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T. M. Krishna quits December music season

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mkrishna100

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T. M. Krishna quits December music season

http://www.thehindu.com/entertainme...er-music-season-in-chennai/article7308818.ece


The veteran musician has been in the limelight for questioning the long-established concert structure and ticketing of concerts.

In an extraordinary decision, maverick Carnatic musician T.M. Krishna has declared that he will not sing in Chennai December music season henceforth. In a Facebook posting, he said: “I would like to inform all of you that henceforth (beginning December 2015), I will not be singing in Chennai’s December Music Season.”

Krishna, who has taken an unconventional stand on many issues related to Carnatic music, said, “Right from when I was five or six the ‘season’ has been part of my musical universe and I have learnt so much from musicians, musicologists, scholars and rasikas.” Articulating his feeling of dismay, he said “unfortunately, at the place I am today I am unable to reconcile my musical journey with that of the December season.” He said that he had already communicated his decision to the concert organisers. “My growth in the field of music has been largely due to the sabhas of Chennai, and, over the years, they have been most accommodative and graceful in accepting my varied requests,” he said. He went on to thank all of them “for everything.”

Krishna has been in the limelight for aggressive articulation of his thought-process on many issues, much to the displeasure of traditionalists. He has questioned the long-established concert structure, the domination of the Carnatic music scene by a single community and ticketing of concerts. The release of his book on ‘A Southern Music – The Karnatic Story’, has put him further under the spotlight.

Season after season, Krishna somehow has remained the focus of intense public glare and discussion. A few seasons ago, he announced that he would cycle his way to sabhas to attend fellow-musicians concerts. He also chose to skip the December season voluntarily once. And, he has told organisers that his concerts should not be ticketed. A musician with interests in many things including cricket and writing, he has been helping student community to organise the annual music event for kids called Svanubhava. Krishna’s decision to quit the Chennai December Music Season is indeed a huge disappointment for his fans.

Here's T.M.Krishna's official Facebook post on his decision:

I would like to inform all of you that henceforth (beginning December 2015) I will not be singing in Chennai’s December Music Season. Right from when I was five or six the ‘season’ has been part of my musical universe and I have learnt so much from musicians, musicologists, scholars and rasikas. Unfortunately at the place I am today I am unable to reconcile my musical journey with that of the December season. I have communicated this decision to the concert organizers. My growth in the field of music has been largely due to the sabhas of Chennai and over the years they have been most accommodative and graceful in accepting my varied requests.

I thank them and all of you for everything.

Warm Regards

T.M. Krishna

 

Thani maram thOppu AgAdhu! :sad:

And.......... Carnatic music has become commercial long long back!
 
Krishna was not the only one. He was just one of the many talented musicians. The credit.

Every field has such nut cases. Music is no exception.

We can expect the musician to play/sing in Panagal Park or Nageswara Rao Park during the music season without ticketing the event and without microphone and speakers (because they cost). We can also expect a few numbers from the vakkheya, unmentionable naicker, sung by him as a mark of his protest against the domination of music field by some people. There will be no mangalam and instead there will be a ozhiga ozhiga.............. in Neelambari.

Ada pongappa. Aadikkaathtule ammiye parakkuthu. Ithu yenna jujubi. Comedy piece.
 
I have written this before, in this forum and my views were probably unwelcome to a few members. Still, I repeat.

Carnatic Music (CM) has lost its charm and greatness slowly, ever since the "Sampoorna Raga Melakartha System" and making other ragas as "Janya Ragas" in a very mechanical way, was introduced into it. Music does not flourish by such 'mechanical' innovations. The north Indians —including many musicians from North Karnataka upwards, were wiser and they stuck to their old "Thaat" system.

Added to the above was the universalization of CM. The former took CM away from true music while the latter enabled anyone and everyone to become a Vidwan. And that is how CM has become debilitated.
 
I am not a very active person in the Carnatic Music Circle in Chennai but when I contacted few people who are quite active in the Music circle about this decison of TM Krishna ,not many seemed to be perturbed by the same and in fact one person also said that it is a loss for him only .
 
