Debate on city cultural events

CHENNAI: Let the philistines go their own way, let us not ruminate on the cultural happenings and let us muster our energies to contribute our might, to prevent sliding of the cultural canvas, was the collective opinion of the enlightened rasikas present at the ‘Intellectual Face to Face Fight’ on fine arts and culture organised by SPECTRUM, the Think Tank Forum of Sri V Narayana Iyer Memorial Trust.The interesting face to face exposition ‘Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow’ on fine arts and culture, centred around the cultural scenario in which sabhas, artists, rasikas and reviewers took part. Dancer Nandini Ramani and Balasubramanian, secretary, Brahma Gana Sabha participated with the violinist Sikkil Baskaran and renowned dancers Guru Narasimhachari and Vasanthalakshmi spoke about the current stage of cultural affairs.Scenario in Chennai:The manifestation of the modern Margazhi Festival is assuming larger proportions and is getting extended in recent years, well into February, contrasting with the season of the earlier years. The explosion of young talent on the scene during the last two decades and the proliferation of sabhas witness a snow balling effect on the festivals, revealing a tremendous hustle and bustle among the inflow of cultural enthusiasts. The concept of centre-staging many young artists even before they are ripe for public shows, led to the lack of decent public participation in most of the concerts, held during Margazhi season. The view of the audience was that it was a financial gain for the organisers.cultural cornucopia:Culture aficionados, looked forward eagerly to the Margazhi festival, purveyed by so many private institutions with financial backing of leading corporate houses who sponsored the programme this season. The non-resident Indians who pay the sabhas well for letting their performance happen were the most predominant. The moot question of whether the sponsorship helped rejuvenate the sabhas, saw an emphatic affirmation from the audience. “However, sponsoring has not made much of a difference monetarily to artists,” was the opinion of the artists present.(The second part of the story will be carried on the same space next week.)