What can be more divine than the sound of Carnatic music at the break of dawn, sung in the voices of talented young children, among the trees and to the accompaniment of bird calls?
Not far away from the iconic Narada Gana Sabha and the Music Academy — the twin hotspots of kutcheri-crazy Chennai — is the verdant Nageshwara Rao Park, the site of ‘Sunday Kutcheri in the Park’, a unique musical initiative that has now evolved to be a cultural phenomena.
Unlike sabha-based kutcheris that tend to be formal, this takes Carnatic music to the outdoors and to the masses. The one-hour-long kutcheris take place in the traditional format with musical accompaniments like the mridangam and the violin. But there is no microphone, speaker or electronic equipment of any sort — nothing to come between the singer and audience.
Every first Sunday of the month, between 7 a.m. to 8 a.m., people listen in, settling themselves down on the lawns at the park’s Chess Square. So far, there have been around 900 such kutcheris by children under 15. The youngest were sisters R. Deepika and R. Aparna, who were eight and six years old respectively, when they sang here in August 2006. It began in February 2006, when Sundaram Finance was exploring how to showcase Carnatic music and other arts at the Mylapore Festival. “We did not want to disturb the peace of the morning walkers with loud music and hence consciously stayed away from microphones and speakers. It would also have been presumptuous on our part to assume that everyone visiting the park would love Carnatic music.
Besides, we believed that we would be able to bring out the best in the children if they performed without microphones,” says T.T. Srinivasaraghavan, managing director, Sundaram Finance. Following positive feedback, these kutcheris became a year-round feature.
The singers are accepted after auditions, and the kutcheris have become a launching pad for them. A few kids who have performed here have received offers from music directors and have gone on to perform at sabhas. V. Sree Chitra who sang here in October 2006 went on to cut a music album of her own. Shravan went on to win the Airtel Super Singer contest.
No wonder, then, that this draws young Carnatic musicians from overseas too. For instance, California-based sisters, 13-year-old Sruti Sarathy and 11-year-old Jayshree Sarathy, performed here in January 2008, after their mother Vatsala Sarathy heard about these kutcheris. In August 2007, 13-year-old Arul Priya Manickavasakan from Dubai sang holding an umbrella, as it drizzled that morning, simply because she didn’t want to miss the chance.
Long before the recent concert film One that has T. M. Krishna singing in the Nilgiris took shape, this kutcheri has been taking place regularly. And luckily for us in Chennai, they will continue to happen, rain or shine, all through the year.