May be he does not depend on the earnings in the December season! Most of the sabhAs don't give good remuneration.
Wedding concerts and skype classes pay the maximum for the carnatic musicians ! :popcorn:
 
As a concert singer he should have focussed more on the taste/likes of the 'rasikas' rather than airing his views against the establishment and community.He is welcome to go his own way.
Alwan
 
I have started attending carnatic music concerts only from 24th Dec 2009, though two senior level instrumentalists - violin and mridhangam - are closely related from my wife's side.

The Palghat musicians have staunch support from their people. Right from Palghat Mani Iyer, MDR, Chembai, KV, TNK, TVG, MSG, VVS, Guruvayur Durai are having good backing from their people. The latest being Bombay Sisters, Bombay Jayashree, Sherthalai Renganadha Sharma etc.

If you have good public relations, you are assured of Padma Awards. Palghat Bs are very successful in this aspect, followed by Vaishnavite Bs.

The Sangidha Kalanidhi award given by the Music Academy creates lot of interest. Every year during July, the award is being announced. Due to lot of politics, some popular musicians were not given this award - Tiruvadhurai Rajarathinam Pillai, Veena Balachander, Lalgudi Jeyaraman, Flute Mali etc. MDR was not given, despite knowing full well he was seriously ill.

It is said that Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer had a say in selecting persons for this award. Since TNK was given the award, as he was regular to Semmangudi, Lalgudi refused this award later.

Regarding T M Krishna, the carnatic musician, is of different type with left leanings, it seems. His article is being published every alternate Sunday in The Hindu. He is a Vaishnavite B, a student of Semmangudi.

Since majority of the carnatic musicians are from one caste, and most of the attendants are also from that caste, his absence won't create any impact in the music circle. One can see full house only for selected concerts - Aruna Sairam, Sanjay Subramanyam, Bombay Jayashree, Abishek Raghuram.

What I observe from the concerts and comments, it is restricted to only certain castes. If 100 people are attending the concert, 90 are Iyers, 8 are Vaishnavite Bs and the rest are Isai Vellalars. Conveniently the origin of Carnatic Music has been ignored. Many believes it comes from Dhevara Pann Isai. But Bs give credit to Purandaradasa. It requires comprehensive study and critical analysis. Overall, it becomes a Senior Citizens music, as almost all the attendants are from that category.

Please browse Sangidha Kalanidhi controversies in Google and enjoy.
 
I enjoy the music of Nityasree, Sanjay, Sudha and Bombay Jayashree....Even Yesudas at his ripe age of 75 years is getting house full...I happened to be in his concert 2 years back at Chennai..Most of the members were not Brahmins in Kamarajar Arangam where the Kutchery took place...Music is universal...Another very versataile singer who gets the audience into raptures with his mesmerizing voice is Balamuralikrishna ..I attended his Kutchery both in Delhi & Chennai in the last 2 years..He is very soulful and powerful singer at his ripe age of 85 years...If the singers are able to understand the audience and go as per their taste, they will perform to a full house.As far as T.M.Krishna is concerned he is in the friends circle of DMK patriarch's daughter..No doubt he is influenced by the family in his thinking..The loss is to his inner circle of rasikas..Overall not a major loss
 
TM Krishna on why he won't sing in December sabha

http://www.dailyo.in/arts/tm-krishn...season-a-southern-music-nri/story/1/4306.html

My decision to withdraw from the Chennai music season (the December sabha) was neither sudden nor was it triggered by any specific occurrence.
Over the last four or five years I have been thinking about the season. What does it mean to me? What are we contributing through it to music? And where is it heading?

I grew up listening to concerts in the music season and my own evolution in the world of Carnatic music has been through the processes of this festival and therefore it would be dishonest on my part if I don't acknowledge that I have benefited from it, artistically and professionally. Yet I feel that the music season today has reached a point where music has almost disappeared from it. Perhaps I should say music has fled from it, because of the noise that pervades it; noise that comes from within the music and beyond.

