Mayakum Margazhi: Margazhi gets inclusive with a sign-language choir!

This Margazhi season, for the first time in Chennai, more than 200 able, disabled and deaf children, along with the entire audience, performed together as an inclusive sign-language choir. Videos, shared practice and a consolidated rehearsal helped bring the city-wide ensemble together.

Dr Ranjini Kaushik, who organises Margazhi Matram, sees this as an expansion of what Margazhi can hold. “A sign-language choir singing is by far one of the most unique and inclusive ways of sharing the music season with people who are hearing impaired,” she says. This year, the festival also pilots sign-language interpretation and Cymatic Carnatic tools to help visualise sound, aiming for a future where “a multisensory Margazhi concert” becomes the norm.

INSIDE THE REHEARSAL ROOMThe preparation for the concert began with repetition, rhythm, and gestures. “Exact words are difficult for them to grasp, so actions speak better,” says Hephzibah Veronica, special educator at Clarke School for the Deaf. Students from Class 1 to 12 practised Tamil Thai Vaazhthu , the National Anthem and Bharathiyar’s Manathil Uruthi Vendum. For Class 9 student Hemant Kumar, lip-reading made the learning easier and he embraced it with confidence. “It was simple. They taught me rhythmically and showed me how to sign even when there was no song,” he says. “It wasn’t very challenging because the students obey and want to understand,” adds Veronica. The school’s senior staff Jayanthi Narayanan and Vijayalakshmi share that the idea began last year and grew naturally into a larger movement. “Usually, only mainstream students do Margazhi kutcheris . Our children should also have the same experience, right?” they ask.

What the children carry forwardFor students, the joy was simple and immediate. “I liked the training. I was very interested and enjoyed practising every day,” signs Maanav of Class 4.

Meanwhile, the teachers hope the experience gives the children more than stage confidence. “I want my child to appreciate others… Their happiness is my happiness,” says a special educator. As Margazhi evolves, Dr Ranjini hopes this becomes a cultural shift. “We need to make this into a movement,” she says — one where sound, silence and vision coexist onstage.

Written By: Aashna Reddy

Get an chance to win ₹5000 Amazon Voucher by taking part in India's Biggest Habit Index! Take the survey here