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13/12/05

sCaReD !!!

Channel: star world
Program: Miss World 2005

what do i see...
about 25 Chinese women dancing on the stage in a beautifully choreographed performance...

and what do i think...

what if these were not Chinese women, but a group of Indian dancers, doing Kathak or Bharatnatyam or Kuchipudi or something else...


and then i felt sad very sad about the fact that Indian art forms are vanishing with every passing second... every second we have more people who are dancing on the remixes, and copying every possible movement of the body they can from outside Indiyaah !!! but then are we doing at the cost of our original art forms...

i see more people inclined towards the guitar, the keyboards, the drums and more... but then what happens to the harmonium, the dholak, the tabla, the sitar, the mridang !!!

i cannot write how scared i am with the thought of that day when no one would know what a sitar is... when the only place to find a tabla would be a museum.. when i can see the Kathak only on old CDs...

:(

11 comments:

  1. more true in north india...not so much in south india......there are still dance schools out here which are doing well...but for that matter ...north always had only kathak as classical dance.......in south every state has its own dance speciality

    as for instruments....i feel youth or rather 20 onwards generation is getting quite intrested in classical, jugalbandi and fusion.....kind of music.....i remember the diff between the spic macay fests of du days (4-5 yrs back) to mba (2 yrs back) people have again started coming back for them....u just have to attend few concerts and u can see lots of 20-35 age group in it........

    i think music has made a comeback and it will continue but i cant say same for dance forms.....
    thats my perception....

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  2. @ deeps...
    i am afraid i will not agree with you on a few things... i see more youth being inclined to the western music then indian instrumental...
    spic macay is good.. but then who is performing there... listening to it is good.. performing it ? that is my concern...

    you might not beleive it deeps, but if you remember i had sent a message to you wheni attended IITD's fest sometime back... i was surprised to see people booing the IO's performance and dancing their ass out on some idiotic remix band... and i guess that was the youth... i am not talking about how many people attend these concerts, i am talking about how many people are taking up learning these !!!

    about the dance forms, i beleive south india sure would have its share of some dance schools and i just hope they continue the good way.. God Bless the people who are running these schools...

    i just hope that i get a chance in my life to run a school where the indian musical instruments are taught...

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  3. well youngster wud be always inclined towards the current forms of music rather than classical and indian instruments based one....but what i feel is that a new audience is coming up from our age group and these people are intrested in this form of music.....yeah i agree this wont lead to learning of indian instruments but when was learning them was popular ever......here in india learning it is never a priority and its not a good career choice also (not to deman it but lets be relistic here) if the demand will be there, people wud surely get into it......first we need audience only then few of the lot wud be motivated to learn them......see why people learn guitar .....cuz its considered as hip and happening stuff......but tell me how many of them seriously learn that...few strings and notes and thats it.......moreover with fusion coming in, people are exploring these instruments too.....
    another reason for western instruments being popular is the limited access of indian instruments....u can pick up a guitar and join a school but tell me does indian instruments schools have that easier access....its not.....u have to prove urself to gurus that u r really serious abt it......why cant we learn it as just a intrest...why do we need to make it a serious affair.....just some thots....

    but yeah listerners are increasing, there is no doubt abt that......and that too from our gen. .....maybe with time....people wud start learning them also.......at one stage few yrs back i was sad to see the decrease in listeners also.....so atleast some progress has been made......

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  4. sad it is! i mean, even though these remixes are all over the place, there are so many ppl who hate them. yet, of the same ppl who don't like remixes there are very few who actually appreciate classical.or even if they do appreciate and respect it or whatever, they do not listen to it.

    take me for instance.i like classical music but i say that only on the basis of the times i've got a chance to listen to it. i've personally never made an effort to go out there and buy a tape for myself.

    i like Anoushka Shankar for this. she just came out with an album. and it is advertised on TV. at least that provokes some interest in the ppl.
    everything needs marketing today!!! sad but true....

