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Swetha Kannan

Chennai's music season has the potential to become South India's very own Salzburg Festival. What's stopping it?

As the curtains fall on this year's music season in Chennai, it's time to rewind to the highs and lows of the season — the performances onstage, the mood offstage and the solemn moments buffeting it as well.

While the ever-smiling U. Shrinivas and brother U. Rajesh elaborated the simhendramadhyama rag on the mandolin on a chilly Margazhi evening at the Music Academy, vocalist T.M. Krishna enthralled audiences with his expertise in the sahana rag at a school auditorium. Cut to the Music Academy again... audiences listened with moist eyes as Bombay Jaishree crooned Hari Tum Haro (Meera bhajan) as a tribute to M.S. Subbulakshmi.

As flautist Shashank delighted rasikas with his rendering of Chinnanjiru Kiliye (penned by Tamil poet Bharatiyar) at the Bharat Kalachar auditorium, the violin duo of Ganesh and Kumaresh sent the audience at Narada Gana Sabha into raptures with their Ragapravagam (an instrumental composition) in janaranjani rag.

Of course, women in resplendent sarees, elderly people wrapped in shawls, the chit-chatter of excited rasikas, noisy kids running inside auditoriums, hot molaga bajjis and mouth-watering kasi halwa in sabha canteens, not to mention the swirling gossip... the staple of the annual kutcheri season was present in good measure this year too.

But there was a difference _ "The season was duller than usual. The demise of M.S. was a big tragedy_ the tidal waves too cast a pall of gloom," says V. Sriram, Editor, Sangeetham.com. Former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao's death and the sudden political developments relating to DMK chief M. Karunanidhi's indifferent health caused confusion too and led to lower attendance in several sabhas. "Attendance on these days dropped 20 per cent at our sabha," says R. Krishnaswami, Secretary, Narada Gana Sabha.

The season more or less revolves around the Music Academy, a leading sabha. However, caught in a legal tangle, it wasn't until December 14, when the Madras High Court gave a goahead that the academy decided to hold this year's festival.

"The season has come to depend on the NRI audience who, I suspect, did not come in large numbers due to the uncertainty over the Music Academy's schedule," says Sriram. "We could only sell 30 per cent of our season tickets this year," says M.S. Venkatraman, secretary of Music Academy.

Despite such hiccups, the season managed to roll on. Music performances apart, there were dances by stars such as Chitra Visweswaran and Priyadarshini Govind, plays, fringe events such as lecture-demonstrations and award functions, and special concerts and photo exhibitions as homage to M.S.

According to Sruti, a magazine for classical arts, 2,103 concerts were held in 2003 by 67 organisations, from November to February (most of the action is in December, though). A festival of such large scale is no doubt unique, but the sabhas seem to be caught in a time warp and are content with merely drawing up a "time-table". Some sabhas are mere fly-by-night operators who fold up after the season, say observers.

While big artistes drew decent crowds in the evenings, rasikas kept away from the morning and afternoon concerts by lesserknown, upcoming artistes. "While 20 big stars walk away with most of the cake, others aren't crowd pullers though they may be good," laments R. Ramachandran, Secretary, Hamsadhwani, which hosts performances by NRIs.

Another worry is the predominance of the older generation and the virtual boycott by youngsters. "While performers are young, the audience is vintage. It is a peculiar situation," says Sriram.

Vincent D'Souza of kutcheribuzz.com says concerts mustcome out of the confines of halls into the public space such as shopping malls, beaches or parks and near places where youngsters "hang out". The festival is static and needs a more carnival atmosphere. The stage needs more colour, brighter d‚cor, better illumination and audio to attract youngsters, he says.

Venkatraman agrees that sabhas must innovate. "The whole festival has to be repackaged, without diluting the music. I feel corporates could be given package tickets so that we have their crowd too, apart from members." The lack of awareness about the festival outside the city is another sore point. "While there is a lot of noise about the Salzburg Festival or the Berlin Festival, this season does not generate either the hype or the revenue," says Sriram.

Adds D'Souza, "The Bangalore Habba is a good example of State interest in generating publicity." Tamil Nadu Tourism did make an effort and came out with a poster this season, but more needs to be done. Ads, banners and pamphlets must be circulated at cultural hotspots such as Bangalore, Pune and Kolkata and at railway stations and airports to turn the event into a tourist activity, he says.

Also, sabhas must infuse more energy and enthusiasm in their organisation. "There is no young sabha secretary today. Youngsters must come forward as they can work harder in promoting arts," says Ramachandran.

The onus also lies on the artistes to strike a chord with the audience. "The other day, Sanjay Subramaniam sang a Dikshitar kriti Soundarajam in rag Brindavana Saranga. It is in praise of the gods who (according to mythology) quelled the arrogance of nature and saved the town of Nagapattinam from tidal waves. This went down well emotionally with the audience," says Sriram.

Carnatica, an organisation run by young vocalists S. Sowmya and K.N. Shashikiran, has come up with novel ideas such as thematic concerts, jugalbandis, rasika awards and sidelights such as karaoke booth, culture caf‚ and museum at the concert venue. It even instituted a talent hunt and sponsored the concerts of the selected artistes. "We want to drive a career for those who take up music full time," says Shashikiran.

Picture by N. Sridharan

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