Dec 2024 - Jan 2025 Kurcheri Season-Curtain Raiser

[rajeshnat]

Certainly from the time Covid hit with possibly lot of senior rasikas moving on , Carnatic Music was in the doldrums since 2020 . Quite a lot of sabhas folded . I think the prime reason is also excess digital access and free webcast is the reason for low turnout in sabhas . You can see how Netflix /Amazon/HotStar is killing live cinema experience . But at home Carnatic mUsic can be heard yes , it is only for a small segment of those who are super seniors (super seniors should be near to Dr TK Murthy in age), rest make it to sabhas and give your undivided attention . Phone and next apt TV will not be heard when you come to sabhas , also the sabha food is great too...

Today being Dec 01st , you have a big supplement of sabha writeups in The Hindu. Positively there is still lot of concerts and some good news is there are few sabhas that are say like Sastra University that conducts month long 30 day series near AVM Vadapalani which is the closest avatar of Chennai or Nungambakkam Cultural academy of 2000 Plus. They are new and I heard few days back Trinity fine arts academy which is bit new to me . Yes we miss the KS Venkataraman (MFAC), Krishnaswamy (NGS), Ramabadran (SAFE), Sreenivasan (Nadopasana), Krishnamoorthy (Pozhichalur) and very recent NV Subramanian (Tambaram and Saraswathy Vaggeyakkara) . WE should also add our own MK Ramasubramaniam (NJ), Nageswaran and C Ramakrishnan (Chennai), life moves on team, the CM has the potential to win every music not because we all listen , it is because it only has that depth of musical experience with assortment .

What you do next
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Hear any artist that you choose or even your own family/neighbour chooses , with metro digging and rain , watch out for nearest sabha too then your preferred sabha ... and write a review in the concert review section of rasikas.org as below with proper title mentioning name of the artist venue and date

https://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=13

Dont worry on what you dont know , just come and write in a non whats app language .

Interesting anecdote
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Few days back when i was in marina beach . I saw an extremely old age mama . I have seen him lot of times in mylapore and mambalam especially in ragasudha hall. I dont know his name we have smiled , he is now in walking stick . He also recollected seeeing me . I asked his name he said Ramasubramaniam(?n), i asked him who is your favourite . He said Spoorthi Rao.

I asked then enna mama who is your all time favourite he gave few names and then I asked him who is your all time favourite preferably he/she must have sung before even I was born . HE said Madurai mani Iyer . I was super elated and i said to him Do you know who is carnatic vocal trinity , he said I dont know . Then I said that is MMI-SSI -GNB. He told me you have to hear Spoorthi Rao. I said i have heard few snippet hopefully i will hear her soon in my first live concert of hers . Best wishes for Spoorthi and all other artists who are bit or way too senior to her to catch up with Carnatic Vocal Trinity .

[rajeshnat]

I cannot think of any great patron and intense rasika than Shri Nalli kuppuswami Chetty. He is absolutely right we need to create a new generation of rasikas (I just want to quality that new generation can be both young and old , they are fresh blood carnatic rasikas)

https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/ ... 930996.ece

[rajeshnat]

========For Whatsapp or FaceBook Forward ===================================
Come back read and write in rasikas.org . Read Dec 2024 - Jan 2025 Kurcheri Season-Curtain Raiser
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https://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopi ... 13#p383213

[shankarank]

@rajeshnat : I met another Dallas visitor, young chap who is also excited about Spoorthi Rao. She seems to be a star in the making.

As regards, hearing in person, with the city being dug up everywhere cannot miss pointing out Vijay Siva's exhortation drawing inspiration from Andal's verses: kUDiyirundu kuLirndElO(r)empAvai! Vijay is like "naanga varOme"!

I am the worst offender, having not gone there for a decade - all personal limitations.

Shout out to those who brave the traffic and else to get there!

[shankarank]

Whats App forward with light banter on Food:

Chennai Music Season is off to a great start.... with some terrific food choices : Top Sabha Canteens

