Sabha Organisers and Auditoriums

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 09 Dec 2007, 18:32

You mean to say, 'aren't they all, those in the music business, having a peek at the forum every now and then?'

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 09 Dec 2007, 18:34

Owning up would be awkward. Think of the toilet roll mAlAs and toilet brush bearing rebels:)

sbala · Post by **sbala** » 09 Dec 2007, 18:39

We can rank the sabhas based on various factors and give a final rating. We can then take printouts and paste it on the gate or the walls just like how they do to restaurants in the US.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 09 Dec 2007, 19:07

sbala, I like your aggression! But as long as the sabhas continue to draw audience, would they care about the state of their facilities?

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 09 Dec 2007, 22:27

That's the big question, and I fear that the answer is 'no'.

Perhaps if a major musician or two were to refuse their garland, saying they'd rather the money was spent on the toilet facilities...

But that is pretty unlikely to happen: they have to play the game with their employers, they do have to eat next year.

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 09 Dec 2007, 23:10

i think action would have to come from rasikas who pay money to attend the concerts.
as an aside, there seems to be a market for 'mobile johns' like the ones that are provided at large-scale events in the west.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 09 Dec 2007, 23:43

It is all about maintenance, maintenance. Responsible cleaners and responsible USERS too. The best portable loo that I happened to come across was during the 'storming of the tourists' time in Paris in August, many years ago. After every use, it cleaned itself from roof to floor with sprays of water...

meena · Post by **meena** » 10 Dec 2007, 01:29

Since the sabhas rent their premises out for various events off season (not strictly for classical music), could they set aside a percentage of their income for MAINTENANCE?

In India when one rents the facility do they have to pay the refundable security deposit upfront? So incase of any damage or debris left behind it could be deducted from the security deposit.

Perhaps if a major musician or two were to refuse their garland, saying they'd rather the money was spent on the toilet facilities...

BINGO!

Sundara Rajan · Post by **Sundara Rajan** » 10 Dec 2007, 09:13

While the Govt. may not be in a position to do anything about the acoustics etc. in the sabhas, isn't there a so called Health Department that SHOULD look after the cleanliness and upkeep of the toilet facilities in ALL public places such as theaters and concert halls ? Perhaps the rasikas should complain to the Health Authorites and see that sabhas lacking decent clean toilet facilties are fined. Just a thought; it may not work in India, where it is easier and cheaper to bribe the health inspector than to fix things up !

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 10 Dec 2007, 10:29

If the money goes towards bribes, the rasikAs are once again the losers because there won't be any funds left for those bottles of disinfectant and for the proper care of the facilities(!).
If only they employ round-the-clock loo attendants and frequently check on their diligence, things would get much better...

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 10 Dec 2007, 15:24

The government cannot even keep the pavements sanitary. They are very unlikely to help in any way where the toilets of privately-owned buildings are concerned.

Of course the users have a hand in this too (well... a hand? --- but perhaps better not to be too anatomically specific here!

) but it is still, I think, the sabbha's responsibility to clean up after its customers, for the sake of its other customers.

meena · Post by **meena** » 11 Dec 2007, 02:41

Here lies one of many problems!

Elections at MFAC

Much like Indian politics, sabhas too are managed by the same old people. And the baton often passes inside the governing family.

So when the elections to Mylapore Fine Arts Club (MFAC) were announced in late October, there were some rumblings of a contest.
Rather unusual.
The rumblings came out into the public because some members seem to have registered a Trust borrowing MFAC's name, without discussing the move at a larger forum.

Now, rasikas and sabha members aren't too bothered about the management of sabhas.
Few were when the polling took place.
Now, everybody's busy with the December Season.

DELETED

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 11 Dec 2007, 07:15

And we have a Sabha here, where members silently stuff my pockets with cash (most of the time without their names on the covers).
Now you all must know why I started attending the sessions with a Loose Kurtha and Huge pockets.

Retired Gentlemen like VGV take strong exception when I delay taking contributions and respond with the words- I may be a retired Chap , but I am a proud pensioner.TAKE IT.

On a serious note , The Matscience Institute at Tharamani is one of the finest places to host a concert.May not be a Perfect choice for Nonstop concerts like in the season.
But for records sake here are some details.
They charge only Rs 2500 for a Show.
Facilities are extremely well maintained.
Ample parking space.
The charge includes pick up and drop of the artistes.
Also includes Biscuits and Coffee for the Guests.
Also includes a Direct simultaneous recording on a PC , in their Control room , very much on the lines of a AIR Studio.
Thick doors that insulate the interiors from noise outside.
Wonderful Seats and Bose Systems.

