What is a good generic name for the average CM rasika?

[shankarank]

kai yedu ( like kai naattu for illiterates.)

kai yedu kai naattu kai teyvu ai-padu!

I mean ipadu - a.k.a. ipad!

A Handyman ( retired veteran submarine servicer ) said he could not find qualified youngsters to teach his art - as they could not even talk these days!

So there is a definite illiteracy ( or smart literacy!) crisis in the offing!

[srikant1987]

sabhayOrgaL

[arasi]

Srikant,
A good one, in that it refers to those who occupy the sabhA (hall).

However, it can also mean 'an august assembly of connoisseurs'. So, the term isn't that specific. Something like peru makkaLE! as an address for the whole assembly, leaving out the siRu makkaL

'Listeners' appeals to me. The AIR schedule was published under that name (vAnoli was the tamizh version).

[kssr]

Not too sure of what is expected of the reader of the thread.
I guess it is a crisp defining name instead of CM RASIKAS.

What are the characteristics of a normal CM rasika?
He/she/it likes to listen to CM.
It knows the words raga and tala.
It need not know any raga in particular. It definitely need not know any tala in particular.
By chance it knows a few ragas, it should not know aarohana avarohana except the spelling of the words themselves.
It will not know the purpose of a varnam or any other item in a concert.

Effectively need not know anything. Now you can choose one of the following

BIG ZERO or if you prefer Sanskrit as most of this category do GNANA SOONYAM

What about capacity to enjoy CM? Ok, we grant it.

CM rasika is HUMAN

[shankarank]

CM rasika is HUMAN

A small addition. CM rasika is also HANUMAN. vAtatmajuniki bAga telusurA

[shankarank]

BIG ZERO or if you prefer Sanskrit as most of this category do GNANA SOONYAM

Vid. Sri Madurai G.S Mani claims music arises from emptiness which is pregnant with energy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMt1WOrdh7s

As they say - "avarA? sangItamA? kilo enna vilai enbAr! " - "He?, music?, will ask how much a pound?". You can consider me in that one. I ask how many kilos of viSrAnti ( assuming we can define such a measure ) is available in music for the pittance I am willing to pay at the counter?

[kssr]

"Vid. Sri Madurai G.S Mani claims music arises from emptiness which is pregnant with energy."

That is how BIG BANG is defined. No MATTER. Only ENERGY.

Visraanti is emptying one's mind of worries/concerns/ (even) thoughts. Living the moment in peace.

[munirao2001]

Great thinkers and philosophers of Upanishad times have declared frequencies of primordial energy, given the identity of pranavakara (lifeform), OMkara, in the universe is not received by brain and sound frequencies are given the identity of anaahata. Artists mind with high sensitivity senses, receives the frequencies and gives the form, the tonal sound in svara, abstract and svaraakshara, the identity and prana, life. Infuses energy (Nabhi, Hrith, Kanta, Nasa) to express the experience, in explanation with the aid of akshara. OM kara, is latency and Svarakshara, potency. OMkara is not embedded in sunyata, 'emptiness'. It's non perception (mental) is emptiness of common and ordinary. Its perception and rendering in to universal consciousness is uncommon and extraordinary. Artists are extraordinary and they are respected for this imagination, ideation and creativity (divine qualities).
Visranthi related to experience of naada is silence of the mind in self abnegation (self denial) moment(s) at the strike of pure naada in pure consciousness, 'Ah' moment(s). On awakening, the awareness, realization is 'Aha' moments. Silence of the mind cleans up the brain with unwanted memories and energizes. Sounds of shouting, exploding or blasting with extreme amplification are also artificial energy and its frequencies delivering pulsating and excitement experiences, opposite of experience of visranthi. High value attached to visradhi in laya, kalapramana is to create conditions for visranthi to occur or strike.

munirao2001

[shankarank]

Both of you esteemed forumites are pointing out the kAraNa SarIra viSrAnti. I am more concerned about the sUkshma SarIra viSrAnti , a musical massage that is given to the nerves and bones - still beneath the stUla SarIram, the senses - using the structure and order of the music in time flow. That is still not classical ( which may mean old and dead - in a museum) , but rather still part of sAdhana of living musicians as well as loyal rasikas. If anything an intricate order distinguishes it from folk music - and sometimes the so called folk ragas like HusEni will need to exploit this order to even a greater degree.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuxyQew78h4 23:35 into it Sri NSG demonstrates.

So it is only a difference in entropy after all - and we may wear that with aplomb on our sleeves. That doesn't mean we don't listen to folk tunes - galore in film music.

[mvseetaraman]

Sangeethapriyan may be apt as the Rasika is inclined towords good music but is in Primary class not a master.

[arasi]

A good one! SangItapriya from primary up to prime-level rasikAs? At the apex, they are not only sangIta priyAs, but also sangITa shAstra priyAs. Now, we have to find an apt name for them!

