Where folk arts and Western music too thrived

Wherever we go, there it is. The COVID-19 pandemic has overwritten several scripts, laid to waste the plans of all. And this year, as the city celebrates Madras Day, in commemoration of a pact inked 382 years ago, it makes sense to anchor the overarching theme to the disruptions a pandemic causes. For a week, these columns will open a window to the past to examine aspects of the city that are in some way connected to such disruptions. While Madras Day events are low key and the usual pomp and frenetic activity that Chennaiites see during this week in August are missing, people have taken the online route, as with most things these past couple of years. For Chennai is still a city that its residents love, and harking back to its connect with good ol’ Madras is an annual ritual that has come to stay

While the city is conventionally associated with Carnatic music, Madras actually was a fertile land for the flourishing of several folk forms and western music. Even as the sounds of song have retired online during the COVID-19 pandemic, here is a hark back to a colourful and mellifluous past. The British constructed churches and brought pipe organs for their worship services. Madras got its first taste of Western classical music when the British came to trade. Churches were the focal point for Western classical music then and parts of pipe organs were imported by ship and assembled here. St. Thomas Basilica (Santhome Church) is among the churches that still has a pipe organ being used for worship services. Augustine Paul, music director, Madras Musical Association (MMA), said the churches were the best venues for sacred choral music and instrumental music as they were acoustically well-designed. Sunday evenings were dedicated to such music concerts. MMA, which was founded in 1893, was one such organisation that hosted concerts regularly. The Governor of Madras Presidency was its patron, and the Governor’s band used to play on important occasions.