Chennai stays pitch-perfect

While they bravely adapted to the digital world, singers and audiences returned to live concerts with open relief

After two years of Covid-induced interruption when the Chennai music season briefly returned to live concerts at the end of 2021, what was on display was striking resilience and the city’s age-old commitment to its favourite art — from musicians, the sabhas, and the music lovers. It saw them all seamlessly moving between the virtual and real worlds in what could be called Chennai’s first hybrid season.

The most remarkable feature was certainly the resilience, and its demonstration came primarily from the musicians, the life-force behind the decades-long tradition. Since March-April 2020, they had been denied their career, livelihood, and the critical connect that they enjoy with their followers. Musicians, more so classical musicians, are unanimous in their opinion that performing on stage is what keeps them going. Under normal circumstances, denying that opportunity for such a long period should make them uncertain and downcast, but Chennai’s Carnatic singers kept singing and exploring, not caring if they had a stage to perform or not.

When they finally came back to the big stage, all of them were raring to go. Some had improved on their voice range, some on their techniques, some on the aesthetics and expressions, some on their repertoire and most of them on all these factors. Their risk appetite too seemed to have gone up. Clearly, the diligence and integrity that Carnatic music demands from its practitioners had influenced them in other ways too.