Chennai December season schedule?

gsn · Post by **gsn** » 02 Aug 2007, 16:49

Hi!

Does anyone know when kutcheribuzz and the like typically put up the schedule for the December season?

Thanks!
-G

ram · Post by **ram** » 02 Aug 2007, 18:58

Don't know about that gsn. Music Academy has released it's schedule some days back and I have listed it at http://ramsabode.wordpress.com/concerts-in-chennai/ . I will try to update other sabha schedules also as and when I get to know about them.

Music academy schedule is also available online at their site http://www.musicacademymadras.in./2007- ... ts_07.html

gsn · Post by **gsn** » 02 Aug 2007, 19:00

Thanks, Ram!

That is quite useful.

Regards,
-G

sagars · Post by **sagars** » 04 Aug 2007, 12:30

Good to see theschedule so early. Happy to note Gayathri Venkataraghavan getting 7 pm slot. Priya Sisters and Vijayalaxmi Subramaniam also in 7 pm slot, but Surya Prakash still in 3pm slot.

Milagu · Post by **Milagu** » 04 Aug 2007, 17:59

Thanks for the schedule. Could any one tell me who is being awarded Sangitha Kalanidhi title this year?

Sundara Rajan · Post by **Sundara Rajan** » 04 Aug 2007, 20:41

Didn't we discuss this year's awardee Sri Palgat Raghu here in these columns earlier ?

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 05 Aug 2007, 20:00

Ram,
Thanks for kicking off the season by bringing to us the schedule of MA. Hope other sabhas are quick on their feet too in announcing their schedules. Then would start our juggling-- of which concerts to attend, the invariable clashes and the rest of the fun!

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 06 Aug 2007, 00:05

The Academy has also posted their concert schedules from the 1930's onward. It is not a complete list yet, but a treasure trove of concert listings from those days.

This is great for the historians amongst us. I found instances of my grandfather (late mridangam vidwan) accompanying Sattur Subramaniam, TK Rangachari, DKP, Alathur Brothers, MSS etc from the 1930s and 40s.

All details at: http://www.musicacademymadras.in/new_20 ... ences.html
I like the new direction that the academy is taking in featuring such things on their website. I hope some of these concerts from their archives become available commercially. The last I heard RajaLakshmi Audio had bagged the rights to release these concerts.

janani87 · Post by **janani87** » 06 Aug 2007, 00:14

hello.

what about bharatanatyam and dance dramas? does anyone know where I can find information on these??

thanks a lot!!

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 06 Aug 2007, 12:42

Janani the Academy has started having a separate festival in the 1st week of Jan for dance and dance dramas. I am sure the schedule will be out soon.

Interesting to see the list - a lot of new faces in the evening slots - Gayatri Venkataraghavan, Hyderabad Sisters, Lakshmi Rangarajan, Vijayalakshmi Subramanian, TV Ramprasad - interestingly, most of them are women! All the best to those who've broken into the big league. Sangeetha Sivakumar seems to have dropped out of the list this year though - a pity given her performance last year. Rashid Khan comes as a pleasant surprise for Hindustani fans

Murali had promised that he would revamp the seating last year... The stalls at the Academy have received a facelift with new seats but the seats in the balcony are as abysmal as ever. One wonders whether something will be done in time for the Season although it is unlikely that it can be done in such a short time.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 06 Aug 2007, 12:44

Disappointing to note that Pantula Rama is not in the list. She easily merits a prime slot...

