Chennai Music Season 2022

During the months of November & December & January, Chennai presents a completely different spectacle compared to the other months. During this time, there is an abundance of energy everywhere, especially among the musicians as well as the listeners. Every day of this period presents, on average, 50 concerts. For the listeners, it is a problem of plenty! One doesn’t know which concert to attend, considering that there is an abundance of talent. Music Academy, the mecca of Carnatic music, sets the trend. They have the responsibility to showcase new talent besides making sure the truly talented musicians are given prime slots. I like their categorization of musicians into super seniors(veterans), Seniors, Subseniors, and Juniors. Seniors are the ones who get the prime slots between 4 pm and 9pm. Super seniors are given the 9am slot. Subseniors and juniors get a raw treatment. The juniors perform just before the lunch hour, to the hungry audience, while the sub-seniors have the tough task of keeping the audience awake after a heavy lunch at the famous canteen at the Music Academy(They serve lavish lunch on the traditional banana leaves).

I must have attended close to 50 concerts and it is difficult to discuss any single concert, partly because I cannot even recall who sang which song. I will, therefore, give a bird’s eye view of the season.

Sanjay Subramnian and RaGa sisters still rule the season in terms of sabha crowds, ticket pricing, and general demand. While I completely justify the No. 1 slot enjoyed by RaGa sisters, I cannot say the same thing about Sanjay. At the risk of angering his fanatic followers, I must say he IS on the decline. I have attended many concerts of his in the past and I find that now he has nothing new to offer. No doubt, he creates a great musical atmosphere right from the start. He does come up with a few unusual or unexpected phrases in any Raga delineation or song to break the monotony. However, in doing so, he strays away from sruti at times. Maintaining a certain Sruti is, after all, very basic to any music. Again, in an attempt to show he is capable of going across 3 octaves, he strains his voice, and in doing so, often melody is lost. Such is the pressure on musicians in the music season that they attempt impossible things to maintain their positions. RaGa sisters, on the other hand, display 100% perfection in all that they attempt, whether they traverse between 3 octaves or play with 2 or 3 ragas at the same time, making smooth transitions from one to the other. Their voice is perfect, there is the purity of sruti(Sruti suddham) and when they glide from one raga to the other back and forth, it is very smooth and pleasing. This is especially so with the younger sister Gayathri. Their reputation and Number 1 standing are well deserved.

Among the seniors, Bharat Sundar is outstanding followed by Amruta Venkatesh. Bharat Sundar is a vastly improved vocalist today and is highly consistent. I must have attended 3 or 4 concerts of his during the season and all of them are very good. The music of both Bharat Sundar and Amrutha Venkatesh is marked by Manodharma(manodharma refers to an innovative approach to presenting phrases in raga, Sangatis & Neraval in songs and kalpana swarams). Both have a very good repertoire of songs. The other young musicians who are impressive are : Kunnakudi Balmuralikrishna, Ramakrishnan Murthy, Abhishek Raghuram, Sriranjani Santhanagopalan, Gayathri Venkataraghavan, Aswath Narayanan, and Aishwarya Vidya Raghunath to name a few. The trio Abhishek Raghuram, Kunnakkudi Balamurali, and Bharat Sundar are more or less on par. Ashwath Narayan is catching up fast. Out of the three, Abhishek is the most unpredictable. The chances of a good performance by Abhishek on any given day is 50:50. However, on his day, he can be brilliant and none can match him! That is what perhaps attracts his fans.

There is plenty of talent around and the pressure among the musicians must be intense to keep doing well. It is almost like the current scenario in Indian cricket where no player can take his place for granted. Music Academy, for instance, is ruthless in dismissing nonperformers in the following year.

Among my disappointments: Saketha Raman and Vishnudev Nambuthri who have not improved over the years. They seem to be getting stuck up after a very quick initial rise in their careers. In today’s ruthless world of competition, such people will not last long, not to talk of getting upgraded to the next level.

Among the upcoming artists recognized by the Music Academy slotted in the junior category,, Lahari from Andhra and Anirudh Venkatesh (based in the USA) performed like seniors in every respect. I’m sure these guys will come up in the future. Kudos to Music academy for identifying such talent.

I must say a few things about the super seniors. If I understand this category correctly, these are the guys who made a big name for themselves in the past and so cannot be ignored. They are past their prime(many on the decline, in fact), but the sabhas find it difficult to ignore them. Therefore, all the sabhas have found a convenient for them slot in the morning at 9am or 10am. These concerts are not ticketed, obviously because the halls would be empty otherwise! It’s a way of honoring them for their past contributions. Malladi Suribabu, Manda Sudharani, Mysore Brothers on violin, A.S.Murali, Nagamani(Mandolin), are some of the examples. Musicians like Nyveli Santhanagopalan, though classified under veterans, are hounourable exceptions. They command respect as performers as well as great Gurus.

Some super seniors like Sudha Raghunathan, and Soumya still manage to get an evening prime slot, although they are, in my opinion on the decline. When I say they are on the decline, I’m strictly talking about their on-stage performance. This is no reflection on their vidwat or the vast knowledge they possess which is perhaps their major strength today.

Among the instrumentalists, I would rate Jayanti Kumaresh(Veena), Ganesh Kumaresh, GJR Krishnan(Vilonists), Shashank (Flute), Mysore Brothers(Violinists) continue to excel and draw big crowds.

Well, I must have left out a lot of other good musicians who might have performed well since I missed many good concerts. For instance, Shertalai Renganatha Sarma is one of my favourite vocalists. His presentation of Swathi Turunal kritis and Dikshitar compositions is exemplary.

An observation about concerts in Mini halls or small auditoriums must be made. Several musicians do NOT know how to perform in a small hall. For instance, I attended a concert of Palakkad Ramprasad accompanied by Delhi Sairam and Anirudh Atreya in the mini hall of Bharatiya Vidyabhavan. There was absolutely no sound control. The volume for the vocalist and the mridangam player was too high for a classical music concert. It sounded more like a rock concert as the hall was reverberating with noise rather than the sound of music. After a couple of songs, I left the hall and went down to the main hall where Gayathri Girish was performing. Her music, in contrast, was at a much slower pace, the sound was pretty much normal and it was a blissful experience. Among the mini halls, I had the best listening experience in Sunadalahari in Azhwar pet founded by Indira Ranganathan Trust. This is being run by the veteran musician and much acclaimed Guru Suguna Varadachari. It is actually a lawn converted into a mini hall by enclosing the venue suitably. I attended an excellent concert by Bharat Sundar in that place.

I must add one notable feature of the music season. There are several young and enthusiastic accompanying players on violin, mridangam, ghadam and Kanjira. The names that come to my mind immediately are: Vittal Rangan, L. Ramakrishnan & Sai Rakshit(Violin), Delhi Sairam and Pravin Sparsh (Mridangam), Anrudh Atreya( Kanjira) and Krishna(Ghadam).

Finally, there can be no music season review without a food review. I’m not a foodie, but I gather that all the important sabhas have a canteen dedicated to music lovers(or are they merely food lovers?). My experience is limited to Music Academy canteen. Their lunches are like those served in weddings. They offer novel snacks such as Vazhathandu vadais, Morukkali to name a couple.To say they also serve great filter coffee is to say the obvious!

On that note…I end my post!