TNS @ MFAC

[gs]

Heard from my aunt that TNS didn't come till 6.45, mridhangist didn't come till 7.20 and sruthi didn't come till 8.00 pm when she caned her way out. Any ring side reports?

[devan]

what i heard.moorthy sir did not come.tns came almost in time for a change.concert started with kanjira.

[sridrect]

Does the organisers even bother to refund the money to the rasikas ! If not, shame on them !!

[rajeshnat]

I bought a ticket and did walk out around 06:30 and went to swamy's hall as i was not sure what time it starts. May I know the song list of the concert.

[sangithapithu1]

Heard from my aunt that TNS didn't come till 6.45, mridhangist didn't come till 7.20 and sruthi didn't come till 8.00 pm when she caned her way out. Any ring side reports?

joke apart. I went to the auditorium by 6 10pm , TNS just arrived. THe concert didnt start till 7 00 and the sabha authorities didnt have the courtesy to make an announcement regarding the reason for the delay. myself and two of my friends went inside the green room to check the actual situation, all the people in the green room including TnS krishna and kanjira sunderkumar were seriouly trying to reach murthy sirs number and after few attempts they were informed by murthy sirs family members that the mrithangist was not aware of the concert at all One of the sabha committee member told that they reminded the senior vidwan in the morning and he too confirmed that he will be in the sabha before 6 15.

we suggested that the concert could be started with kanjira till the subsitute comes. TNS was not comfortable with this idea and he said that they are trying their level best to find a substitute.

The sad part is none of the sabha organisors were bothered to take up the responsibility of finding a substitute, the vidwans in the back stage hectically tried to contact various mrithangists and finally succeeded in finding one from west mambalam who is the disciple of the vetaran mrithangist himself.

eventually the concert started with kanjira accompaniment, what an artist TNS is ! clearly understanding the situation he boldly commenced the concert with a pristine alapana of purvikalyani which lasted for about 15 minutes and Chandru sir's turn was for 10 minutes. The mrithangist sivaraman arrived exactly when chandru sir was about to finish the alapana, TNS aptly sang a virutham highlighting the word mrithanga incorporated in the sloka when the mrithanga artist joined the concert team on the stage. He also announced " Andha minakshi thaan ivarai iniku time ku inge kondu vandhu serthirukka elloroda porumaiku en namaskarangal"

what an amazing concert it was ! The main item was a Ragam Thanam Pallavi in Chenchuruti a real master indeed, the concert concluded around 10 30pm.

We the admirers of carnatic music attend the concerts despite our personnel and professional commitments due to our passion for carnatic music, our time money should no be taken for granted, It seems Mylapore fine arts club has no proper management control, The secretary never bothered about the things happened back stage, he didnt even make an announcement for the public who were enthusiastically waiting to listen to a great concert.

[advaitam]

myself and two of my friends went inside the green room to check the actual situation, all the people in the green room including TnS krishna and kanjira sunderkumar were seriouly trying to reach murthy sirs number and after few attempts they were informed by murthy sirs family members that the mrithangist was not aware of the concert at all One of the sabha committee member told that they reminded the senior vidwan in the morning and he too confirmed that he will be in the sabha before 6 15.

