21/04/2024
There is this dominant idea amongst musicians these days that "going big is the ONLY way".
Going big is, of course, nourishing for the artists. Especially monetarily. We all perform for Festivals and Conferences. They are rewarding in their own ways. It does feel good to make a large audience sway to your music too.
However, if our artform gets nourished because of a closer interaction with an audience (sitting close to us); and if we ignore that fact and dismiss that fact as unimportant, we risk cutting our own roots. Don't we?
The result:
De-constructed Raag music.
ie. Movements without zameen (context of creation), series of movements without Silsila (continuity), music without Vistar (expansion/elaboration of an idea), lack of Alap (or systematic introduction of notes, in relation to the tonic, that creates meaningful phrases), ignoring of the subtleties like proper use of shrutis, predominant use of loudness and faster passages, taking lesser number of risks and going for success formulae that bring appreciation from a wider audience everytime.
Consider this fact - to reach and impact someone who cannot differentiate, at all, between the approach of the Rishab of Marwa and that of the Gandhar of Puriya, we might often not choose to perform those Raags. Because, there is a chance that we wont receive our own dopamine effect that the Daad (praise, ovation) from the audience at the right moment brings to us (as we build up the storyline for the landing on the mentioned notes).
Consider the photos shared. All of those are from the Baithaks of Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Delhi.
Were all these great musicians performing in intimate listening concerts and hanging around in the get-togethers (before & after concert) because "Big was the ONLY way for Raag Sangeet" ? Or did they understand something that we are failing to understand now?
For any researched form of music (which comes with a tradition), audience creation is as important a part of its survival as the artists' monetary wellbeing. Could the Okinawan Sanshin music tradition or the Balinese Gamelan music tradition survive without an audience that has some interest in understanding the music of the tradition?
Why cannot the Festival concerts and the intimate listening concerts co-exist? Both need eachother, in my opinion.
What is your opinion?
Photo courtesy:
Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, New Delhi.
Shared to me by Shri Anindya Banerjee , scholar and disciple of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.
