decades now, every year, the city has been enveloped in the fervour of Margazhi bhajanai, lecdems, the cadence of classical music and the rhythms of classical dance. Artists and rasikas alike gear up for the season enjoying the synergy it generates – fine tuning their respective instruments, refurbishing their wardrobe, drawing up a tentative time-table, rushing from one venue to another to savour what is offered inside the sabha halls as well as in the canteens. It is the time to soak in the art live from morning till night. But Covid 19 has played spoil sport in a big way and changed the very nature of the Chennai season. Very few live concerts will be staged for an audience; almost all organisations are hosting online festivals this year.
A few organisations have dared to organise live programmes for a restricted audience while following the directives laid down by the Tamil Nadu government. The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan has bravely launched its 22-day cultural festival with a hi-profile inauguration on 28 November 2020. The open-air programmes, with pick-up and drop, as well as drive-in facility too, are being presented to a limited audience at the Bhavan’s Rajaji Vidyashram campus in Kilpauk. The Kalakshetra Foundation too is allowing a limited sale of 80 tickets per day to watch the live programmes of its 67th annual Art Festival from 21-31 December 2020, which will be streamed online for a price every evening from the Bharata Kalakshetra auditorium.
Most organisations have chosen to record the concerts and upload it online during the season. The Music Academy is hosting a week-long online music fest from 24 to 31 December, but no lecdems and no dance festival this time. Concerts by seniors will be ticketed for non-members and the concert-streaming will be peppered with interesting anecdotes about the prestigious institution. And much before the start of its season, the Academy would have its new office-bearers in place – this being the election year.
The Federation of City Sabhas has drawn up interesting programmes including music, dance and lecdems in a month-long online season hosted on Kalakendra.com from mid-December 2020 to mid-January 2021. Many of its presentations too will be ticketed, as all the organisations wish to pay the artists facing a tough time during the pandemic. So get ready with your gadgets to gauge the online season.
This month Sruti’s cover story is about the Lalgudi siblings G.J.R. Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi, torchbearers of the famous Lalgudi bani. They combine style and substance, an intelligent blend of technique and emotion, melody with laya prowess and vidwat. Soaked in the bani, they have embellished it with their creativity and carved a place for themselves. Read the first part of their candid interview.
In this issue we launch a new series called ‘Artreach’ in which we propose, from time to time, to feature artists who are successfully applying the arts to bring about social change. The first artist showcased in this series is dancer and social activist Sangeeta Isvaran. We also have insightful reports and reviews on a range of online activities. You will certainly enjoy reading about the majestic sweep of folk music written by bilingual writer Suganthy Krishnamachari, and the life of veteran vainika S. Rugmini Gopalakrishnan by C. Ramakrishnan.
Now to an aspect of our cultural policy. While it is heartening that the government at the centre is introducing music, dance and drama as part of education in schools, it does not seem to have proper schemes for the welfare of senior artists—no schemes for pension, proper accommodation or health insurance to help them lead a life of dignity in their twilight years. It is sad that several veteran artists in the Capital, decorated with the Padma awards, have been asked to vacate the houses allotted to them years ago, where they have been smugly living for decades. Social security schemes for art practitioners in India is the need of the hour.
S. JANAKI