Art and Entertainment

Today (Dec 27^th 2006) I attended a Aruna Sairam concert in Mylapore Fine Arts and that experience prompted me to contemplate on the nature of and relationship between art and entertainment. She is hugely popular and the hall was full and there was a standing ovation at the end, which is quite unusual for a staid and low-key audience comprising mostly of tambrams. But I was surprised to find myself highly displeased and I was almost willing to walk out before the end. In the last two weeks I was privileged to see performances of artists, some really good (T.N.Seshagopalan, Ranjini and Gayathri, Malladi Brothers, Sudha Raghunathan) and some, which I felt, were kind of listless (Sowmya, Unnikrishnan and Nithyashri). But today I encountered an ace entertainer. To a quote a niece of mine who is well trained in classical music “She always brings out a lot of applause and seldom tears”.

I have always looked down on art movies and complained that they were not entertaining enough. This experience has shown me that for the artist the primary relationship is between them and the art they are pursuing but for the entertainer it is between them and the audience. In a competitive environment where commercial aspects are involved I think entertainment soon becomes a race to the bottom. Art seems permanent and entertainment ephemeral.

To come back to the concert, she quickly wrapped up the highly technical part seeming to be in a hurry to come to the more ‘interesting’ part. Then all hell broke loose. She was treated like a jukebox with people shouting requests from all over the hall. She obliged and kind of encouraged each request with an ‘avashyam padaren’ (a heavy tambram accent for ‘sure I will sing your request’). It all seemed like a big ego trip. Why do the audience want their favorite song to be sung? Is their desire more important than the artist’s inspiration? Why can’t they just use their CD player if they want to listen to their favorites? The song selection was moving down rapidly, welterweight to featherweight. I was tempted to stand up and ask her to sing ‘loosu ponne loosu ponne’ (a recent and atrocious tamil film song which goes something like ‘idiot girl, idiot girl, I idiot boy is running behind you idiotically), but my mom sitting next to me would have just collapsed in embarrassment. To clarify, I am no traditionalist. I don’t snicker; in fact I am energized, if artists sing Tamil compositions that some traditionalists don’t approve. I think there is enough room to manuevre and you cannot straightjacket art by insisting on tradition. It is not just what she sang but the way it was brought made it more entertainment than art. In any case I don’t know the basics of Indian classical music and hence don’t fully appreciate the techniques and nuances. But I can experience the difference. If I want entertainment I can go to a light music show or switch on TV, here I have come to enjoy the art in its full form. Let us not shortchange it by our shorter attention spans!

So whats wrong with entertainers? No, there is nothing wrong with them. But if all artists become entertainers the world would be full of BoysToMen and no Beethoven, full of Sydney Sheldons and no Shakespeare. I think there is space for both and only an insecure artists would rush to entertainment. Entertainment is like a quickie, there is a time and place for it, but if everyone seeks that all the time then they are really missing the real fun!

I think no good entertainer has died a pauper but there are some good artists who have (Van Gogh and Bharathiyar are popular ones, one fellow poet griped that there were more flies on Bharathi’s body than people in his funeral).

Another aspect to ponder. Is art possible through sustainable sustenance lifestyles or does it need a surplus that usually comes through some form of exploitation? That requires another blog entry.

Sabhapathi

It is music festival season in Chennai and Mylapore Fine Arts Club (MFA) is where I will be every evening till end of this year. Two kutcheris (concerts) have already been ticked off, Gaayathri on Veena and Sowmya (vocal). It has been very good so far though I have to admit the canteen facility is a bit disappointing.

It has been a busy time and that is one of the reasons for not blogging for so long. Asha India had its bi-annual meeting in IIT Mumbai last week and Asha Bangalore was there in full strength with 4 of the teachers coming along with us. I traveled by 2^nd class in train (long distance, I keep doing the Bangalore-Chennai trip more often) after a long time and I have to say that the things have improved a bit. The train coaches are slightly cleaner than before. And also it is the best way to experience Mumbai. Gosh, when you enter Ambarnath area the stench is unbearable. Wiffs of what seems like very toxic chemical along with decomposing garbage and human shit is quite overwhelming. It is also amazing how quickly our senses get used to such stuff. After 15 minutes I stopped noticing the smell.

The Chennai musical festival season is quite amazing. In the next few weeks there would be more than 2000 concerts here! MFA has 5 concerts every day starting at 9 in the moring and ending at 9 at night. Similarly there are more than 20 to 25 sabhas (music clubs) organizing kutcheris. But in a typical southern traditional the whole thing is very low key. A tourist can be visiting Chennai and can even not notice such a festival is going on. If this kind of opportunity was there in any western country they would have marketed it so much and made a huge deal about the whole thing.