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 06 Aug 2007, 12:58

Thanks Mahavishnu for pointing us to the link with schedule going back to the '30s. The schedule adds an element of realism to the veterans' names we had only read about. And not to mention super-combos like Sangeetha Ratnakara Vidwan Ariyakudi Ramanuja Aiyangar (Vocal), Kumbakonam Rajamanickam Pillay (Violin), Tanjore Vaidyanatha Iyer (Mridangam).

gsn · Post by **gsn** » 06 Aug 2007, 14:07

Fascinating to see the schedules of the Academy dating back to the 30's! Thanks, Mahavishnu. I had the mistaken impression that women mridangists were a recent feature, while as far back as the early 40's, they did have all-women teams. : ) It would be nice if other big sabhas do the same too.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 06 Aug 2007, 14:53

Not to mention make recordings available!

annapoorne · Post by **annapoorne** » 06 Aug 2007, 14:55

"11 Outstanding Lady Vocalist (Senior or Sub Senior) P. Obul Reddy Pantula Rama"

The Academy lists for having awarded the outstanding lady vocalist to Mrs Pantula Rama last year

=(

gsn · Post by **gsn** » 06 Aug 2007, 15:22

Oh yes, Vijay!

I am already drooling looking at mentions of early Manakkal concerts, a vocal duet of Chengalpet Ranaganathan and Trichy Venkataraman, and Alathur Srinivasa Iyer solos!

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 06 Aug 2007, 16:07

Alas, GSN I don't share your optimism of being able to hear these priceless gems...I suspect they will continue to remain the preserve of a select elite, if at all the recordings have been preserved

Here is an idea for the Academy - why not put up concerts/songs on their website and charge against downloads - encrypt to prevent copying if need be...or would that not even recover the cost of digitization?

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 06 Aug 2007, 16:40

mahavishnu,
Tx for that great link.I was just looking at year 1947.Gosh what a bumper year 1947 has been.
ssi on 24th dec,gnb on 25th dec,mmi on 26th dec, ari on 27th,mss on 28th, ALB on 29th ,DKP on 30th and chembai on 31st

kalgada78 · Post by **kalgada78** » 06 Aug 2007, 18:49

Iam looking at the year 1936 and i see this entry. What does that mean?

16 Thursday 31st December 1936 9 p.m. Srimatis Muktha and Brinda
Srimati Abirami (Violin & Mridangam)
(with loud speaker arrangments)

Sarma.

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 06 Aug 2007, 19:29

Rajesh, I think 1947 was a very special year too. And such great combinations SSI/Papa/PMI; Ariyakkudi/Papa/PMI; GNB/Rajamanickam Pillai/Palani and MSS with Chowdiah on the violin (incidentally the mridangist that played for MSS was my grandfather Kalpathi Ramanathan). I believe SSI was the Sangeetha Kalanidhi that year. The big bonus is MSS singing padams for the dance performance of Anandhi/Radha with Nattuvangam by Vazhuvoor himself. India was independent for just 3 months during that season, the mood must have been electric.

Kalgada, I think most of the concerts were not amplified in that period. There was also Veenai Dhanammal concert from the 30s, that was listed as having loudspeaker arrangements.

Was the Dhanammal family one the the first to agree to amplification of the concerts? Interestingly, a concert from the 1950s with DKP and PMI is featured as "mikeless". an important but short-lived reversal of trend.

I also found it amusing to see the young mridangam vidwans Master Raghu and Master Moorthy in the 40s and early 50s. I wonder if Master Gopalakrishnan is a very young MSG.

The trends in the 60s/70s are interesting too. Some of the most senior octogenarian artistes were just breaking out of the afternoon slots at that time.

Vijay, I agree that we may never get to hear some of these concerts. I wonder how the recordings would be even if we did get around to hearing them. I just hope we archive things properly atleast from now, so people on some forum sixty years from now will be able to read the review and listen to the concerts (even if we have to pay for the downloads).

Now, I can't wait to see the listings for the missing years!

gsn · Post by **gsn** » 06 Aug 2007, 19:46

mahavishnu-

Similar to MSS singing padams in the Anandi-Radha dance concert, there is a listing of MLV rendering the same for Srividya's concert (1970/71 I think).