It's abundantly clear that MFAC committee members are a bunch of lying, shameless nincompoops! I met Murthy sir on 30th evening at Mylapore. I personally asked him about said concert and he said he was completely in the dark about the same. I then asked his son, T.K.Jayaraman, who manages Murthy sir's concert engagements and he told me that no one from the sabha had called up, and that only because I mentioned this was he even aware that they had slated Murthy sir. Again on 31st morning I went to pay my respects to Murthy sir at his residence. I asked him and Mr. Jayaraman once more, and also told them that Murthy sir's name had been published in The Hindu as well as online on kutcheris.com. Again I was told that nobody had bothered to call them and inform them. It was Mr. Jayaraman's contention (and rightly so) that if a senior Sangeetha Kalanidhi like Murthy sir is to play, the least the Sabha can do is inform him atleast a day in advance. Murthy sir himself told me jokingly, that it may have been some printing error, where they prefixed "T.K." before the name of some other "Murthy". Another thing to be mentioned is that just as we were leaving Murthy sir's house, Mr. Jayaraman's mother-in law, an aged bed-ridden lady staying with them, suddenly passed away. None of us wished Murthy sir to be an unnecessary witness to the ensuing mayhem (considering his age and that he's a heart patient), so we were asked to take him to his elder son's house in Mogappair, which we did immediately. By the time we left him there it was almost 2 pm and still no call from the Sabha, nor the artistes. Murthy sir is an artiste who till date has never been to a concert late, always making it a point to reach the venue atleast 45 mins before time. Why would such a senior artiste come if the sabha isn't bothered to inform him? The fact that he would accept to play at this age is a blessing to any artiste and sabha. The Sabha committee members should be ashamed of the fact that they don't have the basic knowledge in running a sabha, much less a full-fledged music season!

[annamalai]

advaitam,

I saw the Hindu engagements - TNS - MC- TKM and was tempted to attend this concert, because of the such a dream team of artists.
Used to love such performing teams ... (KVN - VVS - Raghu, or DKJ - Rukmani - UKS, ...)

In this scenario, there are 3 concerned parties - sabha, performer and audience.
Due to the non-invite from the sabha, if TKM did not want to play, that is fair; he could have altleast called the other party, i.e. the artist in the morning (instead of stringing him ...) and mention that he did not want to perform for the sabha and a timely replacement could have been found. This does not look nice from the poor audience perspective.

[cacm]

THOSE who know TKM know what a co-operative artist he has been thru' out his career. Even implying or trying to place any blame in any fashion is BLASPHEMY in my opinion. I have been an organiser in India & N.A. FOR CLOSE TO 60 YEARS....Now a days because of his age he is just lying down in his bed except when he is asked to get up& go to a concert. SO PLEASE LEAVE HIM OUT OF THIS FORUM OF ILL INFORMED& WELL INFORMED PERSONS....LETS celebrate the fact we were WITNESSES to such geniuses & greatness. vkv

[advaitam]

well said VKV sir!! I completely second your opinion!

[Sam Swaminathan]

Dear VKV sir....with all due respects to you, I disagree with you partly. Yes, I agree, with Murthi Sir's reputation and status in the field, he need not call the sabha secretary neither it would be fair to expect him to call any other concerned persons to verify the situation. But how about this person, Mr Jayaraman who is supposed to be looking after his affairs? If not any thing else, he could have called TNS sir and enquired about the situation and advise him that Murthi Sir would not be coming to the sabha as he had not been called by the sabha authorities. That kind of minimum courtesy is well deserved for the audience who would have spent considerable amount of time travelling to the venue. I am sure you can imagine the number of elderly persons who had come to the sabha for that day just to listen to the combination of TNS-TKM. If a call had been made in the morning, atleast TNS sir would have had the time to arrange the alternative mridangam or at worst call the secretary concerned and raised hell about this. Yes, I agree Murthi Sir is blameless in this matter but to extend this to his manager is not warranted.

[mahesh3]

Either way, I don't think it's worth dwelling on in a public forum. A mistake happened, and the great TNS made it work - that's all is important. Hate the provocative post of GS...but that's become the malicious nature of this horrible forum...all 3rd rate jokers come and post abrasive crap on all artists - the TMK jokes have gone too far as well. It's one thing to hold forth musical opinions...but quite another to spread gossip, hate and mockery...why do I feel this forum is going the sangeetham way.

[advaitam]

But how about this person, Mr Jayaraman who is supposed to be looking after his affairs? If not any thing else, he could have called TNS sir and enquired about the situation and advise him that Murthi Sir would not be coming to the sabha as he had not been called by the sabha authorities.....Yes, I agree Murthi Sir is blameless in this matter but to extend this to his manager is not warranted.

I think considering that Mr. Jayaraman's mother-in law passed away unexpectedly that morning, this error can be condoned. As mahesh3 has rightly said, the fact that TNS made the concert work despite these glitches is what should be lauded and focussed upon