From song requests to cab rides: Appsolute guide to Margazhi

CHENNAI: In the whirlwind sea son of music and dance, navigating concerts has only got better with apps in the past couple of years. The trend that started with a focus on an individual sabha or artist has got more comprehensive and the new apps this season have expanded to include everything from digitized song requests to cab pickups and canteen specials.
Song requests and interaction with artists during the season are what ardent rasikas look forward to. Working on this idea, the app Zeekh has digitised song requests.“Usually requests are written on scraps of paper and handed over to the organisers at the venue. Through the app we have a contest called `rasika dhwani' which will help choose the audience member and send their request to the concerned musician,“ says Vanipriya Jayaraman, founder of the app.
Launched two weeks ago the app has tied up with artists like Sudha Raghunathan, Gayatri Venkatraghavan and Bharat Sundar and the respective sabhas where they are scheduled to perform.
Developers have realised that the rasika today needs more than just a personal calendar on their phone giving the schedules. Arangam app, due to be launched next week, provides an option to book an Uber ride to the venue and has an exclusive contest for rasikas with the prize being tickets to Sanjay Subrahmanyan's marquee concert on January 3. “There will be kiosks of Uber at the venue so the app not only allows one to book a ride to the venue but after a person reaches the sabha and hands over their registration number at the kiosk, the Uber staff will ensure a ride is available when the concert ends,“ says devel oper of the app and music archivist S L Narasimhan.
Kameswaran Subbaraman has come up with an app with Margazhi schedules and venues with their location on Google Maps. The app has already got more than 750 downloads since its launch on December 1.
Realising that apart from the concerts canteens were the next big draw, plans are on to introduce a tab listing out the caterers who have put up stalls at the various sabhas, says Subbaraman, cofounder of the app and owner of IT startup Megatag.
All of these can be down loaded free of cost. While Margazhi Sangeetham is exclusively for the season, the other two are for programmes round the year. While content-driven Arangam with links with events across the world is trying to be like an almanac for all fine arts related events, Zeekh is more of an aggregator for all lifestyle related activities.