assessment of music today
Vish Subramanian
I was reading the April edition of Sruti, which contains some looks
back at the December music season in Madras. Pattabhiraman (the
editor) states his oft repeated pessimistic views on the state of
carnatic music today. He complains about the lack of individuality,
the emphasis on compositions, and the more amorphous lack of emphasis
on consistency between sahitya and raga in majority of today's
music. All compared to a "golden era" that ended in approximately the
60s, of course.
Some complaints regarding Hindustani music also seem to be floating
around - the decline in importance of vocal music, "superstar"
phenomenon, etc.
I would like to know how valid these complaints are. Given that I
wasnt around in the 60s, and in fact have listened somewhat closely to
music only in the last 5 years or so, I wanted to ask you nettors for
your opinions, with specific opinions on todays musicians versus the
music of yesteryears. How satisified are you with music you listened
to recently (past few years). Specifically, how would you compare the
best/average concert of today with the best/average of all concerts
you ever heard? What about the best/average recent recording versus
the best/average of all recordings? If you feel there has been a
decline, how serious do you think it is? Which musicians practicing
today would easily hold their own in any age? Has there been a trend
towards uniformity?
Do try and give some allowance when recalling past concerts for the
inevitable sheen that the past acquires.
As an aside, dhrupad seems to be one form where people are claiming a
revivial (at least in interest). Any opinions?
Thanks,
Viswanath
----
Viswanath Subramanian |Hewlett-Packard
sv...@cup.hp.com |M/S 43LN
Ph : 408-447-3267 |19420 Homestead Rd.
Fax: 408-447-2264 |Cupertino, CA 95014
----
Nataraj NV
>I was reading the April edition of Sruti, which contains some looks
>back at the December music season in Madras. Pattabhiraman (the
>editor) states his oft repeated pessimistic views on the state of
>carnatic music today. He complains about the lack of individuality,
>the emphasis on compositions, and the more amorphous lack of emphasis
>on consistency between sahitya and raga in majority of today's
>music. All compared to a "golden era" that ended in approximately the
>60s, of course.
I'd have to agree with this. The best music I've heard was recorded before I
was born. Sometimes I wonder whether I'm listening to some semi-classical
songs or a classical concert.
>
>Some complaints regarding Hindustani music also seem to be floating
>around - the decline in importance of vocal music, "superstar"
>phenomenon, etc.
I don't know about this one. But I don't know of anyone really good and
young ... except for Rashid Khan.
For me nostalgia is not a factor since I'm hearing many of the concerts for
the first time.
If some one has suggestions regarding good younger singers pls do post !
AKTALWAR
set with Ramkali, Alhaiya Bilawal, Jogkauns and Sindura is available from
biswas.com. Suresh Talwalkar has given Tabla accompaniment.
Augustus T. White
>
> If some one has suggestions regarding good younger singers pls do post !
Warren Senders.
--Toby White
Y. Chandramouli
of carnatic music.
imho, without even considering the top performers of that era, i find that
even some of the not so popular artists of the 60s time frame,
like tk rangachari, sattur ag subramanyam to be much better
(intellectually and aesthetically) than most presentday living performers.
i am not saying this out of nostalgia, since i have heard only concert
tapes of these artists. it is too bad these superb artists time periods
overlapped
with some other great ones.
my view for the decline in standards of music are:
1. the concert platform is becoming standardized too much
very few ragas and krithis are rendered in most concerts.
it is a rare nowadays where an artist renders a detailed exposition of
even the classic ragas such as dhanyasi, kedaragowla, sahana, begada.
even the popular krithis of 1960s are almost forgotten.
for eg. if an artist sings thodi most likely he/she will sing kadanu
variki,
if sankarabaranam it will be enduku peddala.
it is my belief that, in the near future, no artist will know or render a
classic krithis like gajavadana sammodhitha veera (thodi).
2. in place of classic krithis, we have new (albeit weightless) krithis
btw, i am not against new compostions. btw, instead of rendering some
classic krithis, recently artists resort to rendering new krithis by
modern composers
which do not have the sangathis or movements in some of the classic
krithis.
