On Jan 14, 2008 1:28 PM, Charles Haynes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I've been to DC, and I enjoyed it, but as you say DC is not so much > about art. Though it was a great joy to be able to put my hands on > some clay on a wheel there. I miss working with clay. I've noticed > that, Auroville aside, there seems to be almost no studio pottery here > either. Am I missing something? There's some handwork in terra cotta, > and there's plenty of production pottery, but no real studio pottery. > Why do you think that is? > > There was a showing in one of the slicha upmarket art-galleries a while ago, of pottery and stuff. Details escape me now, but I think it was a bunch of fashion design students. Also, an ex ad dude sells artsy pottery - lamp-shades and other bric-brac - that he creates. Will try get details from a common friend. On Jan 14, 2008 1:39 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > There's some. Carnatic music is much more hidebound with tradition than > western classical music, and yes - years of practice are required to > actually express yourself. Practice, spending time with one guru who will polish your skills up - playing second/third fiddle to him/her, minor concerts, and thus before you can break into the mainstream kutchery scene. And even then, success is a bit of an eel. Add to it that there are enough tapes, CDs etc of the old masters still in > widespread > circulation, with several of them practically OWNING a song thanks to the > mastery they have stamped on it, that any variation at all would get a > critical reception from a number of people. > I am not sure of that. At least in my family, people who do a song differently are appreciated. As long as people can recognize the raagam and the overall framework the original composer left, nuances are appreciated. But yeah, people still wax eloquently about a certain way Madurai Mani Iyer or Maharajapuram sang the particular kriti. (Er...song) > A lot of new artistes (including established ones like Nithyashree > Mahadevan, granddaughter of one of the greats, D.K.Pattammal) sometimes > equate interpretation with "crass commercialism" and "fireworks" .. the > sort > that would draw applause from a crowd but doesn't have much substance > behind > it > > Reminds me of the old K. Balachandar movie - Sindhu Bhairavi. > Not that Nithyashree doesn't back that showmanship with enormous talent.. > just that I hate the fireworks she trots out, and her voice tends to > shatter > glass at high pitches, so I reach for my earplugs whenever someone tunes > into one of her concerts here. LOL. Yeah. > > Oh yes. A lot of experimentation is in using non-traditional instruments > (like composers of the early 1800s first saw violins being used to play > western music and then adapted them, right from changing the tuning of the > violin to an entirely different playing and bowing technique). Now you > have > kadiri gopalnath playing sax, u.srinivas on the mandolin and best of all > .. > "Guitar" Prasanna. Carnatic music on an electric guitar. > http://www.guitarprasanna.com / > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_Prasanna > Vicky Vinayakram experimented with the Ghatam (clay pot), his son (forget the name now) experimented with the Ganjeera. As do a few other people. Shivamani does a lot of experimenting, impromptu performances and such. Guitar Prasanna is not bad at all. He was a regular in my school - as a performer. Got a lot of us pretty excited. Music Academy in Chennai has at-least four five concerts a year that are experimental/fusion. One concert last year was the carnatic violin, the trumpet, a bass-guitar and drums, backed by some good singing. Four-five years ago, Mandolin Srinivas and Zakir Hussain (tabla) played in Madras for a charity show. Besides, Bharata Natyam sees a lot of personal expression - people like Shobana and Padma Subramaniam have done some weird shit, which I shall frankly confess to not understanding at all. But then, they brought some life into a dance form that was becoming heavily middle-class-brahmanized. Patronage is for established artists. Community support for amateurs and > journeymen > The sabhas of Madras also take pride in discovering the next big talent, or they were. Also, drama and theatre finds a good bit of support from people. C -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravages http://www.linkedin.com/in/ravages http://www.selectiveamnesia.org/ +91-9884467463
