ABSTRACT
The privileging of rhythm and the celebration of the Lala katcheri, it may be surmised, was part of an older logic of performance that accompanied temple worship and court ceremonial. The public concert or katcheri was increasingly seen as the most effective and appropriate vehicle for establishing the performative norm for Karnatik music so that it retained its distinct identity and was not diluted by what the elite saw as lighter musical pieces. Consequently from the very beginning, the model katcheri began to feature as a major concern in the reform project of the Madras elite. The artist credited with designing of modern katcheri, which, in its broad essentials remains in place even today was Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar. Ariyakudi's experiments were, at one level, a creative response to the growing need for a compact concert repertoire that suited the logistic requirements of commercial entertainment as well as the aesthetic parameters being put forward by self-appointed custodians and connoisseurs of music.