1. Gnanambika Catering At Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha: Known for its crunchy and soft keera vadas and vazhaipoo vadas, located in T-Nagar's Vani Mahal ¹.
2. Canteen At Music Academy: Offers a wholesome experience with Guntur Idli, Usili Upma, Puli Upma, and Vazhathandu Uthapam, along with a tumbler of warm Horlicks ¹.
3. Canteen At Krishna Gana Sabha: Serves the softest dosai and delicious morkalis and Pidi Kozhukattai dipped in green chutney ¹.
4. Mountbatten Mani At Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, Mylapore: Offers traditional favourites with innovative twists like watermelon rasam and avarakkai sambhar ¹.
5. Sri Sathyalaya Catering Canteen At Narada Gana Sabha: Serves sweet, hot coffee and a sinfully buttery ghee roast dosa, along with stuffed chilli bajjis and Kuzhi Paniyarams ¹.
6. Canteen At Mylapore Fine Arts Club: Offers suda suda sambar, vathaikozhambu, potato curry, and kootu ¹.
7. Brahma Gana Sabha: Features a variety of music, including Carnatic kutcheris and fusion concerts ².
8. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan: Hosts renowned musicians and offers a range of food options ².
9. Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha: Offers traditional South Indian cuisine and innovative dishes ³ ².
10. Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha: Programs are held at Vani Mahal, an exquisite venue ².
. Sorry - the kutcheri details will follow later since the Rasikas normally decide to attend the concert based on the canteen menu. 

[shankarank]

https://ibb.co/fdV6fkz

As they say, the form keeps changing, reason, philosophers are still relevant

[rajeshnat]

Season is over. Few salient points for me
I. I wanted to attend 30 concerts in the year fell 3 short . 6 to 7 days i lost due to pressing issues that i had to attend at home

2. Season starts early in sabhas like Ragasudha BVB and some sabhas it starts almost at the end . I just counted i have attended 15 concerts in this season starting nov to dec 2024 with abhishek (2 concerts), all the rest once

3. Definitely this year is better than last year . Attended CS Sajeev for the first time . Lot of accompaniments who had played for junior and subsenior artists were new to me .Attended sabhas for the first time like maarga (championed by Delhi Sundarrajan and Delhi Muthukumar) and ekanta seva (VVS Murari), both are great

4. In academy i attended 2 concerts of Abilash and NJ Nandini and both have get best prizes in academy. I just saw this year academy prizes , Abhishek got the most coveted yogam nagaswamy award and i am also happy that TNS Krishna got one prize with his team. One can sense how candidates and how groups are there in CM circut . I would not say big time nepotism , but certainly there is a trend of how it works for many awardees. All said academy has awarded and consciouly promoted the next generation (the generation of Abhishek,TNSK, K Gayathri, Amrutha Venkatesh etal). Best wishes to all of them Check below url
https://www.musicacademymadras.in/prize-winners-2024/

5. Happy to see certain sabhas like NGS are opening more time and slots and encouraging more concerts

6. I dont understand what has happened to SKGS they have kept mini almost shut down . IT is more of a medium dance medium music concert venue

7. I pray MUdhra bounces back in conducting live concerts.

8. I saw VVS MUrari conducting 3 to 4 weeks of morning ekanta seva inviting top artists and i see he was also conducting concerts in evening in a temple hall. Also maarga conducting from morning to night reminded me of the sabhas ht Nungambakkam Cultural Academy. Also sashikiran Carnatica is doing a great job with his festival near saibaba temple

9. Ofcourse the bigger disappointment is NRIs decide to be in USA and UK. Even for few of the biggest crowd pullers like Raga , Abhishek , Trichur Brothers etal the paying rasika is coming down. I am asssuming quite a lot of Horlicks Constituents have moved on and there is not enough Complan Boy and Bournvita Girl to come to venues. Certainly Digital free uploading is destroying CM

10. Certain musicians are peaking or in steady peak like Suryaprakash, Abhishek (heard twice), Raga , trichur brothers ,Amrutha Venkatesh and Vishnudev

11. I missed 1 sanjay Subrahmanyan , 1 Lalgudi sibling, lecdem of lalitharam , 1 Trichy Sankaran ,1 Girija Shankar all due to heavy traffic and 1 lost 1 or 2 due to rain cancellation

12. Of course biggest disappointment is only I have written reviews in rasikas along with sankark . Like NGS i hope that also turns around. I am sure i will write 2025 and beyond . Facebook is cloying medium and only rasikas.org is best as it is a bulletin board people can agree or disagree and not waste our time on the useless few liner comments .

13. I wanted to badly goto Vadapalani - Sastra satsangh for the first time , that is the new sabha and that sabha is like Mudhra, wanted to make 4 or 5 days back for sruthisagar , damn it could not make it to heavy traffic snarls

14. The biggest visual joy is coming up in the next photo. Mobile screenshot of a portrait in Naradaganasabha. The street is indeed there and the address is Dr T K Murthy St, New Kubera Nagar, Madipakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600091. 100 year veteran who shared the guru of the most accomplished and well known Palakkad Mani Iyer is there with us , what a blessing.

[rajeshnat]

Dr TK Murthy ,100 years in 2024 , his Portrait was put in NGS in Dec 2024

[rajeshnat]

Whatsapp or Facebook forward
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Rajesh Impressions on 2024 Dec season
www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=383607#p383607