There was a time, when Madras did not have to look beyond classical music, if money had to be raised for a good cause. For the Kasturba Fund set up in 1944, most of Madras Presidency’s contribution came from kutcheris, with M.S. singing for five consecutive days, and collecting 60,000 rupees. In 1945, the Corporation of Madras organised a series of kutcheris in Suguna Vilasa Sabha to start a fund for poor homes.
In 1949, when Ramaswamy Chettiar wanted to convert Sir P. Tyagaraja Chettiar school in Washermenpet into a college, he organised a sangeetha utsavam (music festival). The pandal erected in the school playground could hold 8,000 people. The accompanist for Dandapani Desigar was Kumbakonam Rajamanickam Pillai, and M.K.T. Bhagavatar composed a song in praise of Pillai and sang it too!
Madras has always loved music of any kind, and the inclusion of the city in UNESCO Creative Cities Network for its musical tradition, is only natural.
The beginning
Madras Jubilee Gayana Samaj, begun in 1887 at Pachaiyappa’s Hall on NSC Bose Road, was Madras’s first sabha. In the early years, there were many — in North and Central Madras. There was the Purasai Sangeetha Sabha, whose kutcheris took place in M.CT.M. Boys’ School, Lawder’s Gate. Prof. Sambamurthy, who lived in nearby Diwan Rama Iyengar Road and Vainika Rangaramanuja Iyengar often attended concerts at the Jagannatha Bhaktha Sabha, Egmore. Rangaramanuja Iyengar taught English at M.CT.M school, and if he spotted any of his students in the audience, he would test their music knowledge by asking them to identify ragas. In 1944, the Egmore Dramatic Society started a music division with kutcheris at the Museum Theatre.
In 1936, Annamalai Chettiar organised a conference presided over by V.S. Srinivasa Sastri, to deliberate on popularising Tamil compositions. This was followed by more such conferences, and these efforts culminated in the establishment of Tamil Isai Sangam in May 1943.
Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, 117 years old, is Chennai’s oldest sabha. Rama Nataka kritis and Tiruppavai both set to tune by Ariyakudi, Vyjayanathimala’s Tiruppavai and the Ramayanam ballet of the Travancore sisters (Lalitha, Padmini, Ragini) were inaugurated in this sabha. Prof. Rangachari’s lecture series on the Bhagavad Gita were published and released in 1905. Despite many firsts to its credit, the sabha does not have its own premises. “As the oldest sabha in the city, it would help if the Government allots land where we can build an auditorium,” says M. Krishnamurthy, secretary.
M.S. Subbulakshmi lighting the traditional lamp during the inauguration of the 97th year celebration of Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha in February 1997.
N. Krishnamurthy
N. Murali, president of the Music Academy, says, “The city is inherently musically oriented, with all the genres finding a place here. And by a happy coincidence, music maestro Ilayaraja, who is trained in Carnatic and Western classical, and attained fame through his film music, will be the Chief Guest at the inaugural of the Academy’s programmes this year. The December music festival is perhaps the largest such festival of classical music in the world. It was the Music Academy, which started the December season concerts in 1929. Other sabhas followed suit, and soon we had a music festival on a huge scale.”
N. Murali
Strings attached
Should the Government provide financial help to sabhas? “As far as the Academy is concerned, we don’t want any financial help from the Government, because such help will come with strings attached,” clarifies Mr. Murali.
Don’t corporate sponsorships come with strings attached too?
“We don’t let sponsors dictate terms to us. And no sponsor has ever asked us for any favours. Nor do corporates look for brand building through their sponsorship. They just want to be a part of the season.”
How does the Academy decide which artiste gets a chance, without laying themselves bare to the charge of favouritism? “The important thing when making such decisions is to say ‘no.’ And no committee member tries to push anyone.”
What can the government do for the season? “They can improve infrastructure, provide better transport facilities etc.”
A.R. Santhanakrishnan
R.R. Sabha, established in Mylapore in 1929, now has a new building, which will be formally opened in January. President A.R. Santhanakrishnan says that the sabha does not want to be part of the season. “We want to have thematic programmes throughout the year, music of all kinds — folk, tribal, Hindustani — and drama in many languages. We’ve planned a week-long programme on the connection between Tamil literature and music. The Ministry of Culture must help sabhas generously.”
