Frisk, Frolic and Undemanding Tunes

Its Proms season again... No, no... not the one where one dresses up in a penguin suit and a gown enough to rival the Disney Princesses (or the fairy god mother for that matter), but the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts in its 114th season, played at the Royal Albert Hall also known as the Proms.

A concert every night evening, where the best seats are the cheapest (well, not technically true as one usually stand in the arena) and the music and atmosphere, outstanding. For the classical lover and otherwise, worthy of childrens' attention. No frills, accesible art within the grasp of the local bar boy. I've got to say, I've only been to 1 season and if there's such a thing as love as first sight, my dear... I can't say anything less (with the exception of that horrible opera performance).

There's little pompous uper class drudgery, where the unsaid rule is that when the music is played, there's concentration. Else, there's always good banter and usual prommers become friends, inpromptou picnics are shared and news papers as makeshift chairs are passed around. People come in dressed in street wear, work clothes and cycling shorts. There is no pre-requisite to be all geared and dressed up, unlike the symphony hall in KL.

Isn't that the basis of art? An evolution of culture where experience is not obscured by larger than life egos, but accesible to the most common denominator of society. As the Greeks thought their trade and the soap box rallies in Hyde Park, exposure to different musical types (ableit mostly Classical sub categories and the occasional jazz stuff) it is the beauty of access...

I've said much about the audience, but there are beneficiaries from the art community where the best of the young musicians get to play for the people and make a name for themselves, there's beauty of expression for individual performance.

Admittedly, deep inside I'm a bit of a Romanticised Anglophile... But given the chance, please do try the PROMS, if you like it... great, if you don't... you can say you've done the Royal Albert Hall.