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Musicians Seek More Space For Art In Newspapers
CHENNAI, March 17: Why can’t newspapers bring news about
fine art and artistes up to front pages and move unpleasant
news items to inner pages?
Making a strong suggestion to this effect at a press conference
here sometime ago, veteran Carnatic vocalist M. Balamurali Krishna
regretted the importance accorded to Page-three items in newspapers.
Besides Balamurali Krishna, the press conference was addressed
by the who's who of the Indian Carnatic music world.
"Bring the news of fine arts and artistes to the front
page and take unpleasant things to the subsequent pages. We
don't want to read unpleasant things in the morning," Balamurali
Krishna said.
The musicians, representing both Hindustani and Carnatic music,
have come together on a common platform under the aegis of the
All-India Musicians Group (AIMG) to preserve art, and support
the upcoming artistes and indigent musicians.
"I think the front page is reserved only for cricket,"
said renowned tabla player Zakir Hussain. Making a dig at the
Page-three culture, he said, "now-a-days, people first
look only at page three where they get to read about persons
whom they don't know," he said. But those persons were
in the news just because they went to a party, he pointed out.
Stressing the role of media in taking any art form to the masses,
the musicians appealed to newspapers to give more space for
arts.
The AIMG, formed a couple of years ago, held its third meeting
here to "take stock of the current scenario in the music
world and to identify issues which are prejudicial to its moving
in the right direction." Eminent vocal artistes such as
Ajoy Chakrabarty, Rajan Mishra and Sajan Mishra; santoor player
Shivkumar Sharma; sitarist Arvind Parikh; carnatic singer Sudha
Raghunathan; and Mandolin artiste U Shrinivas were among those
present at the press conference.
Gobalisation had moved the Indian music to the masses, away
from the patronage of the elite. Expressing concern over the
meagre financial and related support extended by the Governments
- both at the Central and state levels - to the cause of music,
they said Prasar Bharathi had increased the allocation for culture
from Rs.33 crore to Rs.49 crore, consequent to their meeting
with officials concerned.
Asserting that there could be around 25,000 artistes, including
those who were not graded, in the country, Parikh said slots
had been obtained from All India Radio in cities like Mumbai,
Chennai and Kolkata for up-and-coming artistes with the sponsorship
of corporate houses. "Our most important agenda will be
to collect money from corporate houses and promote young talents,"
he added.
He said the AIMG had also held talks with insurance companies
such as Oriental and New India Insurance to evolve special policies
for aged and indigent musicians at a subsidized premium. The
musicians also stressed the need for music education in schools
and colleges in order to create a next generation of musicians
as well as audience.
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