was at the gateway of india yesterday for the 'shakti' concert- the 'hep concert' according to bahaar's aunt. forget my inherent puritanism regarding form, fusion music with its jazzlike structure perhaps could be fun, i thought, since i do like pop quite a lot.
and most of it started off all right.. it was about the lilts and crescendoes of the music piece, the heart stopping off beat rhythm sructures that leave you grasping and gasping for the next one. it was good then..
after a while it became about the musical performance- the energy of the musician with the instrument- the plain physicality of creating sound.. it was entertaining even then..
but then it finally became about the musical personality.. his dexterity, his amazing skill, his hairdo or his fake accent (as in the case of zakir - whats with "derived from a naawrth eendeean semy classical styiile called tooomri").. and for me that was the death of the music..
when the cult of personality subsumes first the performer and then the music itself.. then all my reaction to it is just surface..
and unfortunately the more ridiculous the antics on stage, the more and more thrilled the crowd got.. falling for show offs! first prajakta is in the final three and ravinder ravi is till around on 'indain idol', and now encouraging these performing monkeys.. my faith in 'by the people' is taking a battering..
anyways, personally i don't really care about how difficult it is to create something as much as i care how beautiful it is ( now we might go on debating the fascist doctrine of beauty and its horrible proponents, but lets save that for later.. )
so then perhaps i am still a purist. not post-modern enough in spite of my claims to being a huge madonna fan.. too bad.
1 comment:
funny and interesting! i know what you mean...but i still love shakti, but am partial to an extent...
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