Up-coming Artists

[ankitam]

There are so many up-coming artists these days...Thought, we would put them under three categories

Type 1 - Talented upcoming Artists who either belong to the family of famous artists, legends or they are disciples of very famous gurus. These artistes are quickly accepted by everyone when they are up-coming.

Type 2 - Talented upcoming Artists who are disciples of not-so-famous legends. Some carnatic music lovers don't even know about these artists nor their gurus. So it takes a lot of time for these up-comings to be accepted by the rasikas.

Type 3 - Artists, not too sure of their music talent but they self promote a lot.

[varsha]

Please go ahead and start classifying . We are all ears .

[VijayR]

There are so many up-coming artists these days...Thought, we would put them under three categories

Type 1 - Talented upcoming Artists who either belong to the family of famous artists, legends or they are disciples of very famous gurus. These artistes are quickly accepted by everyone when they are up-coming.

Type 2 - Talented upcoming Artists who are disciples of not-so-famous legends. Some carnatic music lovers don't even know about these artists nor their gurus. So it takes a lot of time for these up-comings to be accepted by the rasikas.

Type 3 - Artists, not too sure of their music talent but they self promote a lot.

I hope you are kidding! I am sure we all have our biases and opinions, but listing them out in a public forum is simply a bad, bad idea (and quite condescending, IMHO).

[VK RAMAN]

"Artists, not too sure of their music talent but they self promote a lot" - give an example!

[harimau]

There are so many up-coming artists these days...Thought, we would put them under three categories

Type 1 - Talented upcoming Artists who either belong to the family of famous artists, legends or they are disciples of very famous gurus. These artistes are quickly accepted by everyone when they are up-coming.

Type 2 - Talented upcoming Artists who are disciples of not-so-famous legends. Some carnatic music lovers don't even know about these artists nor their gurus. So it takes a lot of time for these up-comings to be accepted by the rasikas.

Type 3 - Artists, not too sure of their music talent but they self promote a lot.

You forgot three other categories:

Type 1A: Artists who misuse whatever talents they may possess but are lauded merely because they belong to the family of famous artists.

Type 1B: Artists who are talented and belong to the family of famous artists but you don't know the family relationship and so ignore them in favor of Type 1A.

Type 1C: Artists who through sheer talent are able to kick the doors of even the Music Academy open and climb to the top quickly but, since they don't have family backing nor a distinguished lineage, are not talked about in rasikas.org by those who gush over Type 1A artists.

[VK RAMAN]

This is true in any field and should we go by that? Skills do not mean anything unless you have the lineage or money to self promote. We tend to glorify already reputed singers instead of giving a look at potential of new comers.

[arasi]

It takes all types to fill the performers gallery.
In trying to assess them, its possible that we may even run out of the alphabet to add to each category.

Good luck to all of them, and may the deserving ones stay in our focus...and how do we classify the deserving ones? Ah, that depends on our individual tastes

[kunthalavarali]

I wonder if it is a good idea to classify young artistes. They will find their level on their own with time. Please do make it a point to attend as many 2 and 3 tier artistes this year. Listening to them and posting an unbiased review will go a long way in identifying real talents.

Yes, I agree talents abound at this 'stage'. Hard and dedicated work will separate the men from boys, as they say (sorry for gender specific, I did not find an equivalent idiom!)

[Nick H]

This is not classification, really ... it is chat. Classification is something that sticks and that, preferably, is based in some technical, tangible aspect.

Nobody would deny that, in a highly competitive world, who you know counts, and that in this specific highly competitive world, even the name of a grandparent might get a person in the door. Few, though, can survive as performers on contacts alone, and musical skill is not, as some people think, genetic.

No harm in mentioning the faults of an imperfect world, but, as Arasi says, the list of subdivisions could go on for ever. In the end, we go to the concerts of those we enjoy and respect, whatever may have been their path to the stage, although it is sad that there may be even greater talents who, for many reasons, may not even get onto that path.

[vasanthakokilam]

With one key subtlety. Chatting about those classifications is fun, but once we start putting actual up and coming young artists into those classes is when trouble starts. My type 1 may not be your Type 1 and after a while it will degenerate into name calling and such chaos.

But in this modern system of taste making, it is much easier for a talented artist to not be noticed than a not-good-enough artist to reach the top and stay there. So instead of wasting your emotional energies on decrying the fame any up and coming artists have achieved ( no matter what category you think they belong ) do your part to spread the word about genuinely talented artists who you think deserve some promotion. There are such people out there doing this kind of stuff and support them by attending concerts organized by them. ( e.g Rasayana )

One parting shot at those who decry even moderate and proportional self-promotion as not kosher, think for a second what you did at the last interview you attended Just to balance the scales, let me go to the other extreme and say that those who do not know how to "sell" themselves but instead wait for the world to recognize them may have some moral high ground but they should be faulted as deficient in that key skill.

[VK RAMAN]

taan paati deivam paati includes self promotion

[Nick H]

So instead of wasting your emotional energies on decrying the fame any up and coming artists have achieved ( no matter what category you think they belong ) do your part to spread the word about genuinely talented artists who you think deserve some promotion.

Absolutely.

Equally, do not join the hypocrites. Let criticicism, positive or negative, be sincere and genuine, and uninfluenced such factors as family and lineage.

I suspect, by the way, that all this great-great-grandfather stuff is more beloved of sabha secretaries than it is of the artists themselves. I can quote one artist saying, "Actually, I hate it when they announce me as so-and-so's grandchild. It is me, not the grandparent, who is performing there, and me, not the grandparent who should be judged on that performance."