If one observes the audience they would soon realize that the average age is 65. But it would be wrong to conclude that classical karnatic music is a dying art. Most of the performers are not very old (in their forties) and in fact in the last decade there has been a boom of sorts. It agains comes down to time availability. The way we have structured our lives with corporate jobs that squeeze every drop out combined with obsessive child rearing leaves very little time for younger folks for any leisure. So only those who are ‘retired’ can attend music concerts that slowly build up over a 3 hour period. But I guess there would be a constant stream of 60 plus retirees who would fill these sabhas. So let us not worry that the classical music would die out.

Switching back to good old Test cricket

I am using the new found 'flexibility' very satisfactorily. The first thing in the morning I switch on the TV to watch the Ashes series of test matches. It is not as one sided as it appears in the scores. In the first test (second innings) the contest between Warne and Pietersen was classic test match stuff. Warne, the old fox, seems to get wilier as he ages and Pietersen does not know anything other than aggression. Warne is now such a tactician he sets up his batsmen over many overs. The way he took advantage of Collingwood's eagerness to get his century was great. A well flighted delivery drew Collingwood off the crease and the ball just dipped and beat him. It was like watching E.A.S. Prasanna at his best. Pietersen used his long legs very well and was so aggressive against Warne; Warne was forced to bowl a negative line round the wickets. Today was the first day of the second test and England has done reasonably well. Again a very interesting partnership developed between Colingwood and Pietersen and a good contest with Warne. It was great watching a good struggle between bat and ball.
On the other side of things we have this one day series going on between India and South Africa. One day internationals have lost their initial excitement and have become formulaic and boring. They are to test matches what Boys to Men are to Beethoven. And when Indian batting is at its worst it is even more painful to watch. Indian batsmen seem to have no mental strength AT ALL. The only person who plays a mental game is Dravid. Dhoni carries on just through sheer timing and form. The rest are worse than pedestrian. Sorry to those who fondly refer to their star as 'Sechin' but I think he should find a few face saving innings and retire quietly. I have never seen a batsmen of his caliber struggle so much before (well I have to say that Viv Richards did struggle in his final days). When Ponting or Lara are out of form they come back so majestically and not tentatively. One cannot be out of form for 2 years! I think Chappell should be thrown out too. The big talking Ganguly was thrown out 'cause he did not match his talk with performance. The same yardstick if applied to Chappell he has failed miserably too. I think the coach's role is not to find talent (that is the selector’s role) but to make a coherent team plan and also improve on the mental and match winning capability of a team. There seems to be no indications of any such thing in out team. Out tail-enders like Agarkar (WHY IS HE STILL IN THE TEAM?) should learn a lot of things from Brett Lee and McGrath. In the last match when Pathan was playing reasonably well why in the world these guys had to go for big shots? (No I did not watch the match, i just saw the wickets in the highlights)

Now that I have more time on my hands, I realize through actual experience what I could only speculate earlier. For enjoying real pleasure and satisfaction one needs time, otherwise it is just a quickie. So back to test cricket ….

Absenteeism in class IV

There are 46 students enrolled in class IV in the Chandranagar Government Primary School. I usually count only around 35. 1 of them I have never seen (Sumitra) and one guy Satish has come only for 2 classes. Others are regularly absent one day or another. The reasons I hear is most that they had gone to their village (ooruge hogidde). The second reason is illness (fever and stomach ache). The first reason is more predominant. Also, it is not as if there was an emergency at the village, it was just some festival or another. I guess the parents feel the school is not that important and the children can afford to miss classes. They don't make sure that the children catch up with the lost lessons either. So there is additional burden on the teacher to make sure that these children catch up. Is it possible when I am already dealing with 35 students? The education bureaucracy wants the teachers to ensure that all children come to school. They even expect the head person to go around the streets in that area to drag the children to school. I feel that is a very wrong approach. For every hour the teacher is outside of the school herding the few children who are not in school there are a large number of students who are already in the school missing the lessons. I think the teachers responsibility is to make the learning environment in the school attractive and interesting. Whether the students come to the school are not should be left to their parents. If the parents are not interested then why should anyone else? The whole obsession with 'drop-outs' makes us spend less energy on the students (and their parents) who are actually interested in schooling. Why should they suffer?