Who says people go to kutcheris only to listen to music? Such ridiculous thoughts should be erased at once. There are so many other things of high importance that should be discussed only when the artist sings. I suddenly realized this revelation when I went to a prominent artists’ kutcheri recently.
Certainly I did expect two definite categories of audience; One- a music critic and two- a common man who has come to enjoy the sheer beauty of carnatic music. That apart, there was one that I ought to have expected- the gossip queens! Clad in beautiful Conjeevaram saris and elegant glittery gold, they were two middle-aged women sitting right behind me. They turned into unbearable pests when they started jabbering a mile a minute.
I must say, the artist had mustered a beautiful set of songs for the evening and I couldn’t listen to even one with peace. On one side when raga ‘Amruthavarshini’ was flawlessly delivered, on the other side the gruesome twosome tortured me to death by critically analyzing the weather department’s forecast for the day! What followed for the rest of the session were miserable set of exchanges with either a highly flattery or slur remarks about their family members. “Oh my God, she is singing Ananda Bhairavi so well. This reminds me, this lady sings like my son-in-law’s sister’s mother-in-law.”
One can’t call this eavesdropping because there were loud enough to the extent that they had couple of heads giving them dirty looks occasionally. So it wasn’t just me. But to maintain the dignity and poise, we chose not to bring about a brawl in the concert.
‘Please switch off your mobile phones’. This standard phrase is purposely ignored. Looks like putting it in silent mode is a grave mistake. If urgency is what you usually expect, then walk out of the hall than allowing it to sing a ‘kuthu’ song. Only the colleges seem to have adopted the best method as far this rule goes. Pay your fine or lose your phone.
Artists have often complained about this. “It often irritates me when people keep chattering or their mobile phones ring constantly. They fail to realize that the artists lose their concentration.”, says Sandhya, a budding artist.
When the artists are being ruthlessly bashed if they don’t perform up to the expectations, the audiences are often spared for the so called haughty and not-so-good behaviour even when the musicians are at their best. Talk about double standards.
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