For most of us who are the north of Vindhyas, ‘Madras musings’ or Chennai culture is simply below our knowledge radar.
From mid-December, in the Tamizh month of Margazhi, Chennai plays host to the music season. The festival has now expanded to many venues that host concerts from morning till night.
Interestingly a sociological observation of this month-long annual ritual in Chennai will see that the Kutcheri season brings confluence of: (a) Culture; (b) Kalyanam (wedding); (c) Country (NRIs head to Chennai this season); and (d) Commerce (huge shopping spike this season leading up to Pongal festival in mid-January).
The commercialisation of the concert tickets makes it more market-led. It brings in NRIs as well as music lovers from around the country.
Music lovers might well be food lovers, considering that each of individual concert halls (called as Sabha) boast of some unique food speciality. Some of these Sabhas also offer online advance booking of food vouchers! The local brands of apparel, jewellery stores know how to appeal to the visitors to the city during this festival.
The music festival is also an excellent networking ground for marital matchmaking. The concert halls purposely show taste in music of the families involved. The seats that they can get show their clout and wealth. Sabha hopping or speed dating? Well, both may be linked.
NRIs visit to India coincides with Christmas holidays too. What better to soak in some good music, excellent food, lots of shopping, and simply reminiscing their childhood. No wonder that the average pricing for hotel stay, car bookings etc is much higher during this season.
A quick business deal here and there, a quick marriage proposal discussion for a family member, few background reference check calls for business or marriage purposes, a health and wellness treatment or an Ayurvedic retreat stay, hosting family and friends at the various hotels and clubs - these are the norm during this season.
Branding opportunity
Yet sadly, the City administration or the State has not thought of building this festival into a good brand that they can own. City’s old timers allude this to the ideological differences of this event being perceived of belonging to a specific community. Sadly it does not. It is simply celebration of performing arts and culture. No wonder, that the event venues have a sea of sponsors of varying scale and product range.
The City administration can make this as a brand unique to Chennai, by planning better integrated arrangements for visitors for this festival. Imagine having one single official website and app that connects visitors to make bookings for the concerts, hotel and car bookings, purchase of train and air tickets, links to shopping discounts etc. It could be a fantastic way to increase visitor convenience, increase local commerce revenues and to showcase a cultural asset it already has.
But the City and the State seem to be busy with their own silence. Loss for the city. If Kerala could brand itself as ‘God’s own country’, Chennai has to learn the way to use geographic event branding to build visitor traction, global city positioning. Anyway, the music lovers don’t complain. For the musical journey has withstood test of time, and has nurtured many a talent. The Kutcheri will continue …
The writer is a Corporate Advisor