic music belongs in temples. It is no wonder that public concert halls (read non-sanctified places) are not able to patronize it, after taking the music out of the temples. When erstwhile Rajas tried taking the music out of its sanctified place, (also bharatnatyam), it rebounded. Even with their enormous wealth, patronizing was very difficult.

[braindrain]

This discussion had been around for a while in Bangalore. The idea was how to channelise a portion of the CSR fund ( Corporate Social Responsibility) to the cause of classical music. The example of ITC in Kolkata (for Hindustani Music) was quoted. IT Industry has been regularly referred as a prime 'non-participative' business group in this regard. A quick look around the major sponsors of the main 'Music Festivals in Bangalore' - looking at the banners displayed, somewhat justify this argument. But there are a few exceptions. Unnati, comes to mind. One could see the "Infosys Foundation" display big and clear.

If Rama Seva Mandali is struggling for funds with their ticketed concerts and large sponsorships, I am concerned about the rest of the Sabhas who organise large festivals.

[hnbhagavan]

The Bangalore Gayana Samaja for week long Conference has two main sponsors besides a few others.As per reports Mayyas and Ganjam are the main stay.They also get small grants from Kannada and Culture dept and some more organisations,but not a single IT company.
The Ramasava mandali not having its own building perhaps has more problems as putting up Pandal has a recurring cost year after year.While Nadasurabi of Koramangala manages by hiring an auditorium,this is not the case with Ramaseva mandali which puts up a pandal and has a larger audience capacity.
But if one goes by the attendance on most days,RamaSeva Mandali can shift to one of the larger auditoriums in the area.This will bring down the recurring cost and most of the resources can be utilised for payment to artists.
But due its heritage,the Ramaseva mandali may not like the auditorium approach.Most of the days of concerts,such a large capacity for 5000 people is not justified.There are ways to bring down the cost and this may happen in the coming years.

[cheens]

Actually, MV designed layouts (not sure whether he was the architect) of Bangalore have the least congestion (having lived here for 19 years now). Idea of having big roundabouts is very good. There is no need for signals and traffic flow is smooth (examples, most of these roundabouts in Basvangudi). These roundabouts designed 40-50 years back are still taking today's peak hour traffic without causing much congestion. Jayanagar does not have roundabout concept but the entire area is a matrix of crosses and main roads that disperse traffic effectively and very less congestion. Compared to other areas developed by BDA, these two areas have been desgined very well. Bangalore's actual traffic problem is because of huge islands within the city like Lal Bagh, Cubbon Park, various defence areas in east bangalore. Entire traffic from suburbs have to go around these islands and those roads get choked. Anyway, there is no easy solution to that.

Coming to patronage for Chamrajpet Ramaseva Mandali, historically the patronage has been only in South Bangalore areas. I dont think, even 15 years back too many people travelled from east bangalore for concerts here. Malleshwaram folks were very happy with Seshadripuram Rama Seva Mandali concerts.

I think, their move to make the a/c pandal in recent years has increased their costs. Im not sure whether the entire area is air conditioned. Never been there for the last 5 years. They have always ticketed the concerts and I have seen at least 10-15 concerts attract house full during a season. Main crowd pullers were KJY, UKS, Kunnakkudi. With the two among these gone, the house full concerts have come down. For the rest of the concerts, hall was always empty. I have attended a Parveen Sultana concert with only half-full pandal. So this has been a feature for a long time now. I think, they took a leap in making it a grand event after their 60th year event and thats where the costs started to mount, I guess. Now, they have an event that is too big to handle, I guess. They can always scale down and scale up as they see more patronage. Im sure they will come out of the current crisis also.

[rajeshnat]

Actually, MV designed layouts (not sure whether he was the architect) of Bangalore have the least congestion (having lived here for 19 years now). Idea of having big roundabouts is very good. There is no need for signals and traffic flow is smooth (examples, most of these roundabouts in Basvangudi). These roundabouts designed 40-50 years back are still taking today's peak hour traffic without causing much congestion. Jayanagar does not have roundabout concept but the entire area is a matrix of crosses and main roads that disperse traffic effectively and very less congestion. Compared to other areas developed by BDA, these two areas have been desgined very well. Bangalore's actual traffic problem is because of huge islands within the city like Lal Bagh, Cubbon Park, various defence areas in east bangalore. Entire traffic from suburbs have to go around these islands and those roads get choked. Anyway, there is no easy solution to that.

