Whether we call them as "dEvar aTiyAr" or "dEvadAsi" or by any other name, I feel they did a very memorable job of preserving and nurturing music and dance. I also feel that they must have had complete involvement, an aptitude to perfectionism, etc., besides some selectivity of only those who promised to be outstanding being taught. That gave us many good performers in those days.
Today, perhaps because of the mass turn-out in both carnatic music and bharatanatyam, standards are going down, in the name of innovativeness, fusion, etc., and the fact that anyone with enough money, even with least aptitude also can give "arangetram" and grab performance opportunities too. I remember the graceful movements of Kum. (Baby) Kamala, Sai-Subbulakshmi, etc., of those days. Some performances even as pure bharatanatyam, nowadays, is more of calisthenics as VR said.
Regarding carnatic music also, there is marked deterioration in the standards of performance, the most marked one being faltering "Sruti" even in the case of some very highly regarded musicians; this was not heard of in the earlier years except in one case of a genius otherwise. "swara" rendering - manOdharma - also is quite jarring to the ears very often because the swarasthAnams are different and the pronounced swaras are different; each goes its own way!
Added to all these, it is a fact that cm or bn as a means of livelihood is not possible now, except for some fortunate few who could find a nice slot somewhere. Since the audience also has spread wider to those with meagre knowledge of music/dance, there is no automatic filtering out of the less talented ones. Finally, we now have the trend where artistes who once shone as jewels, but have lost almost all that ability due to aging, still use the "goodwill" and crave to "entertain" their audience with what can very aptly be called the ghosts of their old, scintillating performances; they probably feel young at heart still, but their bodies and throats do not cooperate with such thinking of theirs !
hi sangom,
i am somewhat surprised by the nostalgic sounding, 'those were the good old days' reply from you.
thanks to better technology, we are now able to detect 'deterioration' of sruti, which we might not have been able to before.
folks like pattanam subramania iyer has not been recorder. some other minimally. even gnb recordings are the old analog variety with a lot of background noises. in that context current recordings highlight any 'fault' instantly and magnifies them.
i am quite sure kamala or gnb or madurai 'tripped' in their own time. except there are no recordings of the same. in my youth, i have been to one gnb concert, and witnessed with gusto, (thanks to my uncle next to me), gnb imbibing soma from kooja every 15 minutes or so. the concert noticeably got more creative with each swallow.
i guess that this process is out of question for bharatanatyam dancers.
nowadays, the chief source of income for any classical music, is through tuition. my cousin (of the 1000 dancers fame) has about 100 students, and a few in the u.s. to whom she visits once a year, and performs arangetram (another source of lumpsum gratuity).
classical arts are treated much the same way in the west. an elite entertainment. there is no way to compare their popularity to that of the pop music groups or cinema.
one interesting phenomenon is the drama theatre. it is very strong in england, and attracts top notch talents. hollywood actors take it as an honour to be able to participate in english theatre dramas, and do so for pittance. our theatre glory days lasted till the 70s when manohar folded. tks brothers folded a few years earlier. nowadays we have only light weight stuff often urban middle class oriented, and out of tune with the masses.
my point, is that there is no deterioration of standards, and there is more popularization, even though in tamil nadu, it is still majority TBs. other communities have to get in too, in proportion of their numbers. soon i hope the stigma associated will be removed, for the conservative elements of all communities.
also, i am against the so called sampradaya purity. art has to evolve, like anything else. one must remember that any production is a time stamped output, and there is no reason, why new winds of change and influence cannot be incorporated. for a while in the 70s, padmini came up with the concept of dance dramas, which were awesome. but those too have gone wayside,
personally, i like the fusion stuff. not all. but some. let us leave it at that.
as always, you are a delight to correspond with. God Bless.
