Play it again, this December

With the

Carnatic

music community and the cultural tourism sector preparing to perform again, resumption of live concerts after a gap of more than 18 months is on the horizon. There is also hope that the

Margazhi

fine arts festival will be held, even if it is a truncated version, this November-December.

As Covid-19 restrictions ease, and life crawls back to normalcy, performers, sabha owners and caterers hope that music will again fill the music halls, peopled with rasikas, instead of virtual concerts of the past year. The Tamil Nadu government has to take an early decision on the Margazhi fest so that the tourism sector can take advantage of it, and bring in some much-needed revenue to the state.

With fewer cases of Covid-19 getting reported, a large section of the population being vaccinated, hotels, sabhas, auditorium staff, support staff and musicians are hopeful of a comeback this season.

Kalaimamani Keyboard Sathya

points out that other sections have opened with safeguards, including theatres and malls.

"With 50% occupancy, physical distancing, masks and sanitisation, it should be possible to hold live concerts as long as people maintain discipline and follow safeguards. The Margazhi music fest could not be held last year, which was a big disappointment. This year, things are much better. Though one has to be cautious,the Margazhi fest and other live concerts should be held," he said.

Livelihood of musicians has been at stake. Just like other industries, the state needs to come forward with an

SOP

, for performance events as well. Vocalist R Suryaprakash says it would not be too difficult for sabhas to hold live concerts, because people have now developed

Zoom

fatigue and are craving physical concerts. "We musicians particularly miss live concerts and the response of rasikas. You can have 2,000 or 20,000 likes on social media, but that cannot give a musician satisfaction. What musicians need are the likes of rasikas live". He stresses that everyone has to use masks and sanitisers, while vaccination gives the sense of safety and comfort to everyone concerned. "When theatres, malls and colleges have opened up, why not music events," asks the Kalaimamani recipient.

It is possible that by October, herd immunity might be achieved in India as the figure of those vaccinated could touch 70% by then. However,

Padma Bhushan Sudha Ragunathan

feels that one should wait till October before taking a call on revival of the Margazhi fest. "Things are looking better, yes, and the vaccination drive has been implemented well. Yet, one has to keep in mind that more than 50% of the audience is senior citizens. We don’t yet know whether they would be ready to physically attend concerts in December. Similarly, a large number of NRIs may not come this year as they could feel travel is a risk".

Sabha secretaries are keeping their fingers crossed. A key question is about sponsorship of the festivals. The sabha secretaries and the artists may have to convince the corporate that even if physical attendance may be low, it may be compensated by ads during live streaming of concerts and slots on TV channels besides YouTube.

Musicians feel public sector organisations should be asked to support the Margazhi fest in a big way, as done in the past, to provide some financial support to the live events. Banks, in particular, need to step up their support, sabhas and musicians point out.

V

K T Balan

, of

Madura Travels

, and president, Tamil Nadu tour, travel and hospitality association, said the lives of people and their livelihood were of paramount importance. "The government should also take care of the financial needs of the people who have been hit hard by the pandemic and provide relief. If these three things are done, life would automatically return to normalcy. There should be no problem in opening up the tourism sectors including cultural tourism through visits to ancient places and music festivals and so on, once the mechanism is in place."

(The writer is a senior journalist)