Mikeless Kutcheri in the Park series will be back at the Nageswara Rao Park on April 3 with a Flute Recital
From a six year old in 2006 to a Dubai student performing under the Umbrellas, the Kutcheri in the Park has seen a record breaking run
The Mikeless Kutcheri in the Park series will soon be back again at the Nageswara Rao Park in Mylapore. Chennai headquartered Non Banking Finance Company Sundaram Finance is all set to re-launch the popular open air 'No Mikes- No Speakers' kutcheri for children after a Pandemic break of two years. On Sunday April 3, 12 year old P Viswanathan, who is learning from Guru Chittoor K Pathanjali, will present a one hour flute recital between 7am and 8am at the Chess Square of the Nageswara Rao Park. He will be accompanied on the violin by Chittoor A Giridar (disciple of CK Anand) and on the Mridangam by B Sai Sundar (Guru Dr. Prapancham Ravindran).
While there has been a constant lament about the lack of opportunities for young unknown artistes to showcase their musical talent, this over six decades old NBFC, known for its trust and values, came up with a unique mikeless kutcheri concept in 2006 that sought to be a stepping stone for musically inclined children aged below 15.
‘Catch them Young’ Concept
When launched, the objective of the Kutcheri in the Park was to provide a launch pad for upcoming music artistes. The then MD TT Srinivasaraghavan (TTS), who retired from the company in March last year, said “We chose to focus on young children - ‘catch them young’ - and restricted it to children below 15years as we believed it would help them shed their inhibitions and give them the confidence to move up to the next level. The informal ambience at the park contributed to the removal of 'stage fear' in these children. For most children, the 'Kutcheri in the Park' has been their first ever Kutcheri. Many who first performed here have gone on to perform in Sabhas, during the Margazhi Season, cut their own music album and even reached the pinnacle in the Super Singer Contest.”
Why Mikeless?
Repeatedly in the initial years of the launch, the walkers at the park and the audience asked Sundaram Finance to add mikes and speakers to the Kutcheri. The company resisted the temptation with TTS repeatedly remarking "We did not want to disturb the peace of the morning walkers with loud music and hence consciously stayed away from mikes and speakers. We have to be conscious and mindful of the fact that we operate in a public place. It would be presumptuous on our part to assume that all of them are lovers of carnatic music. Therefore the first thing we decided was ‘No mikes No speakers’. We decided to do it in a confined space, whereby those who are interested can come seeking this but we will not impose this on someone who doesn’t necessarily want to be bothered by carnatic music."
Over a decade later, the Court has ruled on similar lines in a religious context what TTS held in 2006
"No religion ever says to force the unwilling to listen. Loudspeakers do exactly opposite of the same. Loudspeakers breach right to be left alone. It takes away the right of the citizens to speak with others, their right to read or think."
6 year old presents a mikeless kutcheri!!!
Taking the entire audience by surprise, in the very year of the Kutcheri in the Park, within six months of the launch, sisters Deepika and Aparna, aged 6 and 8 years, presented a mikeless kutcheri that enthralled the Sunday morning walkers. It opened everyone's eyes to the reality that given the right platform and encouragement, even those as young as six could perform on 'stage'.
Overseas Aspirants
This model has also generated interest among aspirants from the US who came all the way from overseas locations to perform at the Kutcheri in the Park in Mylapore. As early as 2008, the popularity of the mikeless concept had caught the fancy of California based sisters.
Sruti and Jayshree Sarathy, who performed at the Kutcheri in 2008, have since progressed on to the next level in their music careers and have been regulars in the Marghazi Kutcheris in the leading Sabhas in the city. Back then in