Individual sponsors
Srinivasan, secretary of Perambur Sangeetha Sabha, established in 1931, says that corporate sponsorship for their sabha is nil. “We only have individual sponsors, who chip in with small contributions.” Support has come sometimes from unexpected quarters. Happy about cultural activities taking place in his area, a vegetable vendor gave an unsolicited donation of 5,000 rupees, although he never attends programmes at the sabha. The sabha has the distinction of having persuaded vainika Karaikkudi Sambasiva Iyer to move to Madras. He was president of the sabha from 1950 to 1954. “Ours is the only sabha in North Chennai, and the government could help by giving us land to build our own auditorium,” says Srinivasan.
Radhakrishnan
Dr. R. Radhakrishnan, secretary of Indian Fine Arts Society started in 1932, says: “V. C. Gopalratnam and S.V. Sahasranamam for theatre and Gayanapadu Saraswathi Bai for Harikatha were among those honoured with awards by us. In the 1960s, Chembai requested the president of the sabha, Emperumanar Chetti, to give K.J. Yesudas a chance, and since then Yesudas has sung at our sabha every year. Vyjayanthimala was cast in the film Vaazhkai , when A.V. Meyyappa Chettiar saw her dance at the Gokhale Hall for our sabha. Our contest for young musicians, begun in 1979, is unique, because 40 composers are covered. If the government could give us a hall to call our own, it would help.”
Deccan Krishnamurthi
Tyagabrahma Gana Sabha’s president Deccan N. Krishnamoorthy says that while the sabha was established in 1945, it has been a part of the Margazhi season only for 38 years. “Our Nama Sankiratnam programmes for school children are quite popular. We give awards in various categories, including religious discourses, and for budding artistes. The Ministry of Culture has given us some financial aid, but nothing substantial. The State and Central Governments should help sabhas that have a good track record.”
A wishlist
Varadarajan
Mylapore Fine Arts, established in 1951, with an inaugural concert by Ariyakudi, used to have their programmes in Vivekananda College till 1959, when they moved to their present address. Secretary D.N. Varadarajan has a wish list for the government too. “GST should be waived for sabhas. Hindustani musicians are not invited, because sabhas cannot afford to pay them the rates they want. If government help is forthcoming, the Chennai audience could listen to other genres of music too.”
Chennai, 30-11-2013; Y. Prabhu, Secretary, Krishna Gana Sabha was honoured with the title "Madhura kala Sevaka" during the inauguration of Laya Madhura Sangethotsavam at Arkay Convention Centre on friday (29-11-2013)
To build an auditorium for Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, secretary Yegnaraman borrowed money, taking personal responsibility for repayment. The hall had only an asbestos roof for a long time. A famous tabla player said that he would not play a solo in such an unimpressive auditorium. But when he heard that Palghat Mani Iyer had played a tani there, he said that he wanted to play a solo at the venue where Iyer had played! “In those days, we would keep fanning the wall amplifiers to prevent heating!” recalls secretary Y. Prabhu. “We now have Bose amplifiers. Every upgrade has come with a lot of difficulty and I feel the Government must help sabhas like ours, which feature many programmes besides Carnatic concerts.”
Thatched sheds
In the early years, many sabhas held programmes in thatched sheds. The audience never bothered about creature comforts. Mylai Sangeetha Sabha had its programmes in Vanniyar High school in Nadu Theru, Mylapore.
In the 1940s, during an Ariyakudi kutcheri there, a member of the audience suddenly rushed to the stage and gave violinist Semmangudi Narayanaswami Iyer a resounding thwack on his back, quashing a scorpion that was crawling up the violinist’s angavastram . Narayanaswami Iyer, however, looking at the blood stains on his angavastram, said, “My brand new angavastram has been ruined!” Ariyakkudi, with his characteristic drollery, said, “Look at it this way — even scorpions like your music!”
Despite the fact that overheads were minimum, sabhas seem to have faced a resource crunch even in the 1940s. A meeting of sabha secretaries took place in the office of The Hindu , in 1945. Two resolutions were passed, one requesting a waiver of entertainment tax and the other reproaching vidwans for demanding huge remuneration.
Nothing much seems to have changed on the financial front, despite all the appearance of prosperity during the Season. Except for the Music Academy, almost all the others want financial assistance from the Government. This throws up an interesting question. Assuming the Government is prepared to distribute largesse, on what basis will it be distributed? Oldest sabha? Only sabha in North Chennai? Variety of programmes offered? And if one of them gets a larger slice of the pie, will that not lead to controversy?
In 1944, Ananda Vikatan wrote cheekily that music had become popular because of the many controversies in the field. What Vikatan was referring to was academic controversies. If the Government were to offer funds to sabhas, we might see controversies of a different kind. On the whole, the Chennai music scene promises to be exciting, as always.
