Will Carnatic become Coronatic?

 



Among the many changes that we are experiencing, most of which is extremely frustrating, this December Music Season( if it happens) may also see plenty of changes, beginning with the sabha canteens(shorter queues, hiked pricing on already highly priced menu, attempting to make up for lost business during lockdown, different seating arrangements(only 50% audience capacity, more soberly dressed women or maybe exquisite ‘pattu’ masks with embroidery matching their shiny sarees which have been lying idle in the cupboards for months. One welcome change, would be sabhas opting for online ticketing, enabling minimal contact, not having to go and wait at the venue at 3am, like you do or rather used to do, for Tirupati darshan only to get a token. And portals such as Music of Madras can facilitate a smoother or should I say healthier procurement of tickets. 
In a lighter vein, lot of people are going to be disappointed that they can’t notice who else has come and even worse not be recognised with everyone going around with mandatory masks covering half the face ! Just wondering, how they will feel because till last year, we used to meet ......

1)The ‘Yaaro Ivar Yaaro ?’ type

They will sit in the first row for ALL shows and constantly stand up and keep looking back to make sure everyone knows she/he is here. Often, they have no significant role at home or elsewhere and this is what they look forward to during the whole year. 

2)The ‘Note’ swaram type:

As soon as the singer even clears his or her throat, they will start writing a 500 word precis writing on the ragam, talam, janyam of the gargling ! 

3)The deep research type : 

The moment they hear the first alphabet, they will quickly Google up the assumed song so that they can message on WhatsApp to everyone else how smart they are in identifying carnatic complexities and later sheepishly realising most Telugu songs begin with enta ,nannu, ninnu and that family set of wordslu

4)The ‘By’Gonamruthkeerthamalika type : 

Same as point 3, except they will use a handy 1920 pocketbook to try and identify the curriculum vitae of the krithi, and will spend the entire song time searching, even after the next song has started.

5)The Thani avarthanam type: 

This lady is dangerous, she will keep talking throughout the song, about where she heard it first, who is the best, why Seshu Mama is a ‘Mushudu’ for preventing her from learning thereby she not becoming a ‘Madras Jayashree ‘ and why Neela Mami’s marriage failed. 

6)The (Vi)Desh Ragam type : 

This gent will place himself next to a foreigner Mama/Mami, and take it upon himself to do ghar wapsi of his guest by irritatingly adding subtitles for the songs,including the alapanais just to find out that Mr/Ms foreign is a student of Sanjay Subramanyam for 10 years. 

7)The endha ROW mahanubhavu type: 

This enthusiastic distractor will double up as a traffic constable and Zubin Mehta with one hand conducting people towards him and the other hand chasing away people saying no space,and also shouting at the highest possible staayi when spotting a fellow constable.

8)The pakka or is it mokka Vadhiyam type:

The most dangerous...

The type who will distract everyone around in the kutcheri with arbid co-singing and morbid wrong talam putting and doing one ich ich ich sound to indicate to everyone around that he knows this song from S.G. Kitappa days. 

Now on a more serious note, December Music Season would be only half as interesting without all this. It’s not only about the vocalist, violinist, mridangam artiste and choice of songs. If only that mattered, why aren’t these avalanche of online kutcheris, you tube videos not as enjoyable as going for a live performance ?

About the Author:

Sandhya Shankar belongs to a well respected business family in Chennai. She is a Life Skills & Corporate Trainer by profession. She is an avid reader and a natural writer, who has written several poems and articles. She even presented her poems as a reading at the British council. She has keen interest in all art forms  and has explored many different forms of painting like stained glass and Tanjore being among them. 

Music being her first passion, she had her formal training under Terakotti Chandrasekharaiah at Bangalore and later briefly under Mrs Champa Kumar. She is a regular visitor of concerts, theatre and other live performances. Her witty reviews have gained a loyal and interactive readership for their sound technical commentary and relevance for every kind of melophile, from the casual-goer to the ragam expert, frequenting Chennai’s rich music scene.

(*The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of Music of Madras.)

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