Another thing I found interesting was that though Lalgudi sir accompanied Alathur brothers a lot, the first time he accompanied them at the Academy was the Subbu Iyer Kalanidhi concert - 1964! An absolute crackerjack of a concert with a scintillating Khanda triputa (4-kalai) pallavi. Curiously, the pallavi fits beautifully to Adi Sankeerna-nadai too (I mean, not just in terms of aksharams but also in tautness).

The other "masters" are Master Krishnan and Master Sankaran!

One grandmaster who, in the years covered, did not break out of the 3pm slot is Prof. TRS. I wonder when he did that between 1977-2006

I was under the impression that sampradaya had a largish collection of Academy concerts of yesteryears...

-G

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 06 Aug 2007, 20:07

So nice to see you youngsters get excited about the vintage concert lists! I admire your enthusiasm over 'things past' which you cherish. We took those treasured moments for granted! (blush).
It was reliving and recalling those concerts, musicians and the ambience of Sundareswarar Hall.
Thanks to the Academy for this. A simple thing like posting the concert lists has made the young and old rasikas happy!
Hope we will see many changes for the better at the Academy. Hope their priority is the seats in the balcony...

Did you notice the Travancore samastana vidwan intro to SSI and Alathur?
Ah, if only we could hear some of those concerts again! I would be as reverential as the young rasikas in listening to them this time around...

kalgada78 · Post by **kalgada78** » 06 Aug 2007, 20:15

Kalgada, I think most of the concerts were not amplified in that period. There was also Veenai Dhanammal concert from the 30s, that was listed as having loudspeaker arrangements.

Mahavishnu,
My doubt was about "Srimati Abirami (Violin & Mridangam)".Is it a typo or did she handle both the instruments? Any idea?

Sarma.

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 06 Aug 2007, 20:18

gsn - I'm glad that there are others on this forum that could drool on just looking at concert listings. The academy has detailed song listings of most of these going back to 1929.

If anyone could encourage the academy webmasters to put this info up as well, that would be fantastic. It would be great to see the evolution of the modern concert planning paddhati.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 06 Aug 2007, 20:24

mahavishnu,
You are the grandson of Kalpathi Ramanathan? Your great aunt Minakshi taught us music at school! A nice lady, and I remember meeting your family too...

gsn · Post by **gsn** » 06 Aug 2007, 20:40

mahavishnu-

Are there booklets of these listings that one can buy from the Academy bookshop?

arasi-

Did the 9pm concerts in those days have a fixed duration, or was it more the whim and fancy of the performer? I saw a few listings of TNR concerts beginning at 9; it must have been a treat, listening to the ethereal sounds of his nadswaram late at night!

Sarmaji -

Abirami played the violin.

-G

kalgada78 · Post by **kalgada78** » 06 Aug 2007, 20:58

Thanks GSN!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 06 Aug 2007, 21:01

gsn,
Sorry, I was too young to remember the duration of the late evening concerts. Have a feeling there was no time limit, remembering the elders talking about it--particularly with HM concerts. If I loved the music, I did not not watch the clock and when I was bored, it seemed as though the concert dragged on. There used to be a stall which sold odds and ends like pAn, but no canteens in those days. The 'ultimate' concert goers in the family would start after breakfast, step into a mylapore restaurant late afternoon (don't remember the name), fill up for the rest of the evening and it was all a fun filled day's outing for us when we tagged along...

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 06 Aug 2007, 21:05

Arasi madam, what a small world! It looks like the RKM schools have produced illustrious alumnae. I have very fond memories of my grand-aunt.

Kalgada, I see your point now. It must be a typo. I can't imagine someone playing two instruments (certainly not violin-mridangam) at the same time.

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 06 Aug 2007, 21:12

gsn, not sure if the old souvenir books are still for sale. All life-members got copies of these every season. I'm sure the Academy has them on file somewhere (their library, perhaps?) If they are for sale, I'd love to get my hands on them.

