RFA Annual Festival: Mysore Bros, Abhishek, Sanjeev Abhyankar, Dr.N.Rajam (Feb 14,15)

[ranjanifinearts]

Dear rasikas,
It's time for our big annual event! Ranjani Fine Arts warmly invites you to "Samyoga", our 3rd Annual Festival, which will be held on February 14th and 15th, 2015. The festival features 2 Carnatic and 2 Hindustani concerts.

Saturday, Feb 14:
4.00PM : "Music Majaa" - a children's special concert created exclusively for Ranjani Fine Arts
Vidwans Mysore Nagaraj and Mysore Dr. Manjunath (violin),Vid. K.U.Jayachandra Rao (mridangam)
Vid. Giridhar Udupa (ghatam), Vid. Pramath Kiran (rhythm pad)
7.15PM : Pt. Sanjeev Abhyankar (Hindustani vocal), Pt. Vyasmurti Katti(harmonium), Pt. Ravindra Yavagal(tabla)

Sunday, Feb 15:
4.00PM : Vid. Abhishek Raghuram (Carnatic vocal), Vid. Mysore V.Srikanth (violin), Vid. Anantha R. Krishnan(mridangam)
7.15PM : "3 Generations of Violin" - a special concert by Vidushis Dr.N.Rajam, Dr.Sangeetha Shankar, Ragini Shankar and Nandini Shankar

Venue : New Horizon Engineering College Auditorium, Outer Ring Road, Marathalli, Bangalore-560103

One of the highlights this time is the inaugural "Music Majaa" - a children's special concert. This has been conceived and created exclusively for Ranjani Fine Arts by Vidwans Mysore Nagaraj and Mysore Dr.Manjunath. Aimed at the child in all of us, this concert promises to be fun, while retaining the classicism of Carnatic music.

We look forward to seeing you at the festival. Please share this information with your friends.

For more information/passes, please visit http://www.ranjanifinearts.org or contact 9342582686.

[Rsachi]

Ranjani Finearts, Congrats on your very intelligent programming! The only predictable one is Abhi...star billing everywhere

[munirao2001]

Ranjani Fine Arts
I require a pass for myself for 15th SUN. It is very long since I have heard Sri Abhishek Raghuram, in live concert. Please issue the same to me at the venue, as I am unable to collect it in advance.
munirao2001

[kssr]

The concerts are ticketed. I think there is a way of buying them on line. Need to check their website.

I wish RFA great success in the third edition festival.

[ranjanifinearts]

Dear Rsachi, kssr : thanks very much for your kind words and good wishes.

Yes, the concerts are ticketed.
Donor passes may be puchased online at http://www.bookmyshow.com or http://www.indianstage.in
If you wish, passes may also be purchased from some of our volunteers in south and east Bangalore. Please call 9342582686 and we can point you to the nearest volunteer.
Any unsold passes will be available for purchase at the venue.

We request interested rasikas to purchase the donor passes right away to avoid potential disappointment at the venue. Please visit our website http://www.ranjanifinearts.org for more info.

[arvind.brahmakal]

Music Majaa is a unique experiment...a children's special Carnatic music concert. "Majaa" means fun in kannada slang. Concert is primary...and the fun activities support to enhance the concert experience. Bold or Bad - let's wait till tomorrow

[ranjanifinearts]

Just returned home after a truly exceptional evening of music. The Mysore Brothers and accompanying percussionists provided an electrifying start to the festival with Music Majaa - a concert for children of all ages, that really spoke to the young rasikas' hearts. It's not every day that you get to hear classic Hamsadhwani, Kamas and Suddha Dhanyasi accompanied by the percussion of the cajon and rhythm pad, as well as the more traditional mridangam, ghatam and morsing.

Pt. Sanjeev Abhyankar and team then treated the audience to almost three hours of really mesmerizing, soulful music. In one evening, we witnessed two concerts which contrasted greatly in style, but presented supremely classical music.

It was gratifying to hear the positive feedback from many rasikas that we spoke to post-concert, as well as the artistes. We'd love to hear from any others on this forum who attended the concerts too.

A more detailed writeup, photos and some video clips will follow soon.

We invite all rasikas to the next 2 concerts coming up later today (Sunday, Feb 15):

4.00PM : Vid. Abhishek Raghuram (Carnatic vocal), Vid. Mysore V.Srikanth (violin), Vid. Anantha R. Krishnan(mridangam)
7.15PM : "3 Generations of Violin" - a special concert by Vidushis Dr.N.Rajam, Dr.Sangeetha Shankar, Ragini Shankar and Nandini Shankar


More details at http://www.ranjanifinearts.org

[arvind.brahmakal]

Link to Brain Drain's blog on Music Majaa and Abhishek's concerts

https://kpjayan.wordpress.com/

[Rsachi]

Jayan is a true rasika - his enthu spills out always! Todi and Abhishek go s long way back.. . He has a special place for it in his repertoire.
I think he sang Harihara ninnanu mechchisa bahudu s couple of years ago at Odakattur.
Thanks for the review!

