More funds can pep up season’s spirit

One of the world’s largest and oldest music festivals – Chennai Margazhi season – which opens on Tuesday is in need of urgent financial support with most of the sabhas finding it difficult to raise money for organising the concerts.

With input costs spiralling and commitment to pay performing artistes, most of the sabhas feel that the government should chip in to help them sustain. More so, since the Margazhi season provides a launch pad for hundreds of young artistes each year who aim to make a mark in the world of music and dance.

Y. Prabhu, general secretary, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, said even his institution, despite being one of the oldest and prominent, is facing financial hardship. “This year, we are organising 284 concerts featuring over 1,300 artists, including vocal, dance and instrumental. We are probably hosting maximum numbers of concerts compared to any other organisation. Yes, sponsors do help, but only to a certain extent. We need to spend about '1.5 to '2 crore of which only 50 per cent comes from sponsors. The rest has to be pooled from within. There is absolutely no help from the government.”

He said it’s not just the money; the music season with its rich history deserves to be propagated across the world.

“The government should declare a special holiday, organise special trains from different parts of the country and the tourism department should make efforts to educate tourists about the season and bring people to attend concerts. Tickets can be blocked for tourists, who can come and attend the concerts, talk shows, religious discourses and literary discourses, listen to instruments and fusion music. These are the ways by which the government, both state and Centre, can help garner young talent and promote Indian music”.

R. Sundar, secretary, Hamsadhwani, expressed regret that traditional Indian music is losing patronage of younger generation. “We find only people with grey hair attending the concerts, which is dangerous. Also, there are very few good auditoriums in Chennai having sophisticated acoustics. The government can examine this aspect and try building a few in art-loving areas”.

This apart, Margazhi season shouldn’t be restricted just to Chennai. It should be taken to places like Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Coimbatore and pilgrim centres like Kumbakonam and Thanjavur, where art flourished once upon a time, Sundar said adding that the federation of city sabhas should take up the cause with the government. The federation has become inactive after the demise of Narada Gana Sabha founder Krishnaswamy early this year.

He says the process of trying to showcase the best talent starts almost six months in advance and it is a laborious task. “Most of the sabhas start receiving the applications from May-June after which the applications are scrutinised by a selection committee of each sabha and rating is given for both vocal and dance performers. Later, the sabhas will get the feedback from the applicants’ gurus before allotting a slot”.

For a newcomer, things are even more difficult. They will have to wait for 2-3 seasons to prove their worth before getting a slot in any of the leading sabhas. One of the concerns among newcomers is a few sabhas demand donation from young artistes for a performance slot and the amount ranges from a few thousands to even a lakh at times depending on the slot timing.

However, a representative of a leading sabha downplayed the trend saying it happens only with less recognised sabhas, who face financial crunch. Most of the sabhas registered with Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act that are members of Federation of city Sabhas, still maintain the core values and pay remuneration for artistes.

Meanwhile, N. Balasubramanian of Brahma Gana Sabha, says selecting the best talent was laborious previously, but now the advent of technology is helping to great extent. “Now, we are receiving the applicant’s profile and the past performances videos on WhatsApp through which we are able to chose the best easily. This year, we got almost 800 entries for roughly 170 concerts that are being hosted”.

R. Sundar of Hamsadhwani works with ITC and also keeps the passion for promoting art going parallel. “Music is there in my family. My father ran the organisation for 18 years and I am following his good work”.