uday_shankar wrote: ↑25 Jul 2020, 08:34
This I disagree with. I can't believe in a hierachy of concerns where livelihoods are involved. While musicians don't make much money during the season, every penny counts. Also, musicians acutely miss the live katcheri experience to exercise their craft which has an impact on their overall professional confidence and enterprise and hope. So if I were a professional musician, it would be far from a "silly music season" to me. One young mridangam player in Mylapore died of suicide a couple months back, apparently from livelihood concerns.
That is important. By the way you all wouldn’t interpret “silly” too literally, would you? I use the word silly in irritatatikn with the idea that it is all fake news. There was no sarcasm in Rajeshnat’s post, it was quite primary in its tone. “Sarcasm” is just an out offered by sankarank. Rajeshnat clutched at it.
You can guess that the season in general is important to me too. It is a dream of mine to be able to enjoy it just once. But I’m stuck never being able to travel in December.
As such in few whatsapp posts that I share with friends I am sharing same sentiment or my own intuition here. I think likely corona death will exactly happen on November 03rd , 2020 . That date is us president election. Post that all of a sudden vaccine, cases being low , they are not fatal will be headlines than rather excess negativity of odometer curve, no icu beds ,spiking cases etc which is the headlines right now.
(...)
The December season must go on with reduced count of concerts is my sincere wish and prayer till November 03rd.
It is the notion of praying for the season in the context of Nov 3rd that I was reacting to. So much is out of control and badly damaged in the world, there is so much to pray for and this is our big concern?
One could pray that the scourge of the virus ends and we can have our season in peace. But connecting it to the US election (on which hinge far more consequential things) - that too on the premise that the pandemic will magically fix itself because it’s all fake?
That’s why I said silly season. “Silly” is à transferred epithet here. The discussion of the wish to have a season is, right now, in this thread, a discussion about our prime event of the year. It is anxiety for the major joy of December being cancelled, our prime entertainment not being there. The festive atmosphere, the sabha hopping, all that. It’s not a discussion about the livelihood of poor musicians.
Everybody, including me, is aware of the plight of the poor who need to work . It’s a concern all over the world. It is in that light Too that Nov 2 may be important - that the needy may become employed sooner rather than later with the US getting a grip on the situation, not by Covid being fake news.
If we are as influential as Rajeshnat claims, we should all insist that poorer musicians be paid anyway. All the money - tickets, season tickets that would normally be spent / collected, should be collected with everyone who can afford it making the payment for free: no concert, or virtual concert, and Star musicians must add their bit and contribute. The artists who can afford it must act in solidarity and a spirit of sacrifice. Yhere should be some sort of common resolution. Those are easy solutions, @uday, for what you are talking about. But look at this thread - that is not the thrust, is it? The concern is much sillier.
But it was the post that was silly. The idea of praying for the season to be held based on a certain outcome of the US election through magical expectations that the icu bed crisis will just disappear because of the media headlines as he said is preposterous and silly. So, “silly” season. It’s a way of speaking. A transferred epithet.