On Jan 14, 2008 10:53 AM, Suresh Ramasubramanian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > As for amateur .. it is kind of de rigueur in madras at least, typically > for > tamil Brahmin families, to stick their kid into music and/or dance classes > by the time they are 7 or 8. And there's an active community of such > people.. with TV shows and such to showcase kids talents. > True. Most people I grew up with either sing or play one of the instruments (I went to classes as well. Just didn't develop any talent worth showcasing. I do play the mridangam, at a passable level, though.). Girls are "encouraged" to take up Bharata Natyam. A lot of TV channels now have special shows to showcase classical and pop music/dance etc. Contests, reality shows, just plain highlighting talent and more. > It is when people jump the gap from amateur performance to doing this for > "work" that the shoe starts to pinch. > While it is not exactly big money, pros get by on coaching kids, doing the odd radio or TV programme and stuff like that. The really good artistes get booked to do one show or the other on one channel or the other for festivals, and there are enough of that in this part of the world. > Google for "madras sabha season" and see all the names financing all the > concerts.. but other, more traditional art forms (folk art, sculpture, > etc) > tend to languish. > That is beginning to change in the last few years. You have people like koothu-p-pattarai doing street plays, folk dances and stuff which see decent audiences and some sponsorship. And Chennai Sangamam is doing a very good job of supporting small-time artistes - the folk-dance, folk-music kind of people as well as little known art forms of Tamil Nadu. Sculpture has always had some support or the other. Poompuhar, a crafts place in Chennai and Khadi Craft have had special sales/events around sculptures, idols and stuff. November-January is a good time in Chennai for all kinds of artistes. > > Interesting. Do you think that true of all the British colonial > > tradition, or is India different? > > The initial british colonial tradition was the east india company - in > india > to make a profit. Much later you did have individual brits (besides their > senior Indian employees such as the dubash / interpretor to the local > governor etc, as well as local rajas) patronizing local arts and > artistes, > and awarding them pensions, silk shawls / gold medals etc. > Not just the Brits. Local merchants and the zamindars patronised art and artistes. C -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravages http://www.linkedin.com/in/ravages http://www.selectiveamnesia.org/ +91-9884467463