3. pallavis in light ragas
the modern trend is to sing pallavis in light ragas such as hamsanandi,
kafi, behag, desh etc.with a brief thanam, pallavi and followed by
endless ragamalika swaras. i would prefer a pallavi without ragamalika
and perhaps after the pallavi a slokam ragamalika can be rendered.
Vish Subramanian wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I was reading the April edition of Sruti, which contains some looks
> back at the December music season in Madras. Pattabhiraman (the
> editor) states his oft repeated pessimistic views on the state of
> carnatic music today. He complains about the lack of individuality,
> the emphasis on compositions, and the more amorphous lack of emphasis
> on consistency between sahitya and raga in majority of today's
> music. All compared to a "golden era" that ended in approximately the
> 60s, of course.
>
Arunkumar Sridharan
Some thoughts:
As Mr. Chandramouli pointed out, TK Rangachari was one of the musicians
who did not shine that much, despite his musical abilities. But still -
each performace of these musicians are a source of learning in some
form. In one Bangalore concert TKR says - 'I am going to sing
Neelaambari now. I will try to sing the raga, follow it up with my Guru
Ponnaiah Pillai's kriti - Amba Neelambari, Nowadays, no one sings this
beautiful raga, it has so much beauty, nalinam, Don't think I am
lecturing, I know you audience here will enjoy raaga Neelaambari, that
is why I am singing it'. he then went on to sing one of the best
Neelambari I have heard (practically a lesson to learn Neelaambari).
Nowadays, when artistes perform here, I request them to render atleast
one classic composition. Some of them oblige, some don't. Be it
Pavanaathmaja (Naatai) instead of Maha Ganapathim. With one artiste it
was "Kamakshi " in Yadukula Kambhoji of Shyama Sastry. The artiste said
- "How can I sing that, It is really long, It will put the audience to
sleep' . How can an artiste make such an assumption? There were 42
people at that concert. 20 of them musically knowledgeable. For the 10
of them - anything would be OK, the remaining people came because of
some compulsions - not for the music- I think. Anyway, how would it have
mattered if the artiste sang Kamakashi? 20 people (50%) would have
enjoyed it. Not all kritis in a program are enjoyed by everybody. One
artiste had a prati madhyamam raga as the main raga. Someone asked the
artiste to render Janani Ninuvina (reetigowla) after that, not a very
good choice after the main item. But anyway what the artiste said was -
'How can I sing this after a heavy Pratimadhyamam Raga?' Why not? Are
there rules prohibiting such a selection. I don't think so. One other
artsite said in reply to a question about not singing an RTP "This is
the best I can do". What do you do with such a reply??
In a concert recording, Palghat Mani makes a speech - he says the
artiste is the one who should decide what the people should listen, not
the other way. Nowadays, it is the otherway - the artsite sings exactly
what people want, to get tumultous applause (Everything draws a standing
ovation - anyway). Listen to some of the old concerts - one eg would be
of MDR - each time the same kriti takes a new glow. One of the most
soulful and best renditions of Yadukula Kaambhoji, Sahaana,
Aanandabhairavi, Sree, Kedaaram, Reetigowla, Darbaar and Suruti can be
heard from MDR.
Ragas like Mukhari, Suruti, Begada, Saama, Sahaana, Aahiri, Yadukula
Kaambhoji are pretty much out of circulation. Kritis like Shantamulekha
(Saama) - why does not anybody sing this anymore?? Similar is the fate
of songs like Neeve Raakula Dhanamu, Lokaavanachatura, Sundari Nindarilo
(all Begada), Giripai (Sahaana), Emani Ne Nee Mahima, Elaa Avataaramu,
Muripemu, Kaarubaaru (all Mukhaari).
I have not listened to the new musicians in live concerts. But from the
repertoire of songs they present in concerts and AIR programs, only
Sanjay Subramaniam IMO, is one who strives to stand out of the lot -
both with the approach to music and choice of songs as well as the depth
in renditions. Unfortunately, his voice does not cooperate that much.
