There was a time when the only artistes I appreciated (and whose cassettes and CDs I bought) were mega-stars such as Bhimsen Joshi, Kishori Amonkar, Zakir Hussain and Ravi Shankar. The number of artistes I was aware of, and who I listened to, could be counted on the fingers of my hands.
I had no exposure to other artistes, and because space (and money) was limited I did not want to experiment buying cassettes and CDs (or attending concerts) of unknown performers. Hence I stuck to a short repertoire of performers whose music I patronised.
It did not of course help that for a long time I did not stay in a metro city - hence I was not even exposed to any music circle that would have "educated" me to go beyond my limited repertoire.
Around 2008 I started becoming an active YouTube user. For the 1st time I started getting exposed to performers outside my "short short-list". For the 1st time I realised that there are fine artistes who were very talented - but for some reason (poor marketing, bad luck, or lack of supporting patrons) were not simply in the limelight. Of course they would be known to connoisseurs and other artistes - but these would be a tiny fragment of the classical music listeners.
I am ashamed to admit - but it is a fact - that it is only thanks to YouTube that I got exposed to superbly talented artistes like Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar, Prabha Atre, Shruti Sadolikar, Yogesh Shamsi, and a lot many others. In fact the size of my repertoire of "acceptable" performers expanded by 10 times sheerly because for the 1st time I could listen to (and view) recorded Live performances. Because of the unique way YouTube randomly exposes a viewer to different performers I "discovered" young talent like Manjusha Patil and even younger artistes such as Aarti Nayak.
For the 1st time I realised that the world of Harmonium did not begin and end with the talented trio of Pt. Tulsidas Borkar, Pt. Purushottam Walavalkar, and Pt. Appasaheb Jalgaonkar. For a person who is very passionate about the harmonium it would have been a major loss if I had not realised that there are other incredibly talented harmonium players who were emerging on the horizon bringing in their own creativity and talent.
Since my move to Mumbai 3 years ago, I am now living my dream of actually attending live music concerts of all these tens and tens of talented musicians who I have got to know intimately thanks to YouTube. When I see them in a live show I already feel I know them intimately because I have watched them and listened to them for hundreds of hours on YouTube. They have entertained me and raised my spirits while I was sitting in a city thousands of kilometers away where there was the remotest chance of a musician of that caliber ever visiting and performing.
YouTube's major achievement is to level the playing field - talented artistes - whether old or young - now have a platform for a wider audience to "stumble upon" and appreciate diverse talent.
I thank YouTube (and those who took the trouble for laboriously uploading the videos) for making me more aware of the hundereds of talented musicians who - practically speaking - would NOT have existed for me but for YouTube.
I had no exposure to other artistes, and because space (and money) was limited I did not want to experiment buying cassettes and CDs (or attending concerts) of unknown performers. Hence I stuck to a short repertoire of performers whose music I patronised.
It did not of course help that for a long time I did not stay in a metro city - hence I was not even exposed to any music circle that would have "educated" me to go beyond my limited repertoire.
Around 2008 I started becoming an active YouTube user. For the 1st time I started getting exposed to performers outside my "short short-list". For the 1st time I realised that there are fine artistes who were very talented - but for some reason (poor marketing, bad luck, or lack of supporting patrons) were not simply in the limelight. Of course they would be known to connoisseurs and other artistes - but these would be a tiny fragment of the classical music listeners.
I am ashamed to admit - but it is a fact - that it is only thanks to YouTube that I got exposed to superbly talented artistes like Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar, Prabha Atre, Shruti Sadolikar, Yogesh Shamsi, and a lot many others. In fact the size of my repertoire of "acceptable" performers expanded by 10 times sheerly because for the 1st time I could listen to (and view) recorded Live performances. Because of the unique way YouTube randomly exposes a viewer to different performers I "discovered" young talent like Manjusha Patil and even younger artistes such as Aarti Nayak.
For the 1st time I realised that the world of Harmonium did not begin and end with the talented trio of Pt. Tulsidas Borkar, Pt. Purushottam Walavalkar, and Pt. Appasaheb Jalgaonkar. For a person who is very passionate about the harmonium it would have been a major loss if I had not realised that there are other incredibly talented harmonium players who were emerging on the horizon bringing in their own creativity and talent.
Since my move to Mumbai 3 years ago, I am now living my dream of actually attending live music concerts of all these tens and tens of talented musicians who I have got to know intimately thanks to YouTube. When I see them in a live show I already feel I know them intimately because I have watched them and listened to them for hundreds of hours on YouTube. They have entertained me and raised my spirits while I was sitting in a city thousands of kilometers away where there was the remotest chance of a musician of that caliber ever visiting and performing.YouTube's major achievement is to level the playing field - talented artistes - whether old or young - now have a platform for a wider audience to "stumble upon" and appreciate diverse talent.
I thank YouTube (and those who took the trouble for laboriously uploading the videos) for making me more aware of the hundereds of talented musicians who - practically speaking - would NOT have existed for me but for YouTube.
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