For over two decades we have heard it said loudly that the music season has become unwieldy with too many competing organisations and that concerts show a lamentable bipolarity: sparsely populated auditoriums for some and unmanageable crowds for the handful superstars. But this is only a symptom of something else that has been happening and now has reached a critical point. I don't think anyone is surprised if crowds throng only the popular and famous but if somewhere the whole music world is becoming subservient to the idea of the "popular" then this is a serious artistic problem. This is what the season has become. In this din, many wonderful musicians are not just ignored, they, in fact, get to be discarded. I feel that any art world must have a sense of the rich diversity within its ecosystem where the famous are the "face" but the other artists are recognised and respected as important contributors to the aesthetic diversity of the art form. Today the other musicians do not really matter. This bothers me since I too am responsible for this situation.

For the young musicians with dreams, things have only gotten worse and murkier. There is money being spent in the name of donations for concert opportunities, middlemen operating at many levels and the power of the dollar becoming more and more visible. I have the greatest admiration for those young musicians today who have made a mark in spite of all this. But there are many others who are still left behind only because they cannot play this game. I don't think things were as bad in the early 90's.

It has to be accepted that the music season has become more or less a non-resident Indian (NRI)-driven festival and hence, young learners from there, egged on by their parents, appear as "fly by night players" every year during the season.
A decade ago they were a small part of the season but today, among the junior slots, they are a mainstream reality. Musicians who have a foot here and in the US also play their part in creating opportunities for their NRI students during the season so that the quid pro quo is in play. Today money is paid, reviews are planted in newspapers and all this is "par for the course". All this happens behind closed doors, so I have no proof! Due to this even the few truly committed Carnatic musicians from North America who are making their name in Carnatic music have had to struggle to make people realise that they are here for the long haul. Again I have nothing but respect for them.

Beyond the little world of art that Carnatic music occupies, what have we, the participants of this mega festival, done for the music? How much effort during the season have we made to bring diverse listeners into the art, take this art to other sections of society? Only individual artists have taken a few initiatives in bits and pieces. We really don't care about the rest of society and don't see that this music must be democratised. I stand by my view that the world of Carnatic music is socially stifling and narrow with all of us unable to see that this art must be made accessible to the larger society and welcoming of it.

Some of us who are thought to be the powerful stars are unable to put our differences aside and come together for anything beyond ourselves. We have rarely even raised the issue of the payments given to our friends and colleagues on the violin, mrudanga, kanjira or ghatam.

In the "frenzy of the season" now aided and abated by technology I find it very hard to give myself to the music. I am unable to find the quiet that I need to try and sing and this is my inability.

Considering all this I feel it is best that I don't participate in the music season. Over the last five years I did try creating an alternative space within the season framework by offering free concerts but feel that the overall atmosphere is so commodified that listening has more or less vanished.

The Carnatic music in Chennai has become more about the season than about music and this is dangerous for the art. What we see happening in the season is only a symptom of a deeper lack of introspection on the art, its form, access and its integrity. There are of course exceptional individuals who despite the music season continue to make honest efforts as organisers, musicians and connoisseurs.


I am not saying that everything in the past was hunky-dory, but I do feel that the Madras music season has reached anaesthetic tipping point. May be it was always this way and I just did not see it. But now that I do, I cannot remain a participant.
 
On the positive side:

1. More sabhas, more concerts and more singers.
2. Learner singers from USA, canada, UK and australia want to perform and show lot of eageness and capacity.
3. Good exposure to singers and fellow artists.
 
Actually Carnatic music season is only for the benefit of the overseas residents, who wish to listen to many concerts in a short

span of time. Those who live in India enjoy many concerts, both ticketed and free, throughout the year. The rasikAs like to hear

the concerts in person, though many
concerts are uploaded in youtube and also portions are telecast on the television channels.

Some interesting discussions also take place in various sabhas, in the morning sessions.

Let us all enjoy the season! :music:
 
On the positive side:

1. More sabhas, more concerts and more singers.
2. Learner singers from USA, canada, UK and australia want to perform and show lot of eageness and capacity.
3. Good exposure to singers and fellow artists.
Dear Sir,

One more (important?!!) is the yummy food served in the sabha premises! :hungry:
 
I think even kalki or subbudu has commented on that. One makes a list of concerts to attend based on the menu and timings of the canteens in the sabha.

