It has been three months since the last “live” music and dance concerts were held; yet the deluge of online performances streamed live on various platforms, or recorded in isolation, then streamed live, are in thousands.

There are differing views on this phenomenon—seasoned listeners are grateful for an opportunity to listen to their favourite stars online. “Earlier, where did I get the chance to peek into Ustad Zakir Hussain’s home in California and see him playing in his drawing room live!” said an excited fan. (The tabla wizard periodically goes live on his Instagram account, sometimes even live jamming with other musicians in other cities; a recent interaction with Anantha R. Krishnan on the mridangam in Chennai, was thrillingly racy.)

Shilpi Ravi who listens with as much enjoyment to Carnatic as well as north Indian music confessed, “There is so much music, starting from 9 am till the night, one has to literally make time for household chores. Every day Durga Jasraj’s Utsav interactions with artists followed by a live concert by the same artist are a must for me, as are the morning Carnatic music broadcast by the Mani Krishnaswami Academy. One day, I was glued to my screen the whole day during the weeklong Spic Macay annual online convention where there was music, a talk, yoga, a film.” Indeed, Spic Macay’s successful attempt to replicate their annual weeklong immersive festival was impressive—the interaction with doyens like Padma Subrahmanyam, Chitra Visweswaran, Dr. Karan Singh of note. The all-night music concerts ended as always at dawn with the vocal dhrupad of Wasifuddin Dagar who represents the oldest performing line of classical musicians pan India, being the 20^th generation in an unbroken line of musicians.

On the other hand, the erratic internet connections make the listening experience of live concerts a disturbed one, with connection interruptions, lag in transmission and bad sound. There are many who prefer to listen to the concerts uploaded, amongst others by NCPA, Sangeet Natak Akademi, Prasar Bharati and the YouTube channels of popular artists which are now being updated regularly. NCPA’s broadcast of a recent dance performance by the inimitable Malavika Sarukkai and a themed concert by Ulhas Kashalkar titled Bandish focusing on great compositions by stalwarts like Anant Manohar Joshi and Ratanjankar stand out amongst the many interesting performances.

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