Nagaswaram and thavil artistes have been at the receiving end ever since the COVID-19 forced a lockdown in the country. Summer months —Panguni, Chithirai and Vaikasi — coincide with weddings and temple festivals and Nagaswaram music is an integral part of these auspicious occasions. As COVID-19 deprived the Nagaswaram and thavil players of their livelihood, noted violinist A. Kanyakumari has organised an online music festival to help them .
“It [this thought] occurred to me on July 3, the birthday of my teacher M.L. Vasanthakumari. Had she been alive she would have done anything to help the artistes. I have decided to organise an online festival to mark her 92nd birth anniversary,” Ms. Kanyakumari told The Hindu.
She said merely giving money was not a good idea since it would hurt the self-respect of the artistes.
“My plan is to organise concerts and pay the artistes and they will me more than happy to perform,” she said.
The concerts are posted on her Facebook. Keyboard player Sathyanarayana and ‘kanjira’ player Sunilkumar help in the editing works.
While her disciples have joined hands with her in helping the artistes, her fans and others also have come forward to offer financial assistance after seeing her announcement.
Asked if there was any particular reason for hosting only Nagaswaram concerts, she said even though everyone in the music world was affected by COVID-19, Nagaswaram and thavil players were affected more.
She said she had so far organised four concerts. “My original plan was to help 92 artistes as it is the 92nd birth anniversary of my teacher. But the number may go even beyond 100,” Ms Kanyakumari said.
