CONCERT AT IT'S BEST: NOT AMONG CONNOISSEURS
Its said that when you are in a company of kids you tend to behave them. I ain't aware of who framed this hypothesis or has it to do something with psychology. Not that i am too concerned about it either. By now am sure many who have read my blog would have come to a conclusion that i am a music freak especially classical carnatic music. All along i have spoken a lot about musicians and how they influenced me. But the enthusiasm and zeal i saw amongst kids in yesterday's concert at Mylapore forced me to look beyond the grammar of music. SudhaRagunathan performed at the Srinivasa Perumal temple to a packed audience. Nothing unusal about it. She has this great fan following, rare for a carnatic musician. I have heard MS amma had such in those days. Not drifting, there were these enthusiastic kids, absolutely not bothered about anything in this world. They made sure that the artist sang what they had requested. The striking point was they were smart enough to request only the songs they knew. I am sure all of them would have just started their music classes and would have may be learnt a couple of varnams. I could just smile at them and appreciate their eagerness. At some point i thought they were trying to disturb the flow of the concert, but then realised for them it was unique opportunity to sing along with the main artist. I cant remember my early days when i attended concerts with my grandfather and parents. It was also that my concert experience was more in a closed environment where everything could be controlled and the performance at shanmukhananda was all serious affair. Coming back to yesterday's performance, Sudha aptly chose songs on lord venkateswara and Krishna, but these kids couldn't control their emotions when she sang brahamamokate, her master piece and kurai onrum illai. At a point the artists on dias couldn't stop laughing, and sudha herself gestured the kids to sing with her. This encouraged them to sing even more louder and prove themselves. At this juncture I was left speechless. At this juncture one year old baby cried to be on stage with her. Her parents were unable to pacify her and she won in the end. I am sure for an artist this counts more than awards and accolades or even getting good reviews from critics. I am not downplaying on them, but satisfying the masses is more difficult that satisfying the classes. For me it was a unique experience, I enjoyed the soul stirring music and this made me realise that everytime its not about grammar. The ignorant smile on the faces of these kids said more than the music that was rendered. i just hope i could just press the reqind button in my life and enjoy with these kids. As you learn more, you tend to complicate more.