Dear Sir,

One more (important?!!) is the yummy food served in the sabha premises! :hungry:
 
I enjoy the music of Nityasree, Sanjay, Sudha and Bombay Jayashree....Even Yesudas at his ripe age of 75 years is getting house full...I happened to be in his concert 2 years back at Chennai..Most of the members were not Brahmins in Kamarajar Arangam where the Kutchery took place...Music is universal...Another very versataile singer who gets the audience into raptures with his mesmerizing voice is Balamuralikrishna ..I attended his Kutchery both in Delhi & Chennai in the last 2 years..He is very soulful and powerful singer at his ripe age of 85 years...If the singers are able to understand the audience and go as per their taste, they will perform to a full house.As far as T.M.Krishna is concerned he is in the friends circle of DMK patriarch's daughter..No doubt he is influenced by the family in his thinking..The loss is to his inner circle of rasikas..Overall not a major loss

Overall, Yesudas or Jesudas is a no-nonsense singer. He regularly attracts good crowd. In the last music season, it was full house in Mylapore Fine Arts Club.

But, whenever opportunity comes, he used to criticize Bs. Sometime back he did that in a function organized for carnatic music. Of late, he is not singing in Music Academy. Any reason.
 
The December Music Season was organized to counter British when they performed Christmas celebrations during that period. The Music Season has come to the present level.
 

December is selected because Sing. Chennai will be comparatively cool and it is the vacation time for overseas residents!
 
I think even kalki or subbudu has commented on that. One makes a list of concerts to attend based on the menu and timings of the canteens in the sabha.
The caterers strive hard to prove who is the best 'NaLan'! :thumb:
 

December is selected because Sing. Chennai will be comparatively cool and it is the vacation time for overseas residents!

Yes the music season is in the Tamil month of Marghazhi...It is the best month to propagate Bhakthi...The vehicle is Carnatic music!
 
It is not Margazhi, Thai or Masi. It is because of the reason mentioned in my post No.16. A highly rated Mridhangam artist told this in a program.

So many facts are twisted. December Music Season is also one of them.

Long live twisting. :boxing:
 
This is how Music Academy started, according to Wiki:

''In 1927, Indian National Congress held the All India Music Conference in Madras. At the end of the conference it was decided that an

organisation be formed that helped the cause of music. The prime reason for this conference was E. Krishna Iyer who had played a

vital role in reviving the south Indian dance art form - Bharatanatyam.


Lovers of music and other well wishers wanted to stimulate interest in Carnatic music in the South and develop a rich culture. The

academy had sound planning from the start with an expert committee consisting of some of the leading musicians and scholars to

advise the academy on all technical matters.
The Academy was formally inaugurated on the 18th of August, 1928 by C. P. Ramaswami Iyer,

in the Y.M.I.A. Auditorium before a large and distinguished gathering.


Since then the academy has endeavoured to provide various avenues to further the advancement of the science and art of Indian music.


Annual music conferences are held every December to collect all information regarding music, maintain the library and publish a

journal. They also help to bring to public notice aspiring musicians and scholars by conducting competitions and other presentations.


For a decade, E.Krishna Iyer worked as the Secretary of the Madras Music Academy. The first Music Festival was held in December,

1927 which is before the inauguration of the Music Academy. Since then, it had become a part of the Madras Music Academy's

Activities to conduct several expositions and concerts on Carnatic Music every December. This later came to be popularly known as

the Margazhi Season or is even referred to as the Music Season amongst Carnatic enthusiasts. This soon became the norm for all

sabhas in Madras to conduct several concerts each day during the season.

There were several sabhas before the formation of the Music Academy like the Parthasarathy Swami Sabha in Triplicane

which was formed as early as 1900. However it was the Madras Music Academy that set the trend of conducting the music

festival during December.''
 
Whatever may be the reason why the December Music season was started but commonsense tells that December is the best season for Chennai when the climate is very pleasant , Christmas Vacations , Many NRIs visit Chennai during this time , as there is less of marriage during this season all the Caterers are easily available and they can also make good money during this time .So basically it is a win win for most people .
 
NRI is a very recent phenomenon. Have NRIs been visiting Chennai for the last 100 years during music season?

NRI traffic has increased only after the rise of IT Industry.

Earlier Music Season was conducted in PS High School also.
 
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