A few months ago, this year’s Margazhi season was under threat of a washout by a raging pandemic. In the face of a precarious struggle to stay alive, classical music was the last thing on people’s minds. But today, the festival appears to have not only survived the existential crisis but has possibly become bigger by embracing the digital space.
By going virtual, Margazhi 2020-21 has not only gone global, it is also on the threshold of the single biggest process of democratisation since the annual festival began nine decades ago. With concerts open to audiences across the world, it is highly likely this season will end up as the most attended one.
When the Federation of City Sabhas met in early August to take stock and decide how best to ensure the legacy of Margazhi remained uninterrupted, all they had in mind was a few days of free digital concerts on YouTube. However, buoyed by the resilience of the musicians and the enthusiasm of the rasikas who wanted a full-fledged season, they decided to go all out within the confines of the pandemic protocol.
The result is a ‘Yours Truly Margazhi’ that promises to be one of the most intense digital classical music festival : 120 events, 500 artistes, performing back-to-back for 30 days. That is about 150-plus hours of music and dance at one stretch. Add to this the Music Academy and Kalakshetra concerts and independent organisations such as MadRasana, First Edition Arts, Arkay Convention Centre (ACC) and others, and the scale gets truly big. Plus, a digital Season means it’s not open only to Chennai’s sabhas but also to organisations from Mumbai, Bengaluru and even the U.S. A Season that was always big even by global standards, now seems mammoth.
Ranjani and Gayatri
Reaching people directly
What makes this Season truly remarkable, however, is that for the first time, the entry barriers are broken. The music is going directly to people — anybody, anywhere can hear it. Everybody gets a front-row seat.
Over the years, the conservative veneer of the city’s sabhas, concert halls and sometimes even the musicians; the music’s apparent socio-cultural exclusivity; and even its stereotyping in popular culture created both real and perceived barriers to Carnatic music. The notion that one needs technical training to enjoy it and that one might feel intimidated by an informed and older audience also kept people away. The younger generation found the setting dated and forbidding and found both establishment and audiences condescending.
Going digital has meant an effectual blurring of boundaries not just for audiences but for musicians too, whether in terms of venues or time slots. “The digital space has loosened some of the old rigidities and hierarchies and one cannot help but notice the winds of change,” says Devina Dutt of First Edition Arts.
Other impacts are equally significant. The concerts are shorter. Interestingly, instead of using the unlimited time offered by the Internet to leisurely explore a raga in the Hindustani style, organisers and performers have chosen to compress the traditional format. However, not having to stretch the concert to three hours has also meant that smart singers are using the opportunity to innovate and make sessions more enjoyable.
Second, the multiple camera angles and movements, the close-ups and high-resolution visuals, and aesthetic production values make the concerts an intimate experience. Most importantly, one can watch it at one’s convenience in a setting that one chooses. You don’t have to satisfy yourself with a backrow seat in an ill-lit hall with bad acoustics but can watch it on a plush home theatre or catch it while commuting to work.
Third, necessity has made the technology sleeker and more experiential. Technicians from the movie and recording industries, as well as state-of-the-art equipment have been roped in to raise production values.
The biggest gainer in all this is Carnatic music itself. From its traditional catchment of a few thousand people in Chennai, it is now open to tens of thousands of music lovers across India and the world. As it happens with every form of music and art, easy access and accidental exposure can also lead to people from diverse cultures and demographics crossing over. Who knows, Margazhi may find new attendees in, say, the Solomon Islands.
The response from music lovers so far has been extremely good, according to both the Federation and other stakeholders. “The ticket sales have been very encouraging,” says Harishankar Krishnaswamy, secretary, Federation of City Sabhas, while according to MadRasana’s Mahesh Venkateswaran, “It’s been much more than our initial estimates”. Music Academy’s ‘main’ events will also be ticketed. Not giving free content is a breakthrough the sector very badly needed. Larger global audiences and increasing cross-over numbers can indeed bring in more money.
S. Saketharaman
Challenging task
Putting together a digital season isn’t easy. In fact, the Federation has undertaken a mammoth task. Filming four programmes a day with four cameras across three venues in a fortnight is challenging both creatively and logistically. Everything is on an unprecedented scale: coordination of artistes, surfeit of footage, its storage and post-production work.
MadRasana Virtual Festival will have six top musicians, while FEA is launching a year-long ‘Now Hear Us’ festival in partnership with Indian Oil. MadRasana’s Mahesh talks of how they have tried to fine-tune the experience. “The look and feel will be different for each concert, all shot outdoors. The artistes have also come up with interesting content to suit the digital age .”
Interestingly, the musicians have taken to the digital transformation rather well. “It’s not been a problem although initially one has to get used to performing without the audience,” says vocalist Saketharaman.
The big question remains. Is the digital outreach just a stopgap move to tide over the pandemic or will it remain a parallel stream that can expand the audience and economics? The critical challenges Carnatic music faces are stagnant and limited patronage, inability to reach out to rasikas outside its strongholds, and its inability to attract crossover audiences. Examples such as the Digital Concert Hall of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Jazz at Lincoln Centre, LA Philharmonic, MadRasana, and FEA have demonstrated that sleek, curated content can indeed bring in larger, ticket-buying audiences.
“Virtual platform as a parallel way to experience and consume music is here to stay. The opportunity is immense, and I hope it continues,” says Mahesh. “We will meet after the season and analyse the learnings. It certainly looks promising,” says Harishankar.
As the Season moves out of the darkened auditorium to homes and cafes, Devina has a deeper, transformational optimism: “We have been forced to confront the idea that probably this notion of space and presentation for a complex art form, the particular sameness of setting in a closed hall with static listeners and a large display of corporate logos is not the only possibility.”
The writer is a journalist-turned-UN official-turned-columnist
based in Travancore.