But not all musicians of the 'golden era' had mellifluous voice!!!
Arun
S Suresh
Didnt start attending concerts till the mid 80s so
cannot talk about concerts in the 60s. Most of my
observations are based on recorded material.
First let us take the case of female singers. The most
famous ones of the yesteryears were MS, DKP, MLV, Brinda
and N C Vasanthakokilam. All of them except MLV had 'deep'
voices. If you take the female artists of today, you cant
find one who has a 'deep' voice. All of them are smooth and
silky but somehow the depth is lacking. All renditions are
silken smooth and these artists are very popular. Most
of their renditions leave me with an empty feeling. They are
very good in rendering the lighter pieces but when it comes
to the pieces with depth, there is a lot left to be desired.
Anyday I will pick up one song of Pattamal over a full tape
of the latest artists.
Coming to the male artists, there is a bit of dilema. Where
do you include people like Santhanam and T N Seshagopalan.
To the modern era? I guess so,since they werent around in 60s.
My view is that at his peak, TNS can be compared and that too
favourably with any of the past masters. There is depth in his
renditions, has a good voice and sings some of the Dikshitar
songs with a lot of sowkhyam. Nowadays he is too much into
arithmetic, so much so that it is difficult to sit through
some of his swara singing. But all said and done, the future will
regard him a master and place him alongside the masters of the 60s.
The same will be the case of Santhanam.
From what I have heard of the male artists today, Hyd Bros, Sanjay
Subramaniam and Santhanagopalan stand out. Both Sanjay and Santhanagoplan
dont have a great voice. This is definitely a handicap but lot
of the past masters did not have a great voice either. Hyd Bros
are also good and I do like some of their recorded material. All
of them have a long way to go before they can be regarded as masters
but they are definitely in the process of forming a style of their
own. I hope they succeed in this effort.
My own favourites are people who ruled in 70s and not 60s. KVN, DKJ,
BMK, MDR and Semmangudi. Among female artists MS, DKP and Brinda.
I dont think any recorded material of the newer generation compares
favourably with the recordings of the above mentioned artists. I hope
that in the future we will get some superlative recordings from these
new artists.
With Warm Regards,
S.Suresh
santhanam balaji
Hi,
S Suresh (sure...@sequent.com) wrote:
: My two cents worth:
: First let us take the case of female singers. The most
: famous ones of the yesteryears were MS, DKP, MLV, Brinda
: and N C Vasanthakokilam. All of them except MLV had 'deep'
: voices. If you take the female artists of today, you cant
: find one who has a 'deep' voice. All of them are smooth and
: silky but somehow the depth is lacking. All renditions are
: silken smooth and these artists are very popular. Most
: of their renditions leave me with an empty feeling. They are
: very good in rendering the lighter pieces but when it comes
: to the pieces with depth, there is a lot left to be desired.
: Anyday I will pick up one song of Pattamal over a full tape
: of the latest artists.
Can you please explain what a "deep voice" means ? Is it one
that spans more octaves than normal voice ? Is this a musical
or a biological term ?
And importantly how does it relate to rendering better music ?
I understand this might be a difficult thing to explain in words.
I have listened to very few musicians.
Mostly I listen to MS. Among female musicians I have also listened to
Sudha Ragunathan. Among male musicians I have listened to Unnikrishnan
and Santhanam on cassette mostly and others only as samples on the net.
But I have never critically analysed or felt
this difference in the depth of voices though I always found
MS to be incomparable and in a different plane than everyone else.
: Coming to the male artists, there is a bit of dilema. Where
: do you include people like Santhanam and T N Seshagopalan.
: To the modern era? I guess so,since they werent around in 60s.
: My view is that at his peak, TNS can be compared and that too
: favourably with any of the past masters. There is depth in his
: renditions, has a good voice and sings some of the Dikshitar
: songs with a lot of sowkhyam. Nowadays he is too much into
And again what is "depth in renditions" ? Please explain even if its
subjective or too technical.