Cheens/Varsha,

I have personally done a lot of study myself , talked with few architect relatives and done a lot of newspaper reading . That is where i come from to state the below points.

1. If roads are strictly horizontal and vertical and if there are at most only 3 or 4 road junctions , we all win on scale . We can have a traffic light or a strictly one way roads to bring more moving traffic. Jayanagar of bangalore , annanagar and ashoknagar of chennai have done that ,i think these areas were planned with that idea and viola viola it indeed solve major problem. As such roundabouts of any circle having more than 4 roads is just hell as there are more matrix combinations to deal with.

2. Coming now to Dr MV. I read in the days of vishweshwaraya with the objective of creating garden islands there were way too many circles . I am talking about the areas of basavangudi area,cubbon circle ,richmond circle and that hell of all "KR and corporation circle " and if you look at it the bangalore circles also come in quick distances too . Varsha-Ji , to the best of my knowledge talking about areas around central bangalore I think the planning of bangalore was not for scale.I am told all this was majorly planned by Dr MV by a bangalore based architect and I also read articles(though donot have links).


To an extent metro network is the only best way out. Delhi has shown the solution to a great extent.

[rajeshnat]

This is not the case with Ramaseva mandali which puts up a pandal and has a larger audience capacity.
But if one goes by the attendance on most days,RamaSeva Mandali can shift to one of the larger auditoriums in the area.This will bring down the recurring cost and most of the resources can be utilised for payment to artists.
But due its heritage,the Ramaseva mandali may not like the auditorium approach.Most of the days of concerts,such a large capacity for 5000 people is not justified.There are ways to bring down the cost and this may happen in the coming years.

HnBhagavan
Going with your post Any idea of what is the expense of erecting pandal of that scale in rama navami concert grounds.

[munirao2001]

My suggestion to Sri Varadaraj/Sree Ramaseva Mandali is to request immensely popular artists who draw full house and who had the opportunities to perform in this series- like Dr.BMK, Dr.KJY, TMK, Sanjay, Abhishek, Sudha Raghunath, Bombay Jayashree and Aruna Sairam to perform fund raiser concerts and also perform this year, without charging the fees. Artists and Rasikas should come forward to contribute financially. Have they explored the Central Govt and its institutions ?This suggestion is made without any information by the report in the Hindu Smt.Ranjani Govind.

munirao2001

[hnbhagavan]

Dear Rajeshnat,

Going by the reports and conversation with management,the cost is around 15-20 lakhs and the cost which is variable will be the electricity bill which has gone up significantly.One cannot exactly know the breakup being outside the management.As compared to this Seshadripuram Ramotsava samiti conducts with out erection of pandal inside Seshadripuram High School.About 20 years ago,they were also spending on the pandal.The only thing is if rain god arrives,then there is disruption in the concert.Besides they cater to lesser number of audience.

[sukumar]

Dear all,
Any schedule of Sheshadripuram Concerts avaliable? kindly post the link

regards

[Pratyaksham Bala]

Please check this:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/257737835/Sre ... thi#scribd

[hnbhagavan]

Dear Sri Munirao,RSachi,KV Chellappa,

It has appeared in today's Times Of India regarding financial crunch faced by RamaSevamandali.Is it possible to mobilise 2000 Rasikas in Bangalore to contribute say 1000/- to help the Mandali?Do you have any suggestions?

[VK RAMAN]

think globally and act locally.

[hnbhagavan]

Dear Dr.Raman,
It is a good suggestion.

[hnbhagavan]

Dear Sri Munirao sir,

I request you to to activate contributions to RamaNavami 2015 thru Carnatica after discussing with your contacts.If this is feasible,We can request rasikas for contribution and support Ramaseva Mandali thru carnatica.I am sure Sri N Ravikiran will help.
It is difficult to imagine Bangalore without this great Ramanavami series by the RamaSeva Mandali.Our Musicians should not be deprived and this platform should survive.

