Making a change this Margazhi
CHENNAI: Come December, the Chennai air is filled with musical notes, for, it is the season of concerts. While artistes from far and wide arrive here to perform, some do not find a spot in the sabha scenes, despite having the means to showcase their talent. In a bid to provide a platform for artistes with disabilities in the field of visual and performing arts, non-profit organisation SciArtsRUs is hosting the second edition of its annual cultural festival, Marghazhi Matram, as part of its Artabilities 4 All initiative.
Lifetime chievement award
Ranjini Kaushik, organiser, says, “Artabilities was created as a primary platform for artistes, globally, with disabilities. With December 3 being International Day of Disabled Persons, and with Margazhi season upon us, we decided to do a festival bringing all the artistes together.”
Over the years, Ranjini noticed a gap in the sabha concerts; disabled artistes, she realised, were not getting as many opportunities as able-bodied artistes. “Margazhi in Chennai is very popular, however, I would say that there is really no programme that does inclusive performances or anybody who consciously curates inclusive performances featuring able-bodied and differently abled artistes on the same platform. So, Margh azhi Matram is Margazhi with a change or Margazhi for the disabled (referring to the Tamil word for the disabled, ‘matrathirunaligal’),” she notes. With such a concert, a major challenge is accommodating some of the needs of the artistes with disabilities.
“Whenever you have artistes with different abilities, they need a companion. We also have to make sure the venue is accessible and the stage is not very small (as there is a risk of them falling). You need to keep in mind all these little things when you curate such a series,” she says. This year, the programme is being held at Dakshinamurthi Auditorium, Mylapore, today, and will go virtual for the next three days.
The event was inaugurated on Friday by chief guests Padma Shri awardee Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti and art promoter VV Sundaram. The programme began with the felicitation of differently abled stalwarts. “We also awarded the able-bodied mentors who have agreed to mentor the up and coming differently abled artistes for free. This is to encourage more able-bodied mentors to step up, going forward,” she adds.
The first day saw three performances — one, by visually impaired violinist M Chandrasekaran; a Carnatic fusion performance by ‘ghatam’ Suresh Vaidyanathan, and a dance performance by blind artistes from Articulate Ability, Bengaluru. On Saturday, Sikkil Gurucharan will render a concert accompanied by two senior artistes — a mridangist and a morning player — with disabilities, and a violin concert by Mullaivasal G Chandramouli, accompanied by a visually impaired senior mridangist and a morsing player. From December 5 to 7, pre-recorded performances by other artistes with disabilities from across the globe will be premiered on the SciArtsRUs YouTube channel.
“With this programme, I wish to encourage all organisers/organisations to think about inclusivity in the visual and performing space while they do their events, especially during Margazhi. Since our platform is global, eventually our aim is to have everyone collaborate, make it into a wholly international festival and have artistes from other countries come here as well. We want corporate sponsors to understand that they have to help organisers in curating such events,” emphasises Ranjini.
For more details, visit Facebook page: SciArtsRUs