Music In The Season Of Corona In Chennai_ December 2020

Hopikrishnan · Dec 18, 2020

Are you missing the classical music of this season ? Comment on this thread.

The Tamils, Telugus, and to a lesser extend Kannadigas and Malayali's all gather in Chennai for the December Music Season each year. This year it is very different. Although there are somewhat shortened programs in each theater (sabha), and socially distanced seatings, the number of visitors who travel to the city for the festival has gone down a lot. Pretty much no foreign visitors either.

Some concerts are online. We can buy tickets and suffer through web glitches in the live streams. I cannot talk about my own difficulties without getting my bp up. In the meantime, it was tragicomedy to see one website advertising Tiffins (snacks) that the canteens of music venues provide the concert goers.

Season's Canteens open at concert venues!
[source: Chennai December Season 2020 ]
Are you missing the flavour of the season?

Concert-goers enjoy the snacks and the grand lunch at the canteens in the concert venues. This year, many sabhas have opted for virtual streaming of concerts in view of the ongoing pandemic situation. But a couple of caterers have come forward to put up their stalls at the sabha campuses.

Sastha Catering Services have put up a canteen at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club and Mambalam Meenakshi Mess is up at Raja Annamalai Mandram, where Tamil Isai Sangam conducts its December concerts.

If you love food during the season, you may drop in at these places when you are not watching concerts online.

Or, may be, you could watch the concerts on your mobile while enjoying your food on the table!

Check them out!

Rihana · Dec 19, 2020

Random trivia about the etymology behind the word katcheri:

Katcheri - Wikipedia
A katcheri is an assembly of musicians and audience in the context of Carnatic music. It is presented in the concert format. The music fraternity of connoisseurs and common people assemble at the katcheri venues to listen to classical music concerts of vidwans. Etymologically the word "katcheri" is derived from Urdu language and in Hindi to mean a court of law.

Its adoption to connote the Karnatik music is traced to its initial meaning as a court, a government office where people gather. During the Maratha rule (1670–1800) in Tanjavur of present-day Tamil Nadu, it was probably adopted in the lexicon of Karnatik music, as, during this period, it was the durbar of the king. It was not a separate or remote place, but a hall, a venue where people were given an audience by the king to dispense with matters of the state. .... It was at this place that musicians presented their musical achievements before the kings.

Hopikrishnan · Dec 31, 2020

Kauveri Hospital, Butterfly Mixie/Grinders, zoho-software, HCL are all sponsors of the music season, among many many others. I am online watching concerts live, as well as the "on demand" part of the sites. This could be our future.

Eating idly, dosa, vada, with masala infused side dishes, using business software and computers, and needing geriatric care are all choice market segments for those with a good ear for music, ragas, and the season in Madras.

The musicians are socially isolated on stage, with one meter or more between them, each sitting on their own stage-pod: