Concerts..

We live in a fast paced world of instant gratification. We want to cram up as many things as we possibly can do in a short space of time. Of course I am guilty of this too, in most spheres of my life. Yet, when it comes to listening to concerts, I want it the old fashioned way.

I recently attended two classical music concerts with friends of mine, which were both ‘double-bill’ concerts. This idea of having more than one musician entertain for an evening is not new. I have attended loads of such concerts in India. The important difference between India and here though is the duration of the concert. In India, these concerts lasted for a good couple of hours, like it should do. In this country, however, these so called ‘double-bill’ concerts last for merely 2 hours. So, for instance, like yesterday each artist got an hour to sing, which is a real disgrace, in my opinion. After a long, stressful work day, it takes time to unwind, relax - to get into the right frame of mind to be able to appreciate music. Just as I was getting into the music yesterday and dreaming about how lovely it would be to sing like that – so effortlessly, enjoying every second of it and transporting your listeners to another planet – it was all over. The concert was in the oldest surviving form of Hindustani classical music – dhrupad and the artiste is one of the finest exponents of that style. For him to be given an hour to sing is just such a waste. I loved the concert but felt so unfulfilled and incomplete at the end of it.

The second half of the concert was by an artiste whom I had not heard before. She sang khyal, tuppa and thumri – a completely different style of Hindustani classical singing from dhrupad. Yet, in my mind, I was comparing the two artistes, which is so unfair. Fortunately though, she was pretty good and her thumri rendition was incredible. She kept looking at the watch so as not to overrun her time, which I think takes a lot of fun away from the concert. It was almost as if she had to hurry through her alaap and launch straight into the piece, so as to save time.

The concert I attended last week was even worse than this ‘double-bill’. There were 2 musicians and a dancer, all big names, crammed into 2.5 hours. How can you do justice to any one of them ? I appreciate that the organising body wants to make the concert appeal to a wider audience etc but for proper concert goers like me (I sound like such a snob here, but I am not!) , it is highly disappointing and leaves you thirsting for more.