Arasi: I have heard that many of the 9pm concerts went on forever. My parents talk about staying around to listen to MMI till late at night (2-3am) and then having to walk back home from mylapore to t-nagar/mambalam because there was no public transport and the city streets were still reasonably safe then.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 06 Aug 2007, 23:40

gsn wrote:mahavishnu-

One grandmaster who, in the years covered, did not break out of the 3pm slot is Prof. TRS. I wonder when he did that between 1977-2006
I was under the impression that sampradaya had a largish collection of Academy concerts of yesteryears...

-G

Same for TNS and TVS - TVR seems to have got his break by the mid 70s though. Endlessly fascinating! In fact if I were to elect to transport myself to any year, I think it would be the mid 70s - a raw TNS is incentive enough besides other "upcoming" stars like RK Srikantan, TVS, TVR TRS among others Add to that the established seniors - Voleti, Nedunuri, KVN, Ramnad Krishnan, TSK and a smattering of old stalwarts from SSI to MLV/DKP...not bad!!

Of course the 30s/40s is extremely tempting too....

Let's wait for them folks workin' on the time machine to finish their job!

gsn · Post by **gsn** » 07 Aug 2007, 00:07

Right, TNS's '77 concert is in the 3pm slot with T. Rukmini. Maybe the Academy gave him a late-ish break into the senior slot? He was performing with Lalgudi sir and greats like Murugabhoopathy, UKS sir, and Raghu sir from the early 70's.

Interesting how the female trinity of CM (MSS,DKP,MLV) had already made their mark by the mid 40's!

Also funny how the names changed from the English "Chowdiah of Mysore" and "Master Moorthi of Tanjore" to Mysore Chowdiah and T K Moorthi. I should go and check if this change occurred after Independence. Sad how jobless I am ; )

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 07 Aug 2007, 00:33

I am endlessly fascinated by this as gsn and Vijay seem to be. Esp looking for when people had their big breaks and so on.

Did the academy do the afternoon slots for sub-seniors and primetime slots for the senior vidwans from the beginning? For the last few years, the veteran artistes RKS, R Venkataraman, Rama Ravi, Vedavalli, MSG,TNK etc get morning slots. I wonder when this tradition got started?

gsn, yes the female trinity seem to be quite established in the top slots by the 40s . They were also huge crowd pullers right from the start. They had to wait atleast a couple of decades before being awarded SK.

Vijay: sometimes I wonder if there was only one golden era for carnatic music (30s/40s) like some purists claim. The 70s were quite amazing too. I remember running around in the academy balcony as a kid in that decade.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 07 Aug 2007, 12:48

Yeah, the 70s must have been pretty interesting times....coming to think of it, the present era is not so bad either, despite oft-repeated moans about declining standards. In terms of intellectual exploration, I think the present generation is indeed on a different plane - of course the platform was created by people like GNB, TRS and TNS...50 years from now, this forum could well be talking about the golden era around the turn of the century!

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 07 Aug 2007, 13:00

sagars wrote:Good to see theschedule so early. Happy to note Gayathri Venkataraghavan getting 7 pm slot. Priya Sisters and Vijayalaxmi Subramaniam also in 7 pm slot, but Surya Prakash still in 3pm slot.

Priya Sisters have been singing in senior slot (4:30 or 7 pm) for years now...

srinidhi · Post by **srinidhi** » 08 Aug 2007, 12:24

Why has Sangeetha Sivakumar been left out completely this year?

sagars · Post by **sagars** » 08 Aug 2007, 14:20

Thanks rbharath. I stand corrected.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 09 Aug 2007, 16:02

Srinidhi, an artist who has been featured in an evevning slot previously would probably not want to accept anything less subsequently. Whatever the reason, it is rather unfortunate since I was really impressed with her performances last year. I do hope the other sabhas give her the slots she deserves..

gundakriya · Post by **gundakriya** » 09 Aug 2007, 16:18

Well, leave alone Sangeetha... another glaring omission from the senior list is her guru Charumati Ramachandran, one of the most intelligent & creative yet underrated female vidushis! Wonder if she has voluntarily opted out, given that husband Shri. TVR and daughter Subhasree are both performing.

sbala · Post by **sbala** » 09 Aug 2007, 23:50

This discussion is going along the lines of Indian cricket team selection. We want youngsters to be included but can't accept the exclusion of our favourite stars

sbala · Post by **sbala** » 09 Aug 2007, 23:53

vijay wrote:Srinidhi, an artist who has been featured in an evevning slot previously would probably not want to accept anything less subsequently.

