Chennai: For the first time a Margazhi event of the city's famous fine arts festival would be held away from the four walls of the sabhas. This festival will take place next month in a fishing hamlet of the city, just a few metres away from the sea where a makeshift stage is to be set up in the village square of Urur Olcott kuppam, some 500 meters from Besant Nagar beach.
The two-day festival is to take place on December 20 and 30 when ragas would be sung and traditional art forms performed for a different audience away from the de rigueur of every Margazhi season. The aim, organizers say, is to take the art, which for long seems to be homogenised with the same set of performers and audiences. Named as the 'Urur-Olcott Kuppam Margazhi Festival-Celebrating Oneness' the event is being organised by activists and renowned carnatic musicians in the city.
Organisers say the event was being planned from the past one month and they have planned a beach clean-up drive on Dec. 20 at Urur-Olcott Kuppam and surroundings.
Carnatic vocalist P. Unnikrishnan and Violin-Vina duo Kumaresh and Jayanthi Kumaresh are slated to perform at the event. There would also be space for traditional art forms of Kattaikuthu, a theatre art form, Villu Pattu, a form of musical storytelling and Bharathnatyam by students of Kalakshetra.
K. Sarvanan, a fisherman at the village says, "We have annual village festivals where folk art forms are performed, but this is the first time that carnatic music is going to be played. We are looking forward to it but we have to see how the response is going to be." There are 2,000 people living in Urur Olcott kuppam.
Activist Nityanand Jayaraman, one of organizers, says, “Margazhi in Madras is a special time. Chennai’s weather is at its best. The evenings are cool and breezy. Village temples resound with music. It is also the time when Chennai celebrates the arts, with classical music concerts, dance, theatre and poetry festivals.”He adds, “Music, theatre and the arts are meant to be bridges to connect across cultures, civilisations and other artificial boundaries that divide people. But, often they fall prey to the same divisions created by man.
As arts get more and more esoteric with artists and the audience seeking comfort in homogeneity of class, caste, race or creed even it begins losing its ability to communicate and build bridges across the vast and wondrous diversity of people and places. The art and the artists stop growing.”
“The Urur-Olcott Kuppam Margazhi Festival is conceived to heal art, and help art heal by opening art and artists to new audiences and different environments.” Renowned pianist, Anil Srinivasan says, “An artist wants to take his music to different audiences and such change is welcome. Music is off the people and for the people and its should never become elitist.”
