Ten days into December, the old-world auditorium of the Mylapore Fine Arts Club bristled with anticipation as aficionados of Carnatic Music converged on it for some vintage music from T.N. Seshagopalan and his entourage. Now was the right time to tune into the great vidwan ’s voice, before the season’s itinerary took its toll on him, what with his forays into the challenging Harikatha Kalakshepam and veena concerts.
However, the sound engineers for the evening did not seem to be as diligent as the discerning Mylapore audience would have liked them to be.
Even though T.N.S. Krishna, the maestro’s son, was seen hovering around the sound engineers’ pit, his instructions apparently did not fall on sympathetic ears, as the subsequent hour or two revealed.
Throughout the concert, the erratic acoustics distracted the musicians and the listeners, whose avid thirst for the sukhabhavam (beatitude) went unrequited. All through the generally soothing Abhogi varnam or the Nattai Pancharatna kriti — which was presented with a majestic alapana — the magic was missing even as the recording engineer twiddled with the knobs desperately trying to achieve the elusive balance. Frequently occuring discordant sounds and sudden shrieks threw the musician off his composure.
Dhanyasi (‘ Kanaka sabhapati ’) and Tyagaraja’s classic in Kalyani, ‘ Nidhi chala sukhama ’, went by but the “ sukham ” was still absent.
Violin virtuoso M. Chandrashekhar’s sound was often drowned in a hollow sound. What’s more, on occasion, he had to pause as if wondering if he were part of the ensemble at all.
Given the extravagant corporate sponsorship screaming itself out of banners and messages in all corners of the auditorium — even the stage backdrop — might the sabha custodians not have invested in better sound systems and facilities?
As the season hots up, sabha -s will have to give top priority to acoustics and make sure that the pristine tradition of Carnatic Music is duly packaged and presented in high fidelity, especially given that contemporary artistes can tend to neglect voice culture and are very often seen cupping and cradling the mikes and repeatedly adjusting their tambura drone levels.
All this while, the miming act with the sound engineer carries on as the artiste struggles on with undeserved frustration.
(The author can be mailed at vkalidas@gmail.com)
