Unamplified live concert

[sivasarjun]

Last week I had attended a flute concert.It was a chamber concert.No mic,no violin accompaniment only a mridangam.It was heaven and a reveleation also.The sound was pure, you could hear all the microtones.The musicmaking was also of an exceptional quality.Wanted to share the joy with the FMs.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Well, there is good amplification, which is called sound re-inforcement, because it doesn't change the sound but only helps the audience to hear it, but, sadly, mostly concert amplification does not hit that target.

Chamber concerts give one the opportunity to get up close to the artists and intimate with the music. This is the best way to experience it! I have always believed that Indian classical music should be experienced this way, or, at least in smaller halls seating not more than a hundred or two. I mostly avoid the big halls. Also, the more amplification is needed the worse the quality is likely to be.

Last year, in Chennai, we were lucky to be treated to a twice-a-month series of un-amplified concerts. This was a unique treat. I don't think that amplification destroys microtones, but it does destroy microdetails. I recall, at one of the concerts, being amazed at the detail in the sound of the un-miced mridangam: there was a world of sound in an apparently simple nam that is usually just lost somewhere in the cables.

Flute and nadaswaram are the two instruments that can produce enough volume to fill a fair-sized space without electronics (in fact in-door nadaswarm is a bit much). With vocal, violin, etc, the artists have to work harder, and the audience has to work harder to listen. No bad thing!

Thank you for sharing your joy --- I hope your concert presenters will make it a regular experience for you

 

[sivasarjun]

Thad,
Can you share the names of vocal artists who are comfortable or will agree to sing without mic amplification.Or whom you have heard sing unamplified.In my experience most of the vocalists are reluctant to do so.
Have heard nagaswaram inside a Tamilnadu temple.Was a great experience.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Please google Oli Chamber Concerts. i see they have a facebook page which might help you, but I got fed up with FB, and blocked it completely from my browser!

At least some of the concert were blogged about in Sruti Magazine. Some recordings (they were miced for recording, but not amplification) are also available for listening online. You can get an idea of the concerts themselves, and, hopefuly, there is a list of those who were willing.

The opening concert was given by the maestro T N Krishnan, who made the same point, and urged the organisers not to give up in pressing artists to do without the speakers. The series comprised a mixture of senior and younger, upcoming artists. It is true to say that some were more easily heard than others, and I do consider it a shame that, generally, carnatic artists are not taught the physical techniques of singing and voice projection. Most of the concerts were in homes or very small halls. We had one outdoor-venue nagaswaram concert.

Perhaps my favourite two out of the series were given by Suguna Purushothaman and Sumithra Vasudev. Both are favourite artists of mine anyway. Suguna P. unamplified was a revelation: her voice is so incredibly sweet. I must add a third: Vijay Siva: his Oli concert was just incredible.

 

[sivasarjun]

Suguna Purushothaman would have been a wonderful experience,I can imagine.Many top singers we had approached had refused to sing unamplified.Maybe they have got used to crooning into the mike.How the singing technique and the aesthetics changed with the advent of the mic is a very interesting topic.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

She is, amplified or not

I went to see Suguna Varadachari this evening (amplified) but, sadly, she has a fever. Still, I enjoyed a wonderful concert by a new-to-me artist, Shankari Krishnan.