Walk into the Sri Raghavendra Mutt at Mylapore early in the morning, and you will see a heavenly sight – musicians and singers sitting amid an array of 50 lit oil lamps, performing some of the best of Carnatic music. This Margazhi season, V V S Foundation and Samaa Arts are hosting a series of music festivals from 6 am onwards, featuring various nagaswaram and tavil artistes, until January 13.
“Margazhi concerts in auditoriums are often so pompous that the music is lost amid the grandeur. I wanted to curate an event with equipment to amplify the music; rather, it’s left to the artistes,” says V V S Murari, organiser.
Meanwhile, the yearly ‘Concert in the Dark’, where musicians perform an entire concert blindfolded while the audience sits in the dark, is back, this time with a new guest. “We have a 16-year-old this time, Anandita Arun, who recently released a single, besides celebrated Indian American singer sister duo Kiran and Nivi. I’m thrilled that Gen Z has shown an interest in this beautiful cause,” says Anil Srinivasan, Pianist and Educator, who founded the concept. This is the seventh edition of Concert in the Dark, and Anil will be accompanied by Naveen Napier and Krishna Kishor on the bass and drums.
An initiative to raise awareness on blindness and to raise funds for visually impaired women, the proceeds of Concert in the Dark will go to visually disabled women at the Gnanadarshan Seva Home, who will also be attending. The concert will take place today (Sunday, December 22), at 6:30 pm, at the NAAM Centre, T Nagar.