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  5. i guess this [again, like the habit of reading {we have discussed this before too}] has to be inculcated in the young school kids. schools should introduce those things that induce the sense of belonging and pride for everything indian into preparatory, primary level kids.

    i was delighted to see the way the teacher was talking guide to a group of kids [they were no at all more than 2nd standard] in jaipur in the art gallery inside the city palace.

    that is the time and place you fall in love with your country and your culture for life

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  6. @ deeps...
    agree... the latest and the current form of music sells... IO is a hit.. and probably that is why some of the people would know that Tabla is one of the instruments that mixes with the guitars of the day !!! that is where people hear a flute along with drums and a base guitar !!! but then at the end of the day how many of them really get motivated enough to go back home... and learn it...

    i am not sure how many of the people who are crazy about drums even hear Taufiq Qureshi, or Ustad Zakir Husain... the Gods of Tabla and percussion respectively...

    i have to agree to you when you say there are not many places where you can learn the indian arts... there are very very few and they take students who are serious about learning !!! every art form needs dedication and devotion, and looks like people feel that learning guitars and keyboards comes easy... This is WRONG !!! with no offence to people who learn playing western instuments, i would like to see more people learning to play the sitar, the tabla, and others...

    and when you say why can't we learn it just because we want to... i am not really sure.. probably when you have more people to teach this thing would come up.. the limited people who are left with the knowledge and the patience to teach may be do not want to spend time with people who treat these as a time-pass... lets hope we have more people to teach the indian instruments.. and more people to learn them...

    and i am sad to see the less numbers... and i am happy to know that you are concerned as well... God bless you


    @bastm...
    its not really about hating remixes or loving the classical music... i am concerned about what is going to happen if everyone follows the race to be more knowledgable about firangi art forms...

    where do the art forms of india go... i would be really really happy the day when i see 25 indian dancers performing in an international festival.... God make that happen again and again and again...

    Anoushka Shakar yes... her second album is out too... wonderful work !!! and yes media plays a huuuuuuuge role in getting this awareness.. the only channel i hear jugalbandies on at times is DD.. the rest is all about remixes ... and more remixes...

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  7. @ burf...
    this has to start at the grass root level.. true... cannot agree with you more...

    just praying that it happens... promise to me that your kids would be introduced to the indian art forms please...

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  8. i don't agree. i know a lot of people infact a lot of my friends who are learning indian art forms... classical music, and dance...and they are doing a good job!

    don't be scared prashant. our art-heritage will never vanish.. :)

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  9. I didnto go thru all the comments but I must say SPIC MACAY is doing a good job!! I personally enjoyed quite a number of performances, lec-dems etc. But the sad part is most of my friends hated it

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  10. @ rohit...
    tell all those people if you are talking to them.. that i really really appreciate what they are doing.. and i would like to see them perform and clap for them with all my heart...

    and thanks for the assurance... i really need it... and i guess the indian art forms also need it...


    @ bhaskar...
    hmm... koi nai.. there has to be a start.. you liked it.. some of us like it too.. someone who is still thinking about learning an instrument might just get inclined towards the original indian art forms.... just do not let your inclination die...

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  11. Since a lot of discussion has already occurred on the vanishing Indian art forms, I will not go into it anymore. Suffice it to say that every kid should feel it is as "cool" to learn the tabla as it is to learn drums.

    But there is something else that I want to comment on. The fact that Indian Ocean got boo-ed out of an IITD concert. Actually, I am a big IO fan and apart from the fact that it angers me that something of this sort was meted out to one of my favorite bands, what disgusts me even more is the complete lack of respect for the artist shown by the crowd in an insitution as respectable as the IITD. You may not agree with the music, hell, you might even hate it, but it takes a lot to get up on a stage and perform. And it could be any kind of performance. I think it is insensitivity and intolerance of the highest order not to be able to appreciate that.

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