Tamil Nadu - Chennai

December rage: challenges and opportunities

— File photo

MELODIOUS MONTH: The city’s December music festival is a feast for the ears.

CHENNAI: If you hear lively discussions on how an artiste presented a magnificent Bhairavi, see autorickshaws lined up outside sabhas as late as 10 p.m. or find rasikas poring over programme schedules, you can be sure that the December music festival has officially arrived.

Fondly referred to as the ‘season’, the De cember music festival in Chennai is a cultural extravaganza of fine arts. Arguably the biggest music festival in the world, the season showcases nearly 2,000 performances of music, primarily, and also dance and theatre.

While the character of the festival may have changed down the ages, the ‘season’ still retains its flavour like well-brewed Madras filter coffee. This makes the city the favoured destination for tourists from other parts of the country as well as abroad. Even among city residents, there are thousands who diligently hop from sabha to sabha to listen to or watch their favourite artistes perform.

Septuagenarian N. Ramchandran, for instance, usually steps out around 6 a.m. during Margazhi. Wearing his chocolate-brown woollen muffler around his neck, he begins his day with Tiruppavai Upanyasam at a sabha in T. Nagar and then chalks out a plan for the day.

“I hold a season ticket at one sabha, so I listen to the senior artistes there in the evening. In the afternoon, I go to the other sabhas to listen to the youngsters in the slots that are not ticketed,” he says.

In spite of enthusiasts like him, sabhas are facing the challenge of poor crowds on some days. Organisations attribute this trend to the growth in the number of sabhas and the wide choice available today.

K.S. Venkataraman, secretary, Mylapore Fine Arts Club, says a few years ago, there were about three smaller sabhas functioning around his. “Today, there are nearly 10 such sabhas and the crowd tends to get divided,” he notes.

Sharing her concerns about how a very senior artiste performed in a nearly-empty hall last week, rasika R. Shantha says: “There are just too many concerts these days. Listeners know that if they miss listening to a celebrity artiste at one sabha, they can always listen to the artiste at another sabha.”

Mr. Venkataraman also observes a few changes in the culture of music appreciation. “Today, we find rasikas carrying a ready reference raga directory. As soon as the performer begins his rendition of a song, they flip the pages to find out what ragam is being sung, whose composition it is and so on.”

Performances also seem to have shrunk in time, in many cases. Earlier, senior artistes performing in the evening tended to go past 10 p.m., if the audience stayed on. “Barring a few artistes, most prefer to finish on time, perhaps, to preserve their voice for the next concert,” Mr. Venkataraman says.

R. Krishnaswamy, president, Federation of Sabhas and secretary, Narada Gana Sabha, says that more and more youngsters are gaining prominence in the season. “Slowly, the old timers are losing prominence. They may be really good and may have a great repertoire, but the audience seems to want new faces,” he notes. On the other hand, the huge talent base is putting sabhas in a tight corner, where they find it challenging to give opportunities to all, he says.

P.G. Babu, manager (operations), Hotel New Woodlands, says this time of the year is best for their hotel. Its proximity to reputed sabhas and the quintessentially south Indian feel it offers make it a favoured accommodation facility, he says. “We have rasikas who have been staying here every December for nearly 30 years. Many foreigners and NRIs love being in the city this time of the year.”

Sabha canteens are also an attraction for the regular guests. South Indian favourites such as idly, vadai, pongal, halwa, bondas and a variety of dosas are dished out at the canteens, proving that the festival can provide food for the soul and the stomach. At times, the menus that various sabha canteens have to offer become the prime topic for discussion after the music shows.

But there are some cheerless factors that have cast their shadow on the festive spirit this year. The Mumbai terror attacks and the economic recession have had a negative effect on the number of tourists who come down to the city for the festival this year.

Bhuvana Bharathy, CEO of Star City Serviced Apartments, says that several guests who are regulars at the festival have arrived but they have had some cancellations as well. She said that people have called to ask if Chennai is safe. “We usually have guests from London, Singapore and Malaysia. Some NRI families come here so that their children trained in music and dance get a chance to participate,” she said.

Jayaraman P. Swamy, general manager of Blossom Serviced Apartments, is also a bit disappointed with the fewer number of guests. The firm usually receives guests from the US, Canada and New Zealand for the festival. There were several enquiries but they did not translate into arrivals, he said.

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