Summer corresponds with the Tamil months Panguni, Chithirai and Vaikasi, and has always been a productive season for musicians and folk artists as many marriages and temple festivals, particularly in village temples in the southern districts, take place during this period.
The COVID-19 pandemic, however, came in the way this year. As cancellation of marriages and temple festivals deprived the artists of their livelihood, vocalist and author T.M. Krishna and writer Lalitharam, the founders of Parivadhini which promotes nagaswaram and thavil music, have stepped in to help them by mobilising funds.
“We have distributed over ₹23 lakh till now to around 700 artists and we still have a lot of requests for help,” said Mr. Krishna, who has set up the COVID-19 Artists Fund.
The money is distributed through Sumanasa Foundation and Bhuvana Foundation.
Online concert
“I started with an online concert and donors have made their contributions. We directly transfer money to the accounts of the artists. We give each ₹3,500,” Mr. Krishna, a Magsaysay Award winner said.
Nagaswaram and thavil players, instrument makers, artists involved in devotional music, karagattam, koothu, light and sound technicians, make-up artists, performers of naiyandimelam, pambai, parai, poikalkuthirai, regional theatre, silambam and tholpavaikoothu are among those provided with assistance by Mr. Krishna.
“We consulted artists and experts in the field for identifying the deserving candidates and credited the money in their bank accounts. We give money to the individuals or to the troupe. We are maintaining transparency in our transactions,” Mr. Krishna explained.
Mr. Lalitharam said Parivadhini was only playing the role of a facilitator linking the donors and the artists.
“We have confined ourselves to nagaswaram and thavil players and we have selected artists who are above 60-years-old. Donors directly transfer the money to their accounts,” Mr. Lalitharam said.
So far, Parivadhini has helped 155 nagaswaram and thavil players. “We request the donors to give ₹5,000 to each artist. So far, we have distributed ₹7,75,000,” he said.
