K. S. Venkataraman - Secretary, Mylapore Fine Arts Club

   
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"I am a rasika of all fine arts", is how K. S. Venkataraman of the well-known Mylapore Fine Arts Club describes himself. After an active role in the building of the institution as a volunteer from 1964, he became its secretary in 1977 and has the distinction of holding the post for nearly 30 years. In this exclusive interview with Carnatica's V. Padamasini, Venkataraman candidly answered many questions about the music world that have puzzled the public at large for many years. 

How was your music festival started?

It is the members who motivate us to hold such programmes. People are nowadays not interested in music alone, during the music season. Seeing our own members trying to get tickets at the Music Academy and Narada Gana Sabha and being unable to do so, we thought why not have our own festival. So we started one in 1972 and now it is a purely music and dance festival. The dance festival is for 15 days.

Why have you split it like that?

The music-loving public vanishes from 2nd January. During the British period, Christmas vacation was for 10 days. Schools and institutions also had holidays. Considering this we started a music festival from 12th -1st January with one or two commercially oriented dance programmes in between. Now the 2nd-15th January dance festivals are for talent promotion.

How do you choose a performer for the dance talent program? You see only the monetary aspect?

No. First we find out who is the guru and then, if they are able to give the donation to the association. Otherwise we give them some other option. They need not pay from their pocket. They can get any company to sponsor them for any amount even greater than Rs. 5000. Even if they get Rs.10,000 we take only Rs. 5000. They can use the remainder to meet orchestra expenses, etc. We want Rs. 5000 to meet the hall rent and other expenses only. Somebody has been spreading the rumour that everybody is taking money for dance. It is not true of our attitude. Some associations they say are collecting money even for vocal concerts. We don't have any idea. Our basic temperament is we need not go to details about the other associations . We are not taking money from anybody.  If they (artists) offer donations we take it. There is no argument as to whether they are getting more in other sabhas. Some associations have got some top brass in the field, they have put a festival committee and a chairman. His responsibility is to get money with his influence and he gets a sponsorship of 6-7 lakhs. Fortunately they have seats to accommodate the sponsors. Here I need the full auditorium for the members itself. I can sell maybe just 30-40 tickets in a class.

The 6 pm concerts... are they not too lengthy?

It is our main feature. Wherever you go it is 2 or 2-1/2 hours. The negative aspects of this are: one, if the artist is late it is an embarrassment for the organization. Secondly if the artiste's voice is not warmed up it will take time. Considering these aspects, our main item is the three-hour concert. The artiste is happy, the audience also have the satisfaction of listening to a full-length concert.

I have heard T. V. Sankaranarayanan sing beyond 9 pm and it has been better here...

Even Seshagopalan has sung up to 10 pm. They don't sing for money alone. Money does matter. But when freedom is given, manodharma is better. If we curtail a good singer saying you have to sing only for one hour, he can sing only what is carefully pre-planned. One day it will be good and another day bad. Here a concert is always uniform. There is also the convenience side. In the Academy they have 4.30 to 7 pm and 7.30 to 10 pm and in Narada Gana Sabha 5-7 and 7-9 pm concerts. Of the two one may be good and another bad. Public find an artiste at MFAC in a relaxed setting.  Artistes who can sing for 3 hours are also few. They want to finish it in 2-1/2 hours. Now they realize that it cannot be done at MFAC and plan their program accordingly.

You can improve the acoustics by having a closed auditorium?

There are no complaints so far. According to me it is the best system as we are having thatched coverings on the sides. The echo sound is absorbed. So listening pleasure is more. It is not like some other sabhasa where it will be heard loudly at one point. Here it will spread out. In some places once the sound is adjusted, the  staff will leave, but here it monitored throughout. There is feedback for the artiste on stage. Listening pleasure and membership attendance is good and timing is attractive. When we arrange accompaniments for the artiste we take a priority list of 10 persons from them and then select whoever is available for the date. If we select someone they don't like it will be a problem. Coordination is important.

More artists can be given a chance if the evening time is split into two...

I am not interested in that angle because of the fundamental reasons mentioned earlier. It will become like the others. I don't want to lose the charm.

The morning 9 am concerts have no crowds...

In the morning concerts, frankly speaking we want people to come. In the Academy, lecture demonstration is there, followed by a concert. Most of the people also stay at Woodlands, they can have lunch at the Academy so there is crowd. Here this morning session is still to pick up. It is office time... but if the artiste is familiar to Madras crowd, there is a good response. Sankaran Namboodiri was featured in the morning slot and this year we are elevating him to the evening slot as he was collecting good crowds.

Lalgudi plays on every New Years' day ?

Dec. 25th morning Ramani, evening Mandolin Srinivas, Jan. 1st morning Lalgudi and evening Yesudoss!

How did this come about?

Lalgudi used to play on first January in Balasubramania Sangeetha Sabha along with Palghat Mani Iyer. Then the sabha came down and Lalgudi's cheques for 2 years were not honoured. He thought he could play elsewhere. He gave the first option to me. At that time the committee was not there... only president, secretary and treasurer. There was some litigation matter also going on. Lalgudi said if we did not want to take him he would offer the opportunity to someone else. I took the chance! 

People say you feature Yesudoss for gate collection?

I can get a maximum of 6-7,000 from his concert. He says every year, "give everybody a ticket don't make them stand outside". But we are having thatched coverings and if something untoward takes place… Being a public body we are responsible and cannot take risks. So after a stage we stop issuing tickets.

Any changes this season?

Some artistes may be elevated to the top slots and new artistes may be featured.

You never feature Hindustani recitals?

In the beginning Parveen Sultana used to sing. Now crowds don't come and another thing I feel is, what we spend on it we can afford to spend on another Carnatic music concert. Listening public are frankly not interested in music. Even during the season I wont say it is a music-listening public. It is a status symbol. If they are really interested they can attend the morning concert, 1.30 and 3 pm concerts. They are not like that. In the evening they dress up for this and say "I am going to this or that sabha..." They don't even listen to what is sung. That is how the season is. It should be given more depth. Some small children sing well but there is no depth in their singing. They are not attending others' concerts, so that they can listen and improve their art.

When you feel morning kutcheris don't draw crowds why do you feature them? Is it due to artist's compulsion?

When we have competitions we ask some artists to judge them.  But they cannot be invited as judges alone. Take Sikkil Sisters, G. S. Mani, Tiruvengadu Jayaraman, etc. They have sacrificed so much to learn. How much they have laboured for this. Nowadays artists come in after 3 or 4 years of training, singing a song in other powerful media and getting popular. They are not like that. As an institution we have to give respect for that. For that one reason whether there is crowd or not we feature them.

What about the sponsors?

Previously we used to approach sponsors; they had no demands then. Now I am not able to accommodate the demand of the sponsors with regard to seats so we do not search for sponsors.

How do you combine your role as secretary of a leading sabha and your office work?

I was in the Telephones for 38 years. I just retired on Nov. 1st, 2002. Even when I was working, my concentration was here too. From communication angle I could use the telephone to maintain contacts. It was a blessing in disguise. I was not disturbed from Mylapore for 30 years, the sabha was here and there was no problem. I also help the artistes, relate to them and do what I can for them.

 

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