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With so many concerts happening in Chennai during music season, there is a possibility that rasikas might miss one or two of their favourite singers’ katcheri. But now an app, Margazhi Sangeetham, is making it easier for them to plan and navigate with ease.
Through the app, one can access information about concerts happening in 25 sabhas in the city. The app was developed by Kameswaran S, founder of an IT start-up Megtag, Meenakshi Jayakumar, a musicologist and Smita Joshi, a student and photographer.
Kameswaran said that though information about concerts is available online, not many are accessible. Each sabha’s schedule format is different. Some are in picture format with only date and artists’ names, and others are in PDFs that will include more details about performance. This makes it difficult for people to find a particlar singer’s schedule in one go.
Kameswaran said, “There have been instances when I was not able to take my mother to her favourite singer’s concert. This prompted me to develop this app.”
The app aggregates data from different sabhas and converts it into a standard format making it easier for users to browse.
Kameswaran said: “Many foreigners and NRIs find this app useful. Since the app has a built-in map that can work offline after one-time activation, they can easily hop from one sabha to next.” Given that food is another major attraction apart from music, the app also lists food served by different caterers in each sabha.
In addition, the app has the entire compilation of Thiruppavai, chanting of which is considered auspicious in Tamil month Margazhi, in Tamil and English.
The app was first launched last December, but did not take off due to floods. “So we planned ahead and launched early this month. The response has so far been good with 800 downloads,” he said. With increasing interest among people, there are plans to keep the app active for an entire year. Kameswaran said, “We are talking to sabhas to share event details ahead to keep the app active throughout the year.”
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