And what about the present-day's instrumental renditions compared to the
yesteryears ? Has there been a decrease in quality there too ?
Thanks,
Balaji
S Suresh
>Hi,
>S Suresh (sure...@sequent.com) wrote:
>: My two cents worth:
>: First let us take the case of female singers. The most
>: famous ones of the yesteryears were MS, DKP, MLV, Brinda
>: and N C Vasanthakokilam. All of them except MLV had 'deep'
>: voices. If you take the female artists of today, you cant
>: find one who has a 'deep' voice. All of them are smooth and
>: silky but somehow the depth is lacking. All renditions are
>: silken smooth and these artists are very popular. Most
>: of their renditions leave me with an empty feeling. They are
>: very good in rendering the lighter pieces but when it comes
>: to the pieces with depth, there is a lot left to be desired.
>: Anyday I will pick up one song of Pattamal over a full tape
>: of the latest artists.
> Can you please explain what a "deep voice" means ? Is it one
> that spans more octaves than normal voice ? Is this a musical
> or a biological term ?
> And importantly how does it relate to rendering better music ?
> I understand this might be a difficult thing to explain in words.
You are correct. It is difficult to explain it in words. I have all
along been a listener so I confess my inability to express this in
more scientific terms. Some musician or musicologist can possibly
help. The 'deep voice' is more biological. It has nothing to do with
the range of the voice.
Maybe I can ask you to listen to the singing of Pattammal and then
listen to someone like Sudha Raghunathan. That may possibly give you
an idea of what I mean by a 'deep voice'.
> I have listened to very few musicians.
> Mostly I listen to MS. Among female musicians I have also listened to
> Sudha Ragunathan. Among male musicians I have listened to Unnikrishnan
> and Santhanam on cassette mostly and others only as samples on the net.
> But I have never critically analysed or felt
> this difference in the depth of voices though I always found
> MS to be incomparable and in a different plane than everyone else.
>: Coming to the male artists, there is a bit of dilema. Where
>: do you include people like Santhanam and T N Seshagopalan.
>: To the modern era? I guess so,since they werent around in 60s.
>: My view is that at his peak, TNS can be compared and that too
>: favourably with any of the past masters. There is depth in his
>: renditions, has a good voice and sings some of the Dikshitar
>: songs with a lot of sowkhyam. Nowadays he is too much into
> And again what is "depth in renditions" ? Please explain even if its
> subjective or too technical.
I will once again confess by inability to express this clearly. I think
it has something to do with the aakaram, gamakams used etc but it is
only a guess. Again I would request some muscian/musicologist to help.
I can only feel that some renditions have lot of depth and some dont.
I have never been able to explain it technically.
> And what about the present-day's instrumental renditions compared to the
> yesteryears ? Has there been a decrease in quality there too ?
I dont listen to as much instrumental music as I do to vocal so it is hard
for me to compare.
With Warm Regards,
S.Suresh
> Thanks,
> Balaji
Y. Chandramouli
say.
while every one havetheir favorite artsist, we are talking about the
collective
musical standard set by those musicians.
only in that regard, i find that the present day collective musical standard
is not as good
as it was 1950s - 1960s.
now that you want some specifics from me, among present day musicians,
i like seshagopalan's intellect.i don't think santhanam (he has said that
himself in
an interview) would belong to that elite class of musicians, neither are
hyderabad
brothers. among female musicians sudha raghunathan is superb. some promising
future artists are sanjay, tm krishna and sowmya. however, i would hasten to
point
out to a palghat mani iyer interview, in which he says " Being a musician
is like taking
an examination and being evaluated at every concert ! ".
btw, as an aside, it might well be true that during 1950 and 60s, the
musicians of that era
could have been criticized that they could not live up to the standards of
musicians of 1920s
such as konerirajapuram vaidhyanatha iyer, madurai pushpavanam, kancipuram
naina pillai etc.
chandramouli
S Suresh wrote:
> Coming to the male artists, there is a bit of dilema. Where
> do you include people like Santhanam and T N Seshagopalan.