[kvchellappa]

Kalki on rasika:
In the train, the crowd is more in the third class. They are the ones who contribute more to the revenue. In music also, it is so.
I refer to these third class travelers only as rasikas. They have knowledge of music. They have ears attuned to music by listening. But, unlike the pundits, they would not be looking for faults. For them, the voice of the singer must be melodious, but not enough. The music also must be standard. The singers must sing the ragas with manodharma and rAgabhAva. They should sing kirtanas in correct kAlapramAnam with necessary sangatis and right pronunciation. If they sing in languages known to them with arthabhAva also, they will regard it as very special. If the swaras, pallavis, mrdangam, kanjira, Avartams are within limit, they would be pleased. If they are carried to excess, they would be put off.
(Anandavikatan, 5-1-36; from Ponniyin Pudalvan by Sunda)

[shankarank]

Kalki on rasika:
In the train, the crowd is more in the third class. For them, the voice of the singer must be melodious, but not enough. The music also must be standard. The singers must sing the ragas with manodharma and rAgabhAva. They should sing kirtanas in correct kAlapramAnam with necessary sangatis and right pronunciation. If they sing in languages known to them with arthabhAva also, they will regard it as very special. If the swaras, pallavis, mrdangam, kanjira, Avartams are within limit, they would be pleased.

So but for third class passengers the attributes you cited are not important? Musicians musician pursues art of art sake? Have you considered the terms samskriti and sanatana? They describe an eco- system and are valid irrespective of the knowledge of the methods. It may take some time for people to warm up to some musicians because the cosmetic barrier takes some effort to break through.

I just read in Nay Science ( https://www.amazon.com/Nay-Science-Hist ... 0199931364) - the authors explain a conversation between Socrates and Phaedrus - drawing this conclusion : The difference between mature and immature philology is philosophy ( or you can say, a wisdom). Otherwise it is a mere technique or method.

Method as truth is a concoction of the Clever intellectual - and we have to view all narratives during the colonial and post colonial period with suspicion - as many of our intellectuals were competing for the attention of Colonized minds!

GNB the intellectual or the first Graduate musician, we are told, http://musicresearch.in/download.php?id ... le_203.zip, still applied wisdom in the choice of Brighas. Those exquisite phrases that Sanjay describes, that SSI demonstrated to him from Nadaswara tradition, can be seen even to this day in TVR's music.

You cannot say the same thing about other later musicians who employed Brighas in their music. They started getting more and more algorithmic or methodical, pattern oriented, reductionist, systematic, cleverly intelligent ( if you let me have my parody - artificially intelligent) - like the pure science geek who goes to the engineering exam and starts deriving things from first principles instead of starting from known results.

Many of them however I'd say showed their wisdom in incorporating laya aesthetics from the past!

[kvchellappa]

I am a messenger; the author is not available to respond!

[arasi]

Kalki would have had those 'cleverly minded/artificially intelligent' people in mind when he wrote the piece.
KVC understood it that way too, I guess.

GNB was a breath of fresh air, of course...

(As for his being the first graduate vidvAn, mmm, there was another one, winning a gold medal too, around the same time. V V Sadagopan. Graduated the same year? Not sure...)

[vasanthakokilam]

For them, the voice of the singer must be melodious, but not enough. The music also must be standard. The singers must sing the ragas with manodharma and rAgabhAva. They should sing kirtanas in correct kAlapramAnam with necessary sangatis and right pronunciation. If they sing in languages known to them with arthabhAva also, they will regard it as very special.

I think Kalki got it right. The key word is 'standard'. I am not quite sure what Kalki meant by 'standard' : Standard as in high quality or standard as in music and songs that people are familiar with. There is a lot to be said for the 'familiar songs'. While an elite rasika would long to hear a rare krithi in a esoteric raga, the opposite is true of the general rasika ( we are still looking for a term to describe this prototype rasika, the topic of this thread ). Language itself is less important, vathapi, Brova Barama, bandu reeti, ma kelara, maru kelara etc are familiar to a wider cross section of people even if they are not well versed in Telugu. That is, if you are going to sing in a language that is not known to the majority of the audience, let them be 'standard'/'well known' songs. If you sing in Tamil to a Tamil audience, you have a bit more leeway, you can sing a new song with good rhythm dynamics and good melody with clear pronunciation, people will enjoy the new experience and over time it can become 'standard'

Thought not an apples to apples comparison, the clue for this (at least for me) is in the audience reaction and expectations in a film music based light music concert. You sing the well known super hits of various time periods with a good voice with no rough edges and adhere closely to the original, you have got it made. There are some totally classical songs by Ilayaraja and the light music audience is quite familiar with them and they enjoy those songs when sung that way.

This leads me to a conclusion that to get more mainstream rasikas into the carnatic fold is to work diligently to get a lot more songs in 'common people's consciousness''. This is a long term process and the only technique known to mankind to do that to society at large is Exposure through mass media and Repetition.

[kvchellappa]

Here is a hint of a definition of a ‘samanya rasika; by Kalki:
“Mahatma Gandhi said, ‘I have no sangIta gnAnam. But, your voice and singing are extremely sweet,’ and blessed MS heartily.
What he referred to as ‘sangIta gnAnam’ is the ability to understand the important aspects of music viz. rAga and tAla and the nuances of differences in swaras. All do not have such a sangIta gnAnam. Nor is it necessary. But, all need to have the capacity to appreciate good music generally.”