[rajeshnat]

Indeed jayan is a true rasika.

Jayan,
On a side note we have everywhere todi++ kalyani ++ kvn++ etc... what we have as an irritating thing is the concert duration has become duration --.

[rajeshnat]

arvind brahmakal,
Just a feedback on a concert from a remote chennai rasika to a bangalore concert (courtesy lovely review of jayan from bangalore on the mysore brothers violin concert). I just saw that you are the Secretary of the sabha.

+- Perhaps the violinist can afford to speak as they are only playing violin in between. I am not sure how I would take that , but i will give you a 50 50 there.

-- Also having a concert with mrudangam kanjira, ghatam ,morsing and with only violin/vocal is real majA. Anything else like rhythmn pad or cajon (I donot know what is that cajon) is surely a boring goojA(boring jug - in thamizh there is a parlance if you do well u are a rAjA otherwise you are a goojA).

+- Also bangalore is doing serious music ,please donot go in chennai way.
++++++ All we need in general is violin , mrudangam , kanjira , ghatam with a vocalist and a duration ++ concert.

[Rsachi]

Rajesh, from whatever I know Arvind believes in good classical music. He was one of the organisers of a seminar last year on how to attract more rasikas to classical music.
Bangalore is witnessing a lot of efforts to attract audiences to "adapted" "modified" "fusionised" "thematic" "colorised" packaging of music. The common link is the artistes with pull force and sabhas with push force. The demographics they are going after are:
1. Well heeled "culture" buffs
2. People who support causes like cancer and old age care
3. School children and ambitious parents with some IT and NRI accents

I don't fall into these demographics but when the artiste pull is there I go.
I will not dismiss any of these efforts as I think we need to give ideas a chance.. After all finally the proof is in eating of the pudding. Of course any nouveau cuisine is welcome as long as it doesn't give me a bad tummy. Any musical experiment is welcome as long as it is not too garish or noisy.

[arvind.brahmakal]

In my limited experience, have observed every person enjoying music in a distinct way....could be the selection of artistes, ragas, talas, vocal, instruments, A,N,S, concert format, etc.....extending this, a set of people (group) have developed similar tastes towards each or combination of the above. However, there are majority of people / groups who have had no exposure to this type of music. So, larger question : how can we, as rasikas and organisations, provide that exposure ? They liking or otherwise is the next step.

Can we, as rasikas, take just one uninitiated person along with us to a live concert ? and gift a ticket for them too ? Can organisers reach out to newer constituencies in their unique way, in addition to organising regular concerts ?

Should every person have the right of access to fine arts - is the question !

[Rsachi]

Arvind,
You're right. God speed to people like you who go beyond being merely rasikas and take the trouble to organise.
In the context of "lay" people getting exposure, I found Gudiya Sambhrama to be really interesting. People who go to temples for prayer or for a stroll (and prasadam ) get exposure to the music and dance. There are also exhibits and talks about temple heritage. Laudable. And beautifully done, too!

[arvind.brahmakal]

Rsachi,
Yes..great example : Gudiya Sambhrama is an excellent initiative, with aesthetics intact. Music to be reached to where groups of people live ! Which is what our Sangeetha Pitaamaha and Saint Tyagaraja did, centuries ago !! Now, we are getting to see acclaimed artistes performing in crowded malls too...

[rajeshnat]

Arvind
Your name is the name that can make sweeping changes and still win . Personally I tried to take many persons to fine arts and concerts , only 30 to 40% are successful, despite sacrificing my share of tastes in taking to what suits them and not giving an iota of my taste to them .Best wishes on what you do?.

I am just curious how was the balance of cajon ,rhthymn pad to the violin of the brothers , did that blend work as much as say a mridangam .I want to know how you felt there? I just googled now to see the cajon instrument. I reread Jayan review - Morsing was also there. If I was there at bangalore i would have given a try with my kid .I appreciate all that you do. I cannot deny that there is still a very very light chance that you are reaching newer constituency .

But one thing is as years move along we just need to have a TRS , KVN , MMI and SSI with UKS,Raghu & ramabadran types having more share of concerts
Atleast in chennai I see a trend where in the name of fund raising activity for old aged , kids,concerts for those uninitiated etal ...we have these types kind of cannibalizing the pristine flavour and sequence of CM. I am atleast seeing that more happening in chennai, we need to be careful in medium to long term too- we have no metrics to know which kid is continuing to listen after getting initiated with these type of concerts.

Our challenge is to bring our family out and use the remote control of the tv and switch off that idiot box . We are all not that successful there.

[rajeshnat]

Arvind
I hope you donot feel offended by my counter . I do know what it takes to be an organizer . Perhaps this is my last post as my counter . I am very glad that folks like you are coming out open and posting in the forum . God bless you.