> To the modern era? I guess so,since they werent around in 60s.
> My view is that at his peak, TNS can be compared and that too
> favourably with any of the past masters. There is depth in his
> renditions, has a good voice and sings some of the Dikshitar
> songs with a lot of sowkhyam. Nowadays he is too much into
> arithmetic, so much so that it is difficult to sit through
> some of his swara singing. But all said and done, the future will
> regard him a master and place him alongside the masters of the 60s.
> The same will be the case of Santhanam.
>
Default User
To analyze the "golden sixties", I am going back to my personal memories of a
couple of concerts:
Madurai Somu's concert at Raja Rajeswari Temple in Madurai - the concert
starts at about 10:00 PM with Lalgudi Jayaraman playing the violin and
Murugabhoopathi on the mrudangam. There is a very small stage on the walkway
along Vadakku Chithirai Veedi with a Pandal on top. The audience fill up the
street which has been blocked at both ends. The summer heat is still
radiating from the tar. Somu walks to the stage from his home with a large
group of fans and starts the concert. His voice is hoarse, but warms up
quickly. The audience is comprised of mostly old men. The momentum picks up
quickly and deeply involves the audience. I can see a few people sitting in
the front row literally crying during his Karaharapriya alapanai. Nobody
moves until he finishes his concert around 3:00 AM. The things that stand out
in my memory are the depth of involvement in the ragas, the teamwork between
the singer, violin, and mrudangam players, and the focus of the audience.
I have a similar memory of a Madurai Mani Iyer concert in Coimbatore with MS
Gopalakrishnan and Palghat Mani accompanying. This was a Sri Rama Navami
concert organized by Binny Subba Rao in RS Puram. Slightly more sophisticated
in the arrangements that the audience didn't have to sit on tar and there was
actually a pandal all around. What I remember about the concert is that each
performer was building on the other's rendering, taking their imagination to
the next step, and pulling the audience to new heights they haven't been
before. All this with mutual admiration and friendly competition, and copious
encouragement. It was an incredible experience.
Both the singers listed have bad voices, both mutilate the words of the
sahityas. The sound systems were bad and the arrangements were poor. But,
they were incredible concerts. I think the singers of present day have better
voices, they pay more attention to the words and pronunciation, and in terms
of their musical knowledge, extent of imagination, and expression of emotions,
they are as good as the "golden sixties" performers. Yet, lately I have been
to very few such incredible concerts as the ones I described. I keep
wondering why.
Maybe, the audience have changed. In the sixties, most people I knew didn't
have a stereo system, not even a tape-recorder. We listened to whatever was
broadcast on the radio at sub-par quality. There were a few gramaphones
around. Today, everyone has reasonably good sound systems and this elevates
the expectation in the concert hall. The audience have also changed with
respect to their attention span. I don't know if anyone today will walk along
the Nagaswara group in a procession listening to Begada alapana for three
hours.
Commercialization has changed the concert platform significantly also. I
don't see the teamwork on the stage like I used to. There is more
professional rivalry today. Top musicians and sidemen don't seem to get along
well. Also, like the salary-cap situation, there is expense-cap disallowing
pairing of good musicians together. And, particularly in US, we drag along
the musicians across the country on buses and planes with no mercy, bring them
to destinations at 4:00 and expect them to give a relaxed, imaginative concert
at 7:00 for four hours. All these play a big role in the quality of the
concerts.
There is also the "film music" syndrome. Most people love the film songs they
enjoyed in their own imaginative, dreamy, invariably teen, years. So whatever
one heard during this stage, whoever they enjoyed during this phase, etched
some fond memories in them. This could be playing a role also when people
talk about the "golden sixties".
My only suggestion is to somehow soften the atmosphere, make it to allow
everyone to relax and focus on the concert better. I would like to share a
recent memorable experience. We had a concert by KS Gopalakrishnan a few
years ago in Dallas. It was not sponsored by any organization. Just a few of
us initiated and organized it in an informal manner. It was a mall auditorium
with dimmed lights. Didn't have a fancy sound system. The hall filled and
people ended up sitting on the steps, on the floor near the stage, etc. He
played the flute for about 4.5 hours to the greatest satisfaction of everyone
present. I haven't experienced this feeling lately.