And a great secretary(of cultural affairs) in Charge.
the only time we held a concert there , He was there to receive me at the gates .
He poiltely took me around (thinking that i was just an invitee) , and explained to me the details of the concert , and asked me to feel comfortable .
It was only when I was settling the bill that he realised that I was an Organiser.
But to feel that the man in charge could give that kind of treatment to an ordinary visitor-That was a great feeling.
Cant Thank VSharma enough for that.

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 11 Dec 2007, 07:22

but where to go for rs 2500? gobilalitha

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 11 Dec 2007, 08:36

gobilalitha wrote:but where to go for rs 2500? gobilalitha

The fee is for hosting a concert .Not individual tickets

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 11 Dec 2007, 10:15

I agree - the Matscience centre was a great venue. Perhaps next year we could mix up some home concerts with concerts at the audi...

vgvindan · Post by **vgvindan** » 11 Dec 2007, 11:48

I started attending the sessions with a Loose Kurtha and Huge pockets

How I wish you posted this before the concert at Thiruvanmiyur. I would not have forgotten my bit.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 11 Dec 2007, 12:54

Matscience was great, though I love the intimacy of a house (or garage

) concert. I think we have to have both!

ramanathan · Post by **ramanathan** » 12 Dec 2007, 11:45

Music Academy president N. Murali had a lot of interesting things to say in the course of a conversation with me. He talked about improvements at the Academy, the process of artiste selection, archival of recordings, etc. I have uploaded the entire interview at www.carnatica.net

Excerpts from the conversation also appear in today's Indian Express Margazhi special page.

BTW, I must thank our fellow forumites vijay & bharath for helping with inputs for the daily Margazhi special page in IE. We also managed to get a review of the recent Bangalore Sankar concert published!

Other rasikas are also welcome to pitch in with opinions and your thoughts may get published in the 'Rasikaspeak' box. Send in your thoughts to IE at '[email protected]'

Ramanathan.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 12 Dec 2007, 11:54

Ramanathan, great interview and if he lives up to his promise of making the recordings available to the public, that would be a great service to CM

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 12 Dec 2007, 13:01

Nice interview Ramanathan. Congratulations and thanks for sharing it with us.

You attempted to offer your feedback on the new Bose sound system but the conversation veered off in other directions. What were you going to say about your experience with the sound system?

BTW, how does one become ( or what does it take to become ) a member of the music academy? It looks like they are going to make available the digitized copy of the old concerts only to members ( atleast at first ) if I heard it right.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 12 Dec 2007, 14:27

I wrote a whole thing about audience behaviour last year, and never got around to sending it in to any of the papers. Lost cause anyway

.

Heading off to read that interview...

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 12 Dec 2007, 18:43

i should thank ramanathan for asking me to write

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 12 Dec 2007, 22:22

Is therea online link to the special page. Or can some one post the reviews here

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 13 Dec 2007, 11:29

There should be a link but I can't find it....anyway, I think it should be OK after the date of publication but Ramanathn would be aware of the legal fine print...anyway some of my contributions have also posted on the forum (albeit in a slightly altered format!)

ramanathan · Post by **ramanathan** » 13 Dec 2007, 13:40

raju,
www.newindpress.com seems to reproduce only one or two of the articles that appear in the print version everyday. Go the main page of newindpress.com and scroll down, watching the left pane. Under Cities you will see a Chennai link. That page has one article daily from the Margazhi page. Today they have featured my interview with N. Murali. Other than that, I'm not aware of any online links to the Maragzhi Special page.

I don't think quoting / pasting some of the reviews here should be a crime. No vijay, I'm not aware of the legal fine print

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 13 Dec 2007, 13:55

i have found the articles on the epaper. one could also get links from the epaper format.

nivedita · Post by **nivedita** » 13 Dec 2007, 14:01

Yes, the e-paper has the whole artfest@margazhi section as it appears in the print version. But I _think_ one must register with the site to be able to read the e-paper.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 13 Dec 2007, 15:49

at least they don't charge like the Hindu!

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 13 Dec 2007, 22:13

Thanks Ramanathan

I had regsitered for epaper of Indian express long back and I kept searching for Chennai city pages. Only now I found out that I have to regsiter for epaper of 'New' Indian Express