KutcheriBuzz Dance Concerts Guide is out!

The KutcheriBuzz December Season 2019 Guide to Dance Concerts is in circulation now.

You can get a copy at the KutcheriBuzz office at the 2nd Floor office at Chennai Corporation Complex, 77, C. P. Ramaswamy Road in Alwarpet ( south side of the flyover).

The office is open 10 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.

If you want a copy shipped to you, please talk to Paramesh at 044-24994599 / 24993767 for details on this service.

The Music Concerts Guide was put out a week ago; only limited copies are available at the KutcheriBuzz office.

Copies are given free of cost.

Handy ready-reckoner for the Season.

Nalli sponsors a very useful and handy book for the Season. The Concerts Guide. A sort of ready-reckoner.

The man who burns the midnight oil to compile the data, proof-read and oversee the printing of this little book is S. Kannan, a Mylaporean.  Imagine compiling over 1500 concerts into a little book!

He has been doing this for years and could breathe easy when Nalli Kuppuswamy chose to fund the effort every December. The book was released at Brahma Gana Sabha's opening evening. Copies are available at all Nalli stores in the city. Free of cost.

Birthday cake!

When was the last time you saw cakes being cut on a sabha stage?
Well, it happened last week at the opening evening of the music and dance festival of Chennai Cultural Academy in T. Nagar.

Soon after the guests and artistes were seated on stage, a cake was placed on a table and the emcee of the evening announced that the occasion was the celebration of the 80th birthday of Nalli Kuppuswamy, who is a big promoter of the arts. He was presented with a large garland of flowers and a flowery crown placed on his head and as he cut the cake, the emcee sang the birthday song.

Nalli Kuppuswamy celebrated the milestone in his life some weeks ago but the Academy's secretary for some 50 years who passed away recently, Dr. S. Natarajan had discussed with his team details of a grand event he planned for the arts patron to mark this birthday and so, to honour that plan, a symbolic celebration was held that evening at the venue - Rama Rao Kala Mantap, Habibullah Road, T. Nagar.

Sapad. Sapad. Canteens draw outsiders too.

The canteen at Vani Mahal, T. Nagar where Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha hosts its December Season festival of music and dance took its own time to warm up to the early clients on day one of business.

With the smaller gate of the premises shut due to ongoing civil work at Vani Mahal, access was a roundabout - where the washrooms and dumps are located.
So people attending the opening day of the festival did a bit of huffing before sitting down to dine.

The menu was limited, understandably - kasi halwa, khicchidi, dosa, bonda and coffee. The stewards though hadn't warmed up yet - day one daze we suppose.

But every other person who had tiffin was keen to know more about the afternoon sapad. There are a set of people, who aren't rasikas who enjoy feasting on a canteen meal at lunch time.

The food is far better than whats served in local restaurants.

Walking Tour to get close look at December Season

There is a lot more than concerts and lectures that can enrich the December Season in  Chennai.

Walking Tours. Home-based cultural experience. Workshops. Chamber concerts.

A few enterprises are happening and here is one for those who are new to the Season - a heritage-cultural tour happening in Mylapore on Dec.15, Sunday.

Carnatic artiste Madhuvanthi Badri leads this tour will take a closer look at Chennai’s classical music and dance heritage as you walk in and around Sri Kapaleeswarar Temple. Those on this Walk will also get inside a sabha hall to get a firsthand expereince, we are told.

Charges: Adults - Rs. 800; Children aged 12 yrs and below - Rs. 400 (payable in advance along with the registration)

For more details, call 9940458435, latest by Dec.14.

25 years of Mudhra. In photos.

The husband-wife team of  Bhaskar and Radha, both artistes and festival curators who run 'Mudhra' and it allied activities like web radio and publications take some extra effort to make the venue of its annual music festival wear a smart look, thanks to Bhaskar's creative juices.

Getting to the venue - a school auditorium managed by the Sri Ramakrishna Mutt located off North Usman Road is a maddening exercise, considering the huge volumes of traffic in this busy shopping zone of the city.

This year marks Mudhra's 25 years and to mark this milestone, the Bhaskars and their team have set up a small but neat exhibition of photos of all the key events in this 25 year journey. 

A video of this journey with a lively commentary, spiced with anecdotal bytes, posted online could well reach far and wide. 