[hnbhagavan]

Dear Rasikas,

Here is the appeal:
Sree Ramaseva Mandali-B'lore Interested people can transfer donations to the Mandali or can issue a Account Payee cheque in the name of "Sree Ramaseva Mandali, B-18" or can donate at the donation counter that will operate from 21st March at the Old fort high School Grounds. Please note all the donations are exempted from tax u/s 80G
Rasikas can issue an account Payee Cheque in favour of Sree Ramaseva Mandali as mentioned above.Those Rasikas who are outside Bangalore and wish to contrbute may post under this column.I shall coordinate and see that 80-G receipts are mailed to the respective addresses.
You may also correspond in my private mail: [email protected].
My mob: 9483964216
H N Bhagavan

[sirsub11]

This thread puzzles me. In Bangalore, organisations such as Gayana Samaja, Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira, Unnati, Nadasurabhi, Ranjani Fine Arts etc., appear to be doing pretty well, bringing top flight musicians to the city every year. They are smart in handling financial issues such as sponsorship, voluntary donations, artists' fees and generally balancing their books. I don't see them running to the media whining about lack of funds.

Rama Seva Mandali is a venerated organisation and should be able to manage their affairs satisfactorily. I have always felt their 'season' is way too amorphous and should be shortened considerably. Their afternoon concerts usually run to empty houses, and even their general set up, with two stages, creation of a temple like ambience, and a massive pandal - all lack compactness. I can't think of a single sabha in India that has a festival for more than 15 to 20 days, tops. Something for the Mandali bosses to reflect upon.

I find the suggestion that top artists should sing for free to help the Mandali, utterly bizarre. Musicians are professionals and should be paid as per their standing and market value. It is their livelihood. They bring us so much pleasure, and more often than not, the rasikas don't pay a pie. And what if every other sabha came up with a sob story?

I wish Rama Seva Mandali well, but they should put their house in order, and cut their coat according to their cloth. At the moment, their reach seems to exceed their grasp.

[rajeshnat]

This thread puzzles me. In Bangalore, organisations such as Gayana Samaja, Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira, Unnati, Nadasurabhi, Ranjani Fine Arts etc., appear to be doing pretty well, bringing top flight musicians to the city every year. They are smart in handling financial issues such as sponsorship, voluntary donations, artists' fees and generally balancing their books. I don't see them running to the media whining about lack of funds.

Rama Seva Mandali is a venerated organisation and should be able to manage their affairs satisfactorily. I have always felt their 'season' is way too amorphous and should be shortened considerably. Their afternoon concerts usually run to empty houses, and even their general set up, with two stages, creation of a temple like ambience, and a massive pandal - all lack compactness. I can't think of a single sabha in India that has a festival for more than 15 to 20 days, tops. Something for the Mandali bosses to reflect upon.

I find the suggestion that top artists should sing for free to help the Mandali, utterly bizarre. Musicians are professionals and should be paid as per their standing and market value. It is their livelihood. They bring us so much pleasure, and more often than not, the rasikas don't pay a pie. And what if every other sabha came up with a sob story?

I wish Rama Seva Mandali well, but they should put their house in order, and cut their coat according to their cloth. At the moment, their reach seems to exceed their grasp.

Sirsub
While you have given few fine points (especially on asking artist to sing for free) , if your favorite artist is ranked at 21 and if the sabha holds the 20 day festival tops year after year - you would possibly know the pain.

I think in bangalore, only rama seva mandali shows the scale of taking 7 or 8 artists where nearly 2000 to 4000 rasikas can participate paying money. I think you all in bangalore should contribute to the cause of success of Rama seva mandali to show CM is also a successful commercial art and can take up scale . Even if they hold a 1 day festival,their prime first cost is a recurring pandal which is a 15 to 20 lakhs (as per answer of HNBhagavan to my question).

On your 45 day festival few comparisons from chennai .For many years Nungambakkam cultural academy holds a dec season for nearly 45 days. Now they have reduced to some thing like less than 30 days because of aging of the prime sabha patron (Lion S Natarajan). Now Arkaay ramakrishnan has taken it over and he is doing a fantafabulous job in conducting festivals in mylapore for 30 to 45 days- I have tasted artists in the last 2 years only because of Arkaay.

In Rama seva mandali their primary problem is pandal . Support their sob to erect their pandal. Rama seva mandali is truly bangalore's pride.