1.Perhaps I did not understand what you meant by right of access to fine arts and music , it is there , infact 98% of the concerts are free in india and almost all of that has reached as mp3 files. May I know what is the access that you are talking about in CM fine arts?

2. Also in jayan's writeup when the question was asked on whether they know hamsadhwani , if overwhelming count of kids say yes they know hamsadhwani and also vathApi, it looks the kids have already more than sufficient exposure to CM. I am curious from where you invited so many kids - who already knew hamsadhwani ?

quoting verbatim from Jayan writeup for point #2:
----------------------------------------------------------
After a brief inaugural function, the concert started with Manjunath explaining the theme. He said, even they aren’t planned anything in particular but wanted to go with the theme of Music Maja. He interestingly started with ‘lambOdhara’, which he said would be known to most of the students of music. He then put a question to the kids if they have heard ‘hamsadhwani’. an overwhelming ‘yes’ came from the audience, and he proceeded with a question on which kriti do they heard in hamsadhwani. Majority were , not surprisingly , vAtApi and they decided to play the same.

[braindrain]

Rajesh & Others...

Let me add a few points..

a) Ranjani Fine Arts in the way they organise concert are slightly different and one should appreciate that here. Even for their monthly concert, they have a 'children's concert', usually from one music school ( or disciples of one guru in the locality) . They get almost an hour of concert exposure, albeit group singing. Most of these kids ( with their parents, of course) stay back to listen to the main concert.

b) They also conduct 'gurupUrnima' every year, getting these 'gurus' to perform shorter version of concerts in the presence of (or in front of) their disciples.

c) This thematic concert was also aimed at getting more and more of such young kids attracted to classical music. While the name escape me, behind me were sitting a group of school kids along with their 'masterji', who are not, to my understanding, with any classical musical knowledge. They were visibly having a good time. The 'vAtApi' cry, in all probability would have been from the 'already learning' kids and not the newbies.

d) In my personal opinion, the cAjOn, rhythm pad and the rest of the percussion overload, did not impact the music in any way. However on a regular concert day, I would have agreed with you on its need and acceptance to the classical music.

e) The theme itself made it amply clear that this is going to be 'majaa' and that's all it provided. Let me hasten to add, that the 'musical' that they presented was in no less 'serious' as it should be in any concert.

While at any Ranjani Fine Arts concert, we see a 'higher proportion' of young kids, and this was an attempt to attract newer set of young listeners.

Needless to say, the rest of the concerts in the series were 'serious majaa'.

[rajeshnat]

Jayan,
My question on vathapi and hamsadhwani is perhaps settled by your answer in the previous post. I will take it in the stride and use my own judgement and keep it to myself .Thanks.

Jayan it is certainly 'majaa' for you to write also here and instead of just posting all in your blog. Many a times we all miss those and even fail to read it in a bunch - see unless you post here the collaboration is not happening . I have told you many times in private mail for you to do that , now that I am asking you is 'serious majaa'.

I will wait for arvind to answer on the "right of access to music"

[arvind.brahmakal]

Rajeshnat,
Am glad that you have a conversion ratio of 30-40%...that is fantastic, indeed.

The metric for Music Majaa was to see if all the children would remain in the auditorium for 2.5 hours and the parents are spared the ritual of cajoling, frowning and later, out of exasperation moving out because their children were feeling "suffocated" and the friendly neigbours are giving that nasty glare ! In this concert, not one child left the auditorium and parents enjoyed the concert too..and post concert, the artistes were mobbed like "rock stars" by the kids. The children had the right to determine whether this program was good for them - and they have spoken : we are now flooded with requests to do more of this. And yes, how can we say no

From beginning of life, everyone has the right to get the best things in life. The right kind of exposure helps one get that/there. Opportunities can to be created for providing exposure to fine arts. Our great vaggeyakaras have dealt with this aspect brilliantly in their own unique way. This can be done in multiple ways, through different media, at various places, etc. for eg....one of the schools in Bengaluru run by a rasika has instrumental karnataka music played in school buses. More the exposure to fine arts in an environment and format of their liking, better are their chances of diving deeper.
Right to Education is now a fundamental right....should education include fine arts or be restricted to only maths, science, social, etc. Right of access followed by RTE ?

[Rsachi]

Arvind,
Well said. Whereas being keen classical music buffs we have strong preferences, it's also worth exploring how we can hear classical sounds in more common settings.

I remember some office and hotel lifts which always had Mandolin Shrinivas clips playing. Some people have ring tones of Abhishek! I was thrilled to hear beautiful classical voices of P Leela, MSS and KJY drifting over the greenery from Kerala temples recently. Keralites have their lives full of classical sounds. Contrast it to the noisy drum and keyboard kitsch and croon I hear around here these days..
We prefer Annapoorani restaurant in Indiranagar. They have some Sudha dance songs or Lalgudi compositions playing all the time. Recently I won a bet identifying a very early Sowmya recording!