Webcasters, film makers take Chennai's Carnatic festival global

By Shilpa Elizabeth

CHENNAI: This year's Margazhi festival of Carnatic music has got luxury hotels, film makers and web developers swaying too.
While the Taj group of hotels has created a special package highlighting Margazhi to lure domestic and international guests, a high-end `Concert' film is being readied for international screening.

Also jazzing up the music season are web and app developers, who are attracting classical music buffs from all over the world.

“The Season offers great quality of performances and this is definitely one of the most unique happenings in the world,“ said N Prakash, director operations & general manager of Taj Coromandel in Chennai.

“Performers from all over the world gather to witness and also perform at various `sabhas' in the city. Several NRIs return to Chennai to visit family as well as partake in the festivities. In keeping with this trend, we decided to launch the Margazhi offer, where guests can not only enjoy the quintessential Taj hospitality, but also get a first-hand experience of this 80-year-old tradition of Chennai.“

According to Prakash, the hotel group arranges for a pass to a concert of the guest's choice, offers complimentary transfers, and for those who are avid lovers of music and dance, it facilitates a one-on-one interaction with a leading musician or dancer over a lavish meal.

In December the group sees significant international presence from countries like the US, the UK, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Germany and Italy, besides tourists from all major Indian cities.

Recognising this audience for Margazhi, a Red camera shot 'concert movie' by Aghal films, directed by Jayendra Panchapakesan, is all set to be screened before an international audience.

C Srikanth of Aghal films said, “It's a new experience. The film, which features renowned artist T M Krishna, has only his music and ambient nature sounds.“

“We named it `One' to experience oneness with music as we were trying to reach out to an audience beyond the traditional audience for Carnatic music. The idea is not just to understand music, but to experience it. And technology has a major part to play in this transformation,“ Srikanth said about the film, which will be screened before audiences in Los Angeles and San Fransisco. There are others who are taking Margazhi beyond geographies.

“I had been living in Bangalore and felt that I missed a lot of action here during the time of Margazhi,“ said Lalita Ram, one of the cofounders of Parivadini, a group which webcasts the moods of Margazhi and tries to give a voice to upcoming artists.

“We landed up on this web casting idea and found that it's not that expensive to do it. We understood that with the technological facilities we have today, it is possible to enable anyone to watch and enjoy the concert, so we thought we should give it a try,“ Ram added.

Ram backed the view that there has been a rise in international audience for Margazhi. Of the one million hits his webcasts have received in a year, 65-70% have come from the US and other countries.

However, some feel there is more potential to be leveraged.

“The audience we have now comes to around 40,000 in number.But the market we have out there is huge. Around the globe there is a population as big as 2 million people who are in some way involved with Carnatic music.

At least 10% of this market should be exploited. With more support from Government and corporates, proper branding and more sponsorship, Margazhi would be a much better experience to audience„“ pointed out Sasikiran, founder of Carnatica, a portal that allows interaction between pursuers and enthusiasts of Carnatic music.

Hotel Packages

Taj Coromandel organises passes to concerts, offers complimentary transfers, and facilitates one-on-one interaction with leading musiciansdancers Concert Movie A Aghal films movie will feature artist TM Krishna and has only his music and ambient nature sounds Webcasts Parivadini webcasts the moods of Margazhi and tries to give a voice to upcoming artists.