Yesudoss is also a story-teller

K. J. Yesudoss is a good story-teller. As good as the vocalist that he is. One recent evening, at the opening evening of Chenai Cutlural Academy in T. Nagar where he was decorated with a lifetime achievement award, he shared many stories of his life and of life's lessons.

The veteran artiste dwelt for some time on the attitude and approach of youngsters to the learning of music. He said that his father was only keen to see him learn music and did not encourage anyone to ask the young student to give a concert. "Father did not even shake his head to acknowledge the level of the skills I had mastered," recalled Yesudoss who even folded his hands, like a schoolboy to show the audience the situation that he was in when his dad spoke to him.

It was only when he turned 18 that his father allowed him to perform. 'It is only much much later that I realized the worth and meaning of my father's position," recalled Yesudoss.

He was hinting to the audience that youngsters must not be in a hurry to perform.

He took his time to speak, and speak freely. Even singing the strands of a couple of songs to demonstrate the challenge they posed to vocalists. 

Opening evenings are dull

Inaugurations at five sabhas have been dull affairs. 50 to 75 people in the hall, generally dull speeches, routine deliberations.

The dullest was at two sabhas this far that we at KutcheriBuzz witnessed - at Chennai Cultural Academy in T. Nagar had about three dozen people in the hall when K J Yesudoss entered it.

At The Mylapore Fine Arts Club in Mylapore on the opening evening, everybody who were in the hall before the event looked listless. There must have been three dozen odd here too.

Even the emcee seemed as if he had had a good big lunch and was feeling the effects of it.

Do sabha managers need to think out of the box about these launches? How can this event be a great one to attend?

Is one common launch with recitals, fireworks and high tea the answer?

SHARE your thoughts - mail them to - kutcheribuzz@gmail.com

Season's Daily starts Sunday; news-sheet from KutcheriBuzz

The KutcheriBuzz Season's Daily, the newspaper sheet that circulates at sabhas at this time of the year will be launched on Sunday, December 14 evening.

Copies will be circulated at 10 city sabhas, carrying news, info and pictures. Two pages.

It will be around till January 1, 2015.

KutcheriBuzz plans to post the e-paper edition on the web site.

Do e-mail your feedback.

Rasika from Texas!

Clicked at the opening evening of Bharat Kalachar at its campus in T. Nagar. This senior rasika who wore the 'Texas' cap at the awards event.

Concerts to be telecast on Sun TV

Subashree Thanikachalam has now found a partner to telecast concerts her organization has been staging under the Ragamallikatv.com banner at the Youth Hostel in Indira Nagar, Adyar.

She parted ways with Jaya TV with whom she had collaborated for many years and Jaya TV this season, has hosted its own set of concerts at Chettinad Vidyashram campus.

Sun TV will now telecast the Ragamallikatv.com concerts from Dec.15, 6 a.m. for an hour daily, in collaboration with Raadan.

The best artistes are scheduled.

Wake up easy to enjoy this series on your drawing room.

Dances in Kilpauk

If you are a dance rasika, one destination for the days ahead is the TAG auditorium at the Rajaji Vidyashram campus in Kilpauk.

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan launched its 'season' dance fest on Saturday, Dec.13 with an awards event and a recital by Alarmel Valli.

The fest is on till Christmas evening and is open to all.

Good performance space this is.

Bad audio, back-stage chatter; alert to Vani Mahal managers

Reported by Rekha Chari Sairaman

Yesterday was a very unusual evening at Vani Mahal, when Nithyasree Mahadevan took the stage. While she began the concert in a brisk pace, those seated at the rear of the auditorium had to be content with hearing the next seat neighbour breathing, coughs, footsteps and other such trivial distractions, thanks to the virtually non-existent audio system. 

This isn't a one-off incident. 

The same problem cropped up last year too at Vani Mahal. The person heading the audio system unit gave a bizarre reply saying that the poor audio quality was because the singer moved her head as she sang. whoa! 

To add insult to injury, Dr.R.Hemalatha on the violin had to complain midway through her performance about the constant chatter happening at the back stage. 

For a sabha that tops the sponsor count and charges a premium on tickets, its high time its team invests on the audio systems and operator.

A sabha's flag!

This is a small ceremony that The Mylapore Fine Arts Club in Mylapore follows at the start of the December Season festival. It invites its guests and awardees to assemble around a flag post on its campus and let the sabha flag be unfurled to mark the start of the festival.

It is indeed a simple act but it keeps the tradition which has been followed for many years, say sabha team members. And this is what took place on Wednesday evening this year.

One year, the flag looked dirty - like a rag hoisted on top. And when the state was pointed out to the then secretary, the late Venkataraman a new flag was put in place.

Star on stage; dancer Zakir Hussain

Dancer Zakir Hussain was by all accounts the star of the show. There were many artistes on stage at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha on Thursday evening who were decorated with awards and titles but this male artiste got much of the attention.

And for many reasons. One - that Zakir is a Muslim who has become a professional Bharatanatyam dancer the hard way. Two, he has devoted time to the study of Vaishnavism. Three, his dance give expression to the religious philosophies he believes in.

Zakir left hometown Salem in Tamil Nadu and learnt dance from guru Chitra Visweswaran, one of his many well-wishers who have made his life.

One other, whom Zakir calls his mother is actor-TV anchor Revathi Sankkaran who was at Thursday's event.

For four years now, Zakir has also been hosting Upanyasam at this sabha. He will host a three-sessions discourse this year too around Christmastime.

Thoughts on T M Krishna's concert

Rasika N. Srikumar shares his thoughts after attending T M Krishna's concert on Dec.7. Here is his note ---

One always goes to T M Krishna's concert these days with both trepidation and uncertainty of what to expect and what can happen next. And at the Kartik Fine Arts concert on 7 Dec. TMK did exactly that. He was predictability unpredictable. And he lived up to it in every sense of the phrase. 

The concert ( TMK no longer performs a kutcheri if anyone did not know that) as usual began on a slow pace and before long, and even before he began "thodi" in right earnest, he quickly closed it saying " thodi mudinchuduthu" meaning the end of thodi ragam . 

Some time soon after, he got very emotional and said, " iddukku mela continue panrathu sari ille. Aana ippa niruthitta, enna aaghumnu ennakum theriyum ungallukkum theriyum. Adhunnala continue panren." ( It may not be correct to continue from here. But if i stop here i know what will happen,and everyone else knows. So I am continuing . .). 

Alas, it was a big relief to hear TMK say that he was continuing and not do what he did at Vani Mahal last year, where he abandoned the concert mid way. 

TMK was close to his best thereafter, albeit with his now usual pranks, before finally closing the concert with Vatapi ganapatim in Hamsadhwani, which is usually sung as a prayer song to Lord Ganesa in the beginning. Nothing new in what TMK did. He had to deviate from anything close to norm ( whose norm ? ) and he did that without disappointing the large gathering. 

TMK is great talent. No two opinions on that. He has great following. No two opinions there too. But it is his predictable unpredictability which is where there appears to be divided opinions - some for and some against. But for one who is constantly searching for new answers to old problems, TMK refreshingly brings in an aroma of new thoughts and actions, which may seem disruptive to some, but development to others. 

But if "unpredictability" is going to be the most predictable way forward to preserve the future of Carnatic music, then who can complain ? But then who decides that that this indeed is the best way forward ? At the cross roads currently, both direction and destination, both seem missing ! Hope this settles sooner than later ! 

Spotlight on Andhra's artistes . . .

In some ways, it was an evening that put the spotlights on artistes from Andhra Pradesh. At the opening evening of awards and launch of the December Season festival of Sri Thyaga Brahma Sabha at the Vani Mahal campus, three awardees hail from the neighboring state.
The Priya Sisters and Kamalakar Rao.

And both harked to their simple, small beginnings in this city.

Hari Priya in her felicitation reply rewound to the time when the sisters arrived in Madras that is Chennai after their initial training, looking for greener pastures. "When we began learning music our parents did not send us for classes with a view of us becoming performers…they wanted us to just learn music……'said Hari Priya.

Mridangam senior who has been performing close to 60 plus years said that he hailed from Rajamundhry and Madras was a natural destination for concert play. The vidwan who has accompanied all the greats and over many generations learnt among others from the maestro, Palghat Mani Iyer.

Most artistes from AP who have made their mark continue to reside in their state but are often seen on stage in this city. There are a few arts promotion bodies which showcase new talent here. thus giving them a break locally.

Listening to Chitravina Ravi Kiran . . .

You listen when 'Chitravina' Ravi Kiran speaks. On Monday evening, he was responding to a special award he was given by SAFE at Sastri Hall, Luz, Chennai. Many people at the event had referred to his prodigy days and acts.

Ravi said one can attribute the prodigiousness to God/divine gift….but importantly it needed for someone to make the effort to communicate, to teach, to transmit the music to a baby and the credit must go to his father, Narasimhan. Twice that evening, Ravi credited his music to his father who was seated in front of him.

This wasn't a glamorous sabha event but it was evident that Ravi was keen to respect a time-honored Indian culture - to credit his first guru, his dad and his second, T. Brinda, telling his small audience the contributions both made to his learning.

Many will want to know in detail how Narasimhan ' communicated' to his two-year-old son!

Later, during the concert Ravi Kiran presented he was picking up the mike often, giving a preview of the song he was about to play. Dwelling on his 'must play' Oothakaadu Venkata Kavi song……useful information for the newbies of Carnatic music . . .