December comes and goes, but the music season stays on ...

The 'season' comes to an end with the 'sadas' at the Music Academy. Many sabhas continue their music festivals into January though.

The music continues to go on. Thyagaraja Aradhana is January, Thirupoonthuruthi Narayana Teertha festival, Gopalakrishna Bharathi festival in February-March, Mummoorthigal Jayanthi in March-April and then the music goes to the other side of the globe. Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana during the Easter week is a big event for the musicians and the rasikas in the Big Apple.

And then from June begins the discussions on the awards for the next music season. What follows is Adi Music Festival in Chennai, Gokulashtami series, Vinayaka Chaturthi concerts and then the Navaratri concerts. And lo, the next 'December Season' comes just after the non-stop music through the year.

Being a website for the 'season,' for 7 years now, we want to keep this website just that. We debated on what we do for the music that flows through the year and now we have a new place for the music throughout the year.

We have named it Nadalokam - World of Carnatic music. We move to this place from January to October / November, only to get back to our 'season' hub.

Now you can find news, views, reviews at http://nadalokam.blogspot.in/

Hope to meet you all there till we meet again in this space!   

Big day at Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha

No doubt, it is a big day for the organisers as well as rasikas, whenever K.J. Yesudas presents his concerts during the 'season'. It was no different at Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha on Dec. 21, 2016.

As is the practice, after the morning concert, the sabha sets its venue aside for the full day exclusively for arranging this popular musician's concert at 6.30 p.m. The rasikas, most of them reserve their presence by getting the ticket at least a day earlier. They arrive well in advance and the venue is always houseful for K J Yesudas's concert.

Here is a picture of K.J. Yesudas presenting his performance.
Photo by Smita Joshi.

Melodious morning at Narada Gana Sabha

In the days one gets to listen to Nadaswaram concerts only during the inaugurations of the music festivals, the morning concert at Narada Gana Sabha was heartwarming.

The performers were Sheik Mahaboob Subhani and Kaleeshabi Subhani along with their son and disciple Ferose Babu. The couple took the audience to an enjoyable mood with their alternate playing of the instrument. The audio was set perfectly right for a morning concert. Kambhodhi raga alapana was much appreciated by the audience that they applauded at frequent intervals.

A few pictures from the concert.
Photo by Smita Joshi

Cyclone Vardah takes away another day of the 'season'

After a couple of Sabha have inaugurated the annual music festivals in full swing, cyclone plays a spoilsport today.
Many of the Sabhas have officially cancelled the concerts and dance performances scheduled for today.
At Vani mahal, the organisers keep their fingers crossed for the 6.30 pm Sikkil Gurucharan 's concert, while they have announced that the other concerts from 1 pm are cancelled.
Sri Krishna Gana Sabha too has announced cancellation.

Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha Inauguration

Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha inaugurated its December music festival yesterday.
The recipients of Vani Kala Sudhakara award were:

Vid. Suguna Varadachari, (Vocal)
Vid. Madras.A.Kannan (Mridangam)
Vid. Vittal Ramamoorthy (Violin)
Vid. Alarmelvalli (Bharatanatyam)
Sri. T.S.B.K. Mouli (Theatre)

Here are a few photos from the inaugural day.
Photos by Sripriya Ayyangar

Music Academy Season Tickets sale on Dec. 2

It is the much awaited day for the music lovers when the Music Academy announces the issue of its season tickets.

In today's newspaper advertisement, The Music Academy has announced that the Season Ticket sale will begin at 9 a.m. on Dec. 2, 2106.

In the past years, rasikas started queueing up at the Academy as early as 4 a.m. The organisers issued tokens and provided seating arrangements too.

There are a few dos and don'ts though.
Rasikas either going in person or sending their representatives should bring their photo identity cards like Driving Licence, Voter ID or Aadhar Card or send these through the representatives along with a proper authorization letter, says the Academy's advert.

Rates for season tickets are Rs.15600, Rs.13300, Rs. 5200 and Rs. 1800.
All Credit / Debit cards would be accepted and only new currency notes of Rs. 1000 and Rs. 500 will be accepted. Also, the refund of change below Rs. 1000 will be issued in cheque, after Dec. 10, 2016!