[hnbhagavan]

Dear Sirsub,Rajeshnat,

The Ramaseva mandali should be credited for bringing maximum number of artists.All the leading vidwans have performed here -no need to mention the names.It has 77 year old history.Yes - they have run into some problems.Unlike other sabhas,the festival is long enough and provides ample opportunities for the carnatic music artists besides honouring a musician with National Award - cash Rs 50,000/-.
The management of Ramaseva mandali needs the support of rasikas - especially those in bangalore.

[hnbhagavan]

Dear Sirsub11,

It is wrong to say that the smaller sabhas do not face financial crunch.Sri Rama Lalita kala mandira secretary appealed for the rasikas to contribute liberally .This happenned in their series in Feb 2015.Mr.Krishna Prasad had arranged for a donation box and he remarked that after 5 days,it was only empty without any rasika noticing it.Only on the penultimate day after the remarks by Sri Krishnaprasad,there were some nominal contributions to the box.The smaller ones also have their share of difficulties.

[munirao2001]

sirsub11 and rajeshnat,

I find the suggestion that top artists should sing for free to help the Mandali, utterly bizarre.

If you refresh your memory on the fact of Vidwans and Vidushees have performed in fund raising events and concerts in the past and they continue to do for a Cause, you will now realize that it is not 'utterly bizarre'. To me, being not well informed about these noble acts is 'utterly bizarre'. For your kind information, Sri Varadaraj of SVN Sree Raamaseva Mandali is on record that Maestro Dr.KJY performs every year, with the condition that no payment/honorarium/fees to be made.

munirao2001

[munirao2001]

hnbhagvan,

We all know that Sri Varadaraj is well connected. I read that Karnataka Govt. Budget has made provision for Rs.400 crores to be given away as annual grants to Tempels/Mutts in Karnataka. Sri Varadaraj, using the good offices of influential and committed persons to include 'SVN Sree Ramanavami Sangeetha Festival' funding/grant' to get the maximum amount of fund. He can also work with Karnataka State Tourism Department and Department of Culture, Karnataka Government to make and market this as a 'Heritage' event, attracting tourists and as a tourism promotion project.

munirao2001

[hnbhagavan]

Dear Sirsub11,

Every Sabha faces fund crunch.I know for a fact that Bangalore Gayana Samaja too faces hurdles for conducting the annual festival.But the Sabha has built up a good corpus and other than conference concerts,all other monthly concerts are due to interest earned in the endowments kept by by some noble souls.Hence only upcoming and local talent musicians are scheduled.Nadasurabhi too keeps a donation counter during annual festival.
The monthly concerts generally are reserved for upcoming and local talent.

[ramamantra]

Instead of hanging onto the now-defunct IT cos - which have gone down the drain and cannot fund/fend for themselves - for fuding, it'll be better to look at the current e-com cos like flipkart, snapdeal, etc., cash-rich and sponsoring.

[hnbhagavan]

You may please refer Facebook/Sree Ramaseva mandali.An appeal has been put up for voluntarary donations.Rasikas should respond positively and contribute any amount possible as per their condition.Many Rasikas have aired their views as to what they should do or should have done etc.But now time has become for rasikas to put up a good show.A small contribution by a number of rasikas is what is required.It is all very hypothetical to say that while other sabhas have no financial crunch,why Rama seva mandali is facing the problem.As I already pointed out every sabha conducting the events are facing financial hurdles.Sree Ramalalita Kala mandira are using personal funds accrued thru sale of a property.In order to continue sri Krishna prasad has appealed for rasikas to donate.
I appeal Rasikas in Bangalore to set apart a sum of at least Rs 1000/- in addition to the tickets.However higher donations are welcome.A donation counter will ba available at the venue and 80G receipt will be issued by management.

[hnbhagavan]

""Instead of hanging onto the now-defunct IT cos - which have gone down the drain and cannot fund/fend for themselves - for fuding, it'll be better to look at the current e-com cos like flipkart, snapdeal, etc., cash-rich and sponsoring"".- RAMAMANTRA

I wish Ramamantra can translate the suggestion to a workable solution.It looks great on paper all the suggestions given .

[ramamantra]

[quote="hnbhagavan']I wish Ramamantra can translate the suggestion to a workable solution.It looks great on paper all the suggestions given .[/quote]

I'll do my bit, for sure. How about naming others too, like you do me, huh?

[hnbhagavan]

dear ramamantra,
No offence meant.I am appealing to all the rasikas.