Just some thoughts.
Sridhar
meen_69
a connoisseur of Carnatic music. The views given by some friends on the
present day music cannot be totally agreed upon. Let me present my views:
Past and Present: One cannot compare the Stalwarts of yester years with the
young artistes of today. 1) The concert platform (Ariyakudi), Sarvalaghu
swaram(Madurai Mani Iyer), Brighas(GNB), concert pattern, etc. were
revolutionised doing their period. When we hear/d their concerts (directly or
on tapes), we were/are young and they had crossed their 50s. So, their
experience and the freedom to innovate were there. The present day youngsters
are just over 30 and are yet to gain a lot of experience. One must appreciate
their interest in Classical music and give room for them to blossom into
full-fledged musicians. One must however comment on the over-exposure to
youngsters. If everyone feels that way, why not invite people like
Vairamangalam Lakshminarayanan, T.K.Govinda Rao, V.Subramaniam, Seetha Rajan,
Mani Krishnaswamy, R.Vedavalli, Ranganayaki Rajagopalan and others to perform
in India and abroad?!!! 2) Male Musicians Vs Female Musicians: When talking
of the depth, is it the depth in voice, mannerisms, Vidwat, or what? If one
feels that depth implies deep voice, that is the inherent quality of a male
voice!!! In that case, would you rate Shobhana Rangachari (very deep voice)
an all time great? She was no doubt a musician with a great potential. If one
talks of mannerisms and movement of hands and face- then female musicians
cannot do such uncouth things as they do not befit a lady. If at all a female
musician does these, she will only be commented upon and hailed as a Vidushi.
Not all female musicians sing ‘tukkadas’! Why not hear Vidushis like
Vedavalli, Mani Krishnaswamy, Suguna Purushottaman, Suguna Varadachari,
Seetha Rajan, Aruna Sayeeram, Sowmya, Raji Gopalakrishnan, Manda SudhaRani
and others who do sing Rakthi Ragas, have a very good repertoire, have vidwat
in them and have very good Laya Gnana and do innovative things within the
boundary of Lakshana. Why not listen to these people and then comment? If one
is going to buy only Tukkada music and invite such people to perform, who is
to blame? 3) As far as audio CDs or cassettes are concerned, the artistes
sing what is commercially viable as that is what the recording companies
want. The artistes do not record on their own. Howazzttt?!!!!! Nyayi
In article <7ec9pl$v...@scel.sequent.com>,
sure...@sequent.com (S Suresh) wrote:
> My two cents worth:
>
> Didnt start attending concerts till the mid 80s so
> cannot talk about concerts in the 60s. Most of my
> observations are based on recorded material.
>
> First let us take the case of female singers. The most
> famous ones of the yesteryears were MS, DKP, MLV, Brinda
> and N C Vasanthakokilam. All of them except MLV had 'deep'
> voices. If you take the female artists of today, you cant
> find one who has a 'deep' voice. All of them are smooth and
> silky but somehow the depth is lacking. All renditions are
> silken smooth and these artists are very popular. Most
> of their renditions leave me with an empty feeling. They are
> very good in rendering the lighter pieces but when it comes
> to the pieces with depth, there is a lot left to be desired.
> Anyday I will pick up one song of Pattamal over a full tape
> of the latest artists.
>
> Coming to the male artists, there is a bit of dilema. Where
> do you include people like Santhanam and T N Seshagopalan.
> To the modern era? I guess so,since they werent around in 60s.
> My view is that at his peak, TNS can be compared and that too
> favourably with any of the past masters. There is depth in his
> renditions, has a good voice and sings some of the Dikshitar
> songs with a lot of sowkhyam. Nowadays he is too much into
> arithmetic, so much so that it is difficult to sit through
> some of his swara singing. But all said and done, the future will
> regard him a master and place him alongside the masters of the 60s.
