We all have our memories from childhood and we remember it very well... One such memory for me is about (one of the amazing things at Chennai:) Carnatic music concerts, during what is called the 'kutcheri' season... Here's are a few sites to know all about 'Kutcheri's or South Indian classical (Carnatic) dance/music concerts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnatic_music , http://www.carnaticindia.com/ and http://www.kutcheribuzz.com/
Within a radius of a few miles within Chennai there are several concert halls/auditoriums... At these venues during a season around Dec/Jan every year several established and aspiring artists perform... Blessed with the chance myself to learn Carnatic vocal along with my brothers, I could truly appreciate the beautiful creations and renditions of these artistes and hoped I could get such talents one day as well... During these concert seasons, there are things characteristic of Kutcheris that only seasoned audiences will know of... Different performance time slots are allotted for different artistes based on their popularity/talent... The more established and popular ones perform in the evenings while aspiring/upcoming artists perform during the day... Each venue has it's specialities and traditions associated with it... And it was such a treat to attend some of these concerts growing up...
Be it a vocal or a dance (or even a theatre concert), it would always be a team effort... Singers in a vocal concert are accompanied by Instrumentalists, while Instrumental concerts have other instrumental artistes co-performing... This side-group accompaniment, called Pakka Vaathiyam, forms an important component in the structure of a concert... There are parts of a concert where the artistes split time and sing/play solo while there are other parts where everyone performs together as a group... A popular Pakka Vaathiyam combo for a vocal concert is Violin and Mridangam, while a Mridangam and Ghatam (dual percussion) combo is a common Pakka Vaathiyam theme...
Come the Fall season, every year, there comes out a Calendar of events for the Kutcheri season, listing all artistes at the different venues... For every Carnatic music lover, this is such a joyous moment - filled with anticipation and excitement... And so much to look forward to... There are other cities in India which have shorter seasons (at other times of the year), like Bangalore and Hyderabad... In the U.S., Cleveland hosts such a season (about a week or so)... Look forward to attending one of these seasons again soon, and re-experiencing these December blooms yet again...
