Hosting music festivals in the neighbourhoods away from the 'Mylapore' centre can be a challenge. Locating a good auditorium, coaxing popular artistes to perform in December and then attracting rasikas to the fest - all these challenge the small bunch of people who run sabhas in these parts.
But with a still growing city on its fringe, places like Tambaram and Virugambakkam have rasikas who would prefer listening to music at venues they can access easily.
So when Sri Rama Bhakta Jana Samaj, a K K Nagar based body found the promoter of the Meenakshi College of Engineering in Virugambakkam willing to offer its auditorium for concerts, it was godsend.
The sabha had been using space at the PSBB school in its own backyard for years but with the pokes and spikes getting a tad too many, getting a new venue was key to their plans.
On Tuesday evening, we motored to this huge campus after negotiating the peak hour traffic on Arcot Road, turning into Vembuliamman Koil Road and locating the place with some ease.
This campus was the famed Film Center studios complex owned by actor Dilip Kumar. And the screening theatre has been converted into a all-pupose auditorium - possibly the only structure of the studio era that remains standing here.
Rasikas strolled in. When the concert began, a good 30 minutes behind schedule there were about 100 rasikas in the hall that can seat about 300 plus people.
It was T N S Krishna's evening on stage. He and violinist Delhi Sundararajan cooled their heels since mridamgist Ganapathyram had not arrived. When he did drive in, a tad harried he was not in the best mood for a kutcheri. For, he had headed to PSBB and hung around for some time before realising he had to be at a new venue.
The senior men who manage the sabha are an old boys club kind of team. Putting up with hiccups and cooling tempers is part of their job even as they let off steam on the sidelines.
They would love to have some big names on stage- yes they do have Neyveli Santhanagopalan and T V Sankaranarayanan but rasikas seek out the men and women who wow them today. "We are willing to pay them their fee but they say they cannot spare a day for us in December." said one team member.
Standing outside the hall, the music streaming out of the parting in the door ( this is an air-conditioned hall) and a campus bathed in thin moonlight, the atmosphere was just right for the season. The mosquitos though spoiled your evening in minutes.
Ph. 2366 1529 / 94444 17729, Email: ramabakthi@gmail.com
But with a still growing city on its fringe, places like Tambaram and Virugambakkam have rasikas who would prefer listening to music at venues they can access easily.
So when Sri Rama Bhakta Jana Samaj, a K K Nagar based body found the promoter of the Meenakshi College of Engineering in Virugambakkam willing to offer its auditorium for concerts, it was godsend.
The sabha had been using space at the PSBB school in its own backyard for years but with the pokes and spikes getting a tad too many, getting a new venue was key to their plans.
On Tuesday evening, we motored to this huge campus after negotiating the peak hour traffic on Arcot Road, turning into Vembuliamman Koil Road and locating the place with some ease.
This campus was the famed Film Center studios complex owned by actor Dilip Kumar. And the screening theatre has been converted into a all-pupose auditorium - possibly the only structure of the studio era that remains standing here.
Rasikas strolled in. When the concert began, a good 30 minutes behind schedule there were about 100 rasikas in the hall that can seat about 300 plus people.
It was T N S Krishna's evening on stage. He and violinist Delhi Sundararajan cooled their heels since mridamgist Ganapathyram had not arrived. When he did drive in, a tad harried he was not in the best mood for a kutcheri. For, he had headed to PSBB and hung around for some time before realising he had to be at a new venue.
The senior men who manage the sabha are an old boys club kind of team. Putting up with hiccups and cooling tempers is part of their job even as they let off steam on the sidelines.
They would love to have some big names on stage- yes they do have Neyveli Santhanagopalan and T V Sankaranarayanan but rasikas seek out the men and women who wow them today. "We are willing to pay them their fee but they say they cannot spare a day for us in December." said one team member.
Standing outside the hall, the music streaming out of the parting in the door ( this is an air-conditioned hall) and a campus bathed in thin moonlight, the atmosphere was just right for the season. The mosquitos though spoiled your evening in minutes.
Ph. 2366 1529 / 94444 17729, Email: ramabakthi@gmail.com
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