Sunday, August 28, 2011

Sa Re Ga Ma!

Music plays a big role in almost all our lives. It has the power to take us back in time to look back at our cherished memories, to cheer us up when we are sad, to encourage us when we feel depressed or to inspire us when we feel discouraged. Many of us wake up to the sound of music, get ready while listening to music, tune in when we travel, continue listening even while we work , turn up the volume while cooking or doing other chores and some of us are even lulled to sleep by music. We have specific songs for our friends, for special occasions, for our better half and even for ourselves!We often feel possessive about it thinking, "Hey that's MY song or Our song!", no matter that we had no part whatsoever in creating the song in the first place!

But how many of us have actually attended an Indian Classical Music concert? Do we even watch or listen to such concerts without changing the channel? Indian Classical Music has such deep roots and a strong history backing it and yet not many of us are enamored by it. Why? Is it not packaged and marketed well enough? I remember that Doordarshan always used to carry some sad music performance all day through if there was any kind of national tragedy. Or during festivals, a classical music program would get slotted to be aired very early in the day, when quite predictably viewership would be pretty low.

Are Indian Classical Musicians getting the recognition and respect that they deserve? Is Indian Classical Music reaching the youngsters of today and making an impression in their lives? Ms.Aishwarya Natarajan, Director of Indianuance - an artiste management and concert programming company as well as the proud recipient of the British Council's Young Creative Entrepreneur Award in the field of Music shares her thoughts on all these and more. Read my interview with this star newsmaker at Women's Web over here!

Image Courtesy: Dreamstime

9 comments:

  1. lucky you, that you got to meet her...apologies if i sound stupid for not knowing if that's what your profession is?

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  2. @Chintan: Hey no need for apologies! I know that I am not that famous that everyone should know everything about me! Haha!
    But yes I work in the Digital Publishing field :-)

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  3. I love Indian classical music and I am a vainika. People these days are modernised and they think learning or listening to classical music shouldn't be done!
    Nice post Anne :)

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  4. Being a great Indian classical music fan, I agree that the music was not marketed well enough to the next-gen people - atteast by the media. But it also depends on the family members if they want to put their son/daughter to learn this beautiful art.

    But I've seen young talents in Kalashethra chennai, beautifully dressed up and completely abide by the culture, learning this beautiful art. On festival days, folks at my home wake up early and get ready just to see the classical music on TV. The belief is any good thing should start with the good music :)

    As far as my experience with the music concert goes, its difficult to get tickets for good performances. I've seen the auditorium fully occupied and people even stand to hear the performance.The culture is still there - deep rooted among the few and among their next-gen. Just that it was not given due importance in the mass media.

    Sorry for the looong comment. Cant resist after reading this musical post :)

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  5. @Anand: It is great to know that you and your family give such importance to Indian classical music. But I do think that cases like yours happen to be the minority. Maybe better packaging and marketing by mass media, as you have mentioned would improve this disparity.

    And don't worry about long comments! I enjoy reading them :-)

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  6. Though..I do like music...and I am one of the those..who likes listening to music while sleeping too...but..I agree I haven't been a regular or say, a very enthusiastic listener of Indian Classical Music..One of my friends has some interesting Classical Music Collections...May be I will take those..and lend a fresh ears to them.. :)

    Kunal

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  7. @Kumal: Yes I was also exactly as you described. I guess it is because Indian classical music hasn't really been "sold" well till now - as a result of which we always had the impression that it is too boring or too high-brow. Hopefully things will change for the better soon

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  8. I am unfortunate that I couldn't practice classical music or any instruments ( I know its never too late! Someday... ) And you are right, recognition wise Indian classical is quite behind others. Hope it gets better in coming years..

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