The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Praise for music archives

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 24, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Praise for music archives

Staff Reporter

— Photo: S.R. RAGHUNATHAN

LISTENER’S CHOICE: Swami Dayananda Saraswati being briefed by Prakash Chari of Tag Corporation about the facilities at The Music Academy-TAG Digital Listening Archives library in Chennai on Tuesday. N. Murali , president, The Music Academy, and Managing Director, The Hindu, and R.T. Chari, Managing Director, Tag Corporation (right), are in the picture.

CHENNAI: Swami Dayananda Saraswati, who visited The Music Academy-TAG Digital Listening Archives library on Tuesday, said it was a great reserve for Carnatic music.

He looked at the photographs of the stalwarts displayed at the facility and said he had heard many of the artists. It was “nostalgic,” he said.

Commending the effort, he said those who started The Music Academy were visionaries.

“Music survives because of backing and support. It depends on the availability of rasikas. While we ready artists to perform, we should also prepare rasikas,” he said.

He suggested that the Academy request all artists to announce the names of ragas before rendering them and explain briefly their special characteristics, the structure of the notes, and so on.

“Many rasikas tend to identify ragas by associating them with familiar songs. They may not know the notes. Once artists make the announcements, it will help the audience understand the music better,” he said. On kindling interest among young rasikas, he said: “They seem to prefer songs with simple beats. But this [Carnatic music] is more complicated. With some orientation, they will certainly like it.”

Swami Dayananda Saraswati, himself a composer, listened to an excerpt from a concert of Alathur Brothers. With his eyes closed, he listened to ‘Chandrasekhara’ in Sindhu Bhairavi. “They [Alathur Brothers] would sing this at the end of the concert… what a beautiful song,” he said.

N. Murali, president, The Music Academy, and Managing Director, The Hindu, said: “This [archiving of concerts] is a beginning. There is still a long way to go.”

R.T. Chari, Managing Director of Tag Corporation, and executive committee members of The Music Academy were present.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu