I work for
the Oil and Gas customers and observed that their universal pain area is “Big Crew Change”. What is Big Crew
Change all about? In simple words, it is nothing but a wave of retirements that
is bound to happen over the next few years in the Oil and Gas industry. The
industry is trying several ways and means to retain the talent base of the
retiring workforce and also planning to recruit and train the young force in large
scale. I could find an analogy of the big crew change phenomena in the carnatic
music world, by observing the carnatic music concerts for the last few decades.
Here the rasikas are analogous to the retiring workforce of the industry.
Of late,
many youngsters have shown great passion towards carnatic music and really
worked hard to give their best. Many of them come and perform on stage with
great confidence. It shows a good positive trend. But how about the evolving
trends of the rasikas? Are we able to spot out any teenager among the audience
of the academies and sabhas. Though the
concerts of the popular singers and artists go houseful, if you see the profile
of the audience, the average age of the rasikas of carnatic music concerts
would be closer to fifty or sixty. It looks like that the same old rasikas keep
attending all the concerts for the past few decades.
What will happen
tomorrow, if the scarf clad mamas and mamis with the walking sticks refrain
attending the concerts? The picture looks gloomy. The mamas and mamis are so
passionate about music, that they talk music, walk music and eat music. In that
process, the Gen Y lost complete interest in fine arts, unless they want to perform.
If at all, the next generation shows interest in music, they want to be
performers on the stage rather than a rasika among the audience.
The popular
artists and sabhas may be happy with house-full concerts, but they need to
remember that big crew change would be an imminent threat. Day is not far off, to
look for the audience in each concert hall. The artists need to be mentally
prepared for the wave of the retiring rasikas. They shall not only teach the Gen
Y, but also find ways and means to create a new set of rasikas. Sabhas need to organize more workshops on
“Appreciating carnatic music”, facilitate more “raga identifying discussions” and
conduct more quiz programs. Mama and mamis shall encourage their sons and
daughters and grandchildren to attend such events, rather they participate in
such events. Again the whole purpose of
the initiatives shall be not to produce more artists on stage, but to nurture
more rasikas for the floor.
