by A Musical season
We all have heard of a musical concert happening over a weekend or a EDM festival that happens in a city for a couple of days. But how many of you guys , outside Tamilnadu have heard about an entire month or rather a full season of a music festival ?
Chennai , a beautiful city that’s known for its culture, tradition and values has always tried to maintain its stronghold when it comes to art, especially dance , music and drama. It’s a destination that attracts every artist in this space to try and display his skills and get known in the industry.
The month of December, or the start of the tamil month Margazhi is the start of the Carnatic music season in Chennai. Very well known by all music loves across the world, this Carnatic festival is happening over many decades since the era of M.S.Subbulakshmi. Around 25 music clubs( called as Sabhas) conduct a month long music festival in their place with almost all famous Carnatic musicians participating in it.
Some of the famous musicians in music include Yesudas, UnniKrishnan, O.S.Thiyagarajan, Sudha Raghuathan, Aruna Sairam etc. Dancers like Anita Ratnam, Padma Subramaniam , Alarmel Valli also participate in this festival to show a bright mix of dance and vocals.
This unique festival has single handedly uphold the value, tradition and importance of Carnatic music among other important arts in the world. This Carnatic music festival also aims to bring out the best in the young talent these days and offers to give some time for the young budding artists to perform as well. Many such young artists have now grown to be top musicians thanks to the December music festival
Some of the famous Sabhas that host this festival include Music Academy, Narada Gana Sabha, Kalarasna, Mylapore Fine arts etc. In order to promote music and allow more members to participate in this festival ,they usually make the morning and noon concerts to be free while the evening prime concerts are ticketed at a very nominal fee
Of course, similar to every music festival, the Decemeber music festival is also known for its food. Several top wedding caterers across Chennai put up their stalls in these sabhas which calls for a great tiffin along with a hot filter coffee parallel listening to the beautiful melodies of the Carnatic songs being sung
The December music festival is concluded with all the musicians gathered in the banks of Thiruvaiyaaru and sing all the keerthanas of Thiyagarajar, a musician known for his several compositions , especially the ones he sang about Lord Raama.
It’s always a proud sight to see such packed halls for almost every concert filled with both old people as well as young people, who are interested in the art of music and want to promote it
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