But, isn't time all sabhas facilitate online ticket sale for other than their members?

The Season begins with Bhavan

As in the past, the December music season begins early in November with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's annual cultural festival today.

And as ever, the hall is packed and the rasikas sit tight through the award presentation and the performance that follows.

Today, Vishakha Hari, popular Harikatha exponent and Gayathri Venkataraghavan, one of the much-loved musician by the rasikas received the P. Obul Reddy and P. Gnanambal Memorial Life Time Achievement Awards.

What followed for was an emotional presentation of stories of Krishna with melodious songs by various composers by Vishakha Hari in her own inimitable style.

Here are a few photos from Day 1 of the 'season' from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Mylapore.

 Photos by Smita Joshi 

Seven years of music at Arkay!

When a new hall in the heart of Mylapore was opened for public on Nov. 26, 2010, many thought that it would be used more for meetings as the name suggested -Arkay Convention Centre.

But in reality, the hall turned out to be one of the best venues for classical music.

With its size suiting to passionate performances that connect with the audience so very well, the hall is now much sought after by the organisers.

Arkay or Ramakrishnan has founded the in-house sabha, Madhuradhwani soon after the hall began successfully hosting events by other organisers. Entering into its seventh year, Madhuradhwani joins the big band of December Season Concerts by organising a festival in two parts. One to celebrate the venue's anniversary and the other as the annual festival of the sabha.

Auspiciously beginning with the nadaswaram concerts of Thirumeignanam Brothers T K R Ayyappan and T K R Meenakshi Sundaram, the sabha launched into its next year of good music. Senior vidwan Neyveli Santhana Gopalan presented a melodious concert on Day One.

Here are a few pictures from Arkay Convention Centre today:

Photos by Sripriya Ayyangar

T.M. Krishna skips Chennai Sabhas this season too!

Many senior musicians as well as up and coming artistes have begun publishing the schedule of their concerts in December this year. The musicians are updating their website, blogs and are also sharing the details on the social media sites, Facebook and Twitter.

Image source: tmkrishna.com

T.M. Krishna who is among the popular musicians whose concerts are looked forward to eagerly by his fans has also updated his website with the upcoming concerts. But it reveals that he is skipping the Chennai Sabhas and season this year too.

Last year ahead of December music season, he announced that he was quitting from the 'season' from December 2015 onwards.

In an extraordinary decision, maverick Carnatic musician T.M. Krishna has declared that he will not sing in Chennai December music season henceforth. In a Facebook posting, he said: “I would like to inform all of you that henceforth (beginning December 2015), I will not be singing in Chennai’s December Music Season.”

The concert schedule page of Krishna's website reveals that he is not singing in any of the sabhas this season too. However, he is performing at Cholamandalam Artists Village and at Jeeva Park in Chennai in December. He is busy participating in many events outside Chennai city in December.

So, fans of T.M. Krishna have to get to ready to listen to him at a park or at the artists' campus during December in Chennai.

Artistes begin publishing their season schedule

It's time the concert schedules of the 'season' were published.
Year after year, the rasikas, especially who plan their trip to Chennai from other places in India and abroad wish the schedule of concerts were announced as early as August / September. But the sabhas take their time to announce the full schedule due to other constraints such as finalising the accompanists and shuffling of time-slots between the artistes.

However, a serious rasika follows the announcements made by artistes independently and get to plan his or her schedule accordingly.

Popular musicians Sanjay Subrahmanyan and Bombay Jayashri have put out their December concert schedules already.

While Sanjay's is on his blog,  http://sanjaysub.blogspot.in/2016/10/december-season-2016-schedule.html, Bombay Jayashri's is on her website - http://www.bombayjayashri.com/concert_schedule.php

Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha (Vani Mahal) has put out on its website that the December Isai Vizha will start on Dec. 9, 2016 and go on till Jan. 15, 2017. The schedule of concerts is yet to be announced.

The Music Academy's annual conference and concerts will normally be held from Dec. 15 / 16 to Jan. 1 every year.