Why is that? I can accept that if its an old artiste past his prime. But younger artistes should be able to take those setbacks in their stride and accept it as a challenge.

srinidhi · Post by **srinidhi** » 10 Aug 2007, 11:09

True Vijay, her performance in the last couple of years have been top notch - KH' priya in 2005, Reetigowlai RTP last year. But even generally, her presence in the concert circuit seems to be subduded compared to say, Gayathri Venkat or Gayathri Girish. Even her website is not updated regularly. (Well, which artists' is?)

sindhu · Post by **sindhu** » 10 Aug 2007, 11:21

Understand that Sangeetha's career is being restricted by TMK himself. May be an 'AbhimAn' Jayabhaduri real story? More so, personal though, after the marriage she is fading in her career.

-sb-

srinidhi · Post by **srinidhi** » 10 Aug 2007, 11:59

C'Mon Sindhu - let us not get into the personal lives of the artistes without knowing anything. (Maybe you do- but making it public would be bordering on indecency)

In any case there was interview with both of them in a tamil magazine some months ago(dont remember which one- it had TNS on the cover) where they presented the picture of a happy couple.

Anyways, TMK has been an established artiste for the past 6/7 years, while Sangeetha, from the little that I have been able to hear her, has been on a slow but upward swing.

sindhu · Post by **sindhu** » 10 Aug 2007, 12:32

Srinidhi

I hv just said there is some restriction, decently. CM world to ponder.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 10 Aug 2007, 17:31

Sindhu, Srinidhi, it is probably just a case of motherhood coming in the way of her concert career. This has happened to most women artists including highly successful artists like Nithyasree - I don't think TMK can do much about such a situation! Besides TMK's stock accompanists like RK Shriramkumar and Manoj Siva regularly accompany her - this would hardly be the case if he were interested in arresting her career.

Besides, she has been more active in the last couple of years now that her kids have grown up - there was a prolonged US tour last year and she was quite active during the season last year. No doubt, she will be performing at other venues this season as well...

Bala, yes I do agree that you could look at it as a challenge - maybe that would be a "positive" reaction. But on the other hand, it is only human to feel that you deserve better and reject an afternoon slot. I guess it is an personal thing...you could argue it either way...

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 11 Aug 2007, 07:49

Are we all just overlooking the fact that it could be something simple like a scheduling conflict? Just because she is not listed does not mean that she was left out.

From what I can gather, her concert last year was well received by the powers that be and critics (such as V. Subrahmaniam) alike. It is unlikely that someone would get "dropped" after a successful performance.

Secondly, do we know for sure that she is accepting concerts from other sabhas this upcoming season?

gb · Post by gb » 11 Aug 2007, 10:20

I would see it Ironical or coincidence the Dr. N.Ramani's concert is missing.. I regularly attend his concert that would be one of those morning slots.. But it is truly disappointing to see that his concert is not scheduled...

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 11 Aug 2007, 14:53

Good points Mahavishnu, we are reading too much into it. But I do hope she is not dropping out of the season altogether. I did not notice Ramani's omission - sad indeed!

ars · Post by **ars** » 14 Aug 2007, 22:59

A few interesting observation from the concert schedule listing dated from 1935.

- Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu accomapnying the stalwarts of 30's and 40's before
switching over to solo/duet concerts with his daughter.
- In the 1954 academy schedule, M.S.Gopalakrishnan accompanying MLV.

Wonder when the acadmey actually started recording the concerts - guess mid 50s.