KutcheriBuzz Guide to Music Concerts is out

The KutcheriBuzz December Season 2019 Guide to music concerts is in circulation now, after the printer surprised us with a early delivery of the copies.

You can get a copy at the KutcheriBuzz office at the 2nd Floor office at Chennai Corporation Complex, 77, C. P. Ramaswamy Road in Alwarpet ( south side of the flyover).

The office is open 10 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.

If you want a copy shipped to you, please talk to Paramesh at 24994599 / 24993767 for details on this service.

The Dance Concerts Guide should be out by Dec.13.

Whither Carnatic music? One more debate

Whither Carnatic Music?

This was the subject of a recent discussion held at a Mylapore auditorium. A subject, a question, a theme that has been asked, posed and debated over some years now.

'Only seniors attend concerts . . . Sabha halls are never full . . . Youngsters want to perform but aren't seen at concerts……are some of the points that rasikas raise.

And yet there does not seem to be something drastically going wrong in this music world.

Anyway, artistes Palghat Ramprasad, Vijayalakshmi Subramaniam and Anil Srinivasan and the Head of the Madras University's Music Department debated the topic. And made some strong points.

Ramprasad's focus was on the importance of an artiste's devotion to learning and practice than towards looking to grab performance invitations.

Anil said the music world was just fine, with lots of keen and knowledgable, young rasikas attending concerts around the world and that one must not get too excited at small attendances at concerts, because this was the norm worldwide for classical music.

Vijayalakshmi's thoughts were more for rasikas - rasikas patronising only the concerts of the famous and popular and ignoring young, bright talent elsewhere was a big discouragement for artistes. And for rasikas to not request for all-time favorites at concerts but be open to the music of less-known composers or rarely-sung songs.

First sabha canteen opens . . .

The first sabha canteen has opened. Sastha Catering handles the food at Brahma Gana Sabha's festival at Sivagami Petachi Auditorium in Alwarpet.

Sastha has maintained the quality of its snacks and draws a decent crowd. Mysore bondas and dosas were among the first orders guests placed as the music fest got off to a start on Tuesday evening.

Located at the rear of the auditorium.

Boring speeches at festival launches

Tamil Nadu's governor has been invited to be chief guest at the launch of many a music or dance festival. He makes an effort to say a few words in Thamizh; Bhanwarilal Purohit is from north India.

But his speeches are boring and dry. They sound like primer classes on south India classical arts for juniors. They will tell an audience who the Trinity are, how a flute is made, and the roots of Thamizh classics besides listing the Carnatic music maestros and their contribution.

Most guests don't fall asleep but tolerate it quietly. As they did at the opening evening of Brahma Gana Sabha's fest on December 3 evening.

Why can't such important people of the state have better speech writers who communicate well and look to knowledgeable people to learn a bit that will help them write something that rings with the audience ?

Do we really need over 1000 concerts?

The rain is coming down steadily. The campus of Narada Gana Sabha in Alwarpet isn't flooded but has a sheet of water. In the lit Woodlands restaurant, dance guru V. P. Dhananjayan is enjoying a cup of hot coffee before stepping into the hall for the launch of the fest of Kartik Fine Arts.

"Too many festivals . . . too many concerts," he tells me, indicating to the over 1000 concerts that have been formally made public this December.

Dhananjayan keeps shaking his head as he finishes the coffee. "More and more organizers are coming and having the same artistes all the same time. How does this help?"

This senior Bharatanatyam dancer-guru's observation is not new. But it illustrates what is known as Season Madness.

Narada Gana Sabha's new-look mini auditorium

The small auditorium of Narada Gana Sabha's complex on TTK Road in Alwarpet now has a smart look after fullscale redesign and renovation took place.

Located on the first floor at the rear, south side of the auditorium complex, this hall, commonly called mini hall now has refurbished seating, padded walls, better space in the aisle and on the side and access to two side exits which are well lit and a Bose audio sound system fitted inside the hall.

It can seat over 150 people and is best suited for music concerts. Dance recitals are also held here and some theatre groups have already shown interest in staging small plays here.

Access is available via the stairs as well as a small lift, and a ramp makes it easy for seniors and less abled to get into the this small auditorium. The lobby is well-lit as is the space adjoining the hall where the side exits are located.

Good place to listen to good music.