> The same will be the case of Santhanam.
>
> From what I have heard of the male artists today, Hyd Bros, Sanjay
> Subramaniam and Santhanagopalan stand out. Both Sanjay and Santhanagoplan
> dont have a great voice. This is definitely a handicap but lot
> of the past masters did not have a great voice either. Hyd Bros
> are also good and I do like some of their recorded material. All
> of them have a long way to go before they can be regarded as masters
> but they are definitely in the process of forming a style of their
> own. I hope they succeed in this effort.
>
> My own favourites are people who ruled in 70s and not 60s. KVN, DKJ,
> BMK, MDR and Semmangudi. Among female artists MS, DKP and Brinda.
> I dont think any recorded material of the newer generation compares
> favourably with the recordings of the above mentioned artists. I hope
> that in the future we will get some superlative recordings from these
> new artists.
>
> With Warm Regards,
>
> S.Suresh
>
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
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Nataraj NV
>on tapes), we were/are young and they had crossed their 50s. So, their
>experience and the freedom to innovate were there. The present day
>youngsters
>are just over 30 and are yet to gain a lot of experience. One must
appreciate
>their interest in Classical music and give room for them to blossom into
>full-fledged musicians
Thats an interesting point. You could be right ....
But I have heard old masters recorded when they were young ... not many but
some like Pt Joshi. The class is very much evident. In late 80's I attended
one of the first concerts of Rashid Khan. Same story. I've also heard Madhav
Gudi when he was probably in 30's. I was not impressed ... I heard him again
in Delhi a few years back ..... stayed till the end only to hear some
Purandara Dasa krithis.
I don't know, whether the genius is inborn and comes to light very fast ....
Lot of old masters were child prodigies, Kumar Gandharva for eg.
There are some exceptions ... like U Srinivas, who was so promising but
never really matured.
But are the masters of 60's better than grand old masters like Abdul Karim
Khan ? So few recordings of them exist that we will never know. But Bade
Ghulam Ali Khan ... you could say betters people of 70's.
I have not heard many young artists but, I'd surprised if anyone can be
compared to BMK in alapana. Sudha and Unnikrishnan cds I got recently make
me wonder whether its semi-classical or classical !?
My feeling is that new artists have not spent enough time learning and do
not practice as much. There is certainly something to be said about
guru-shishya parampara.
Subramanian
environmental contribution(viz., audacious practice) is also significant.
Without making a sweeping generalization, I can opine that the current crop
of young musicians graduate too soon and start performing on the
commercial tour without the sustained inculcation of the tradition.
Probably the motivation to make money hinders the rigorous practice and
learning(constantly) components of evolution of a musical doyen.
In one sense, the current young musicians can be compared to the brash
young graduates of Nick Bollitieri tennis academy in Florida. Sure ,
Nick's graduates like Agassi, and Courier, (may be even Sampras?) became
champions. However, are they well-rounded, and sustaining champions?
Something to think about!
Subramanian
Nataraj NV <nata...@earthlink.net> wrote in article
<7ema6q$4ub$1...@oak.prod.itd.earthlink.net>...
> >When we hear/d their concerts (directly or
> >on tapes), we were/are young and they had crossed their 50s. So, their
> >experience and the freedom to innovate were there. The present day
> >youngsters
> >are just over 30 and are yet to gain a lot of experience. One must
> appreciate
> >their interest in Classical music and give room for them to blossom into
> >full-fledged musicians
>
> Thats an interesting point. You could be right ....
>
> But I have heard old masters recorded when they were young ... not many
but
> some like Pt Joshi. The class is very much evident. In late 80's I
attended
> one of the first concerts of Rashid Khan. Same story. I've also heard
Madhav
> Gudi when he was probably in 30's. I was not impressed ... I heard him
again
> in Delhi a few years back ..... stayed till the end only to hear some
> Purandara Dasa krithis.
>
> I don't know, whether the genius is inborn and comes to light very fast
...