Bangalore's carnatic music season

Come April, many areas of Bangalore will host a series of carnatic music concerts as part of the 'Ramanavami' season. Typically the concerts begin around 6 pm and end three hours later. Historically, there have been two big venues for this series. The more famous of them is Fort High School, Chamarajapet. The other is in the courtyard of the Sheshadripuram College. The concerts go on for a month. Entry to the Sheshadripuram concerts is free; at Fort they are ticketed.

If listening to live music concerts is a vital ingredient in the learning process for the student of carnatic music, I did a fair share of listening at these two venues. In retrospect, as a kid I listened to so many stalwarts at these venues that attending concerts today does not hold much attraction for me. K. V. Narayanaswamy, M. D. Ramanathan, D. K. Jayaraman, D. K. Pattammal, N. Ramani, T. V. Sankaranarayanan.....the list of greats goes on and on. Even as I write these lines, I feel thankful to my mother for guiding me to these concerts without forcing me into them.

I remember listening to these concerts with rapt attention with just the right amount of fooling about. My cousin and I used to quietly play or be taken to the stalls to nibble at some goodies. At Fort, we met friends and family, sat on the wooden chairs outside the pandal, and then scrambled in when the downpour began (usually the monsoon arrives midway through the series). If we were in Sheshadripuram when the rain came, there were very few places to take shelter, unlike in Fort High School.

I've not attended these series in years, except for the odd concert. It is too much trouble to drive through maddening traffic only to listen to disappointing stuff. This time, I may attend a few concerts at both places; feel like doing that. I hear that most of the big Chennai artists have become too expensive to afford, especially for Sheshadripuram which does not charge any entry-fee. A pity, but then it may give some promising local talent an opportunity.

The full list of this year's programmes at the Fort High School is available here. I will try to put up the list of the programmes at Seshadripuram. I was unable to get that online.