Killing a Live concert

                                  (Image courtesy Google Images)

As alerted to a music concert by IR on TV by some pained comments on my Twitter TL. It was a concert organized in Canada but the side acts of actor / director Parthiban & actor Vivek put me off considerably that I switched channels soon. Still do not understand the wisdom of these acts in a music concert.

Remember the pained comments I mentioned at the start; well they were regarding the quality of singing by some of the stalwarts of the playback industry. The essence of good singing is pitching and these days the play back greats seem to be having a problem with their pitching while singing on stage. Considering that these concerts are paid and there are many who spend good money to watch a performance, poor singing is a disservice to the fans.

I understand the challenges on a stage but that is the least expected of a professional especially from one who is a legend. It pains me that these professionals judge small children and upcoming singers on pitching with the aid of headphones on television. Then there are the singers who in the name of improvisations make you cringe, improvise if you must but only to add beauty to the creation of the artist and not to show off your skills. There cannot be two yardsticks for these professionals who are perceived great because of their exploits in the cozy confines of a recording studio. In a studio there are enough aids and retakes to ensure a flawless performance and the real test is in a live performance.

There was yet another stalwart of the long hair fame, who while attempting a classic sung by another singer was horribly off tempo and in a studio would have got ticked off by the composer or even the sound engineer. Even the best require practice and even practice cannot guarantee perfection, if the heart is far away from the task at hand.

And on the concert, there were so many eulogies being shared about IR that after a point it becomes uncomfortable. He is a legend and that is understood by every fan that pays big money to watch the show so why repeat it every few minutes? If a compliment is given once it is genuine, a second time it can be positive reinforcement, if it is repeated then it becomes flattery and goes on to sycophancy where you wonder if there is an ulterior motive. Remember that classic “Thillan Moganambal” scene in the movie Karagattakaran? Maybe it is paid promotion.

Finally I am a big fan of IR but these days the aura has dimmed and it is because of his son. IR has been a task master and has got the best out of the people who worked under him often leading by example. But with his younger son he seems to operate with a long rope especially to singing. The singing is a veritable assault on the aural senses and the diction is so poor that you cringe. Over the years diction was a given and unlike the modern music directors Tamizh was sung in proper Tamizh under the baton of IR, not anymore.

Note to self, listen to music on the audio devices and leave the performances to others who enjoy watching  a public spectacle

P.S. In case you did not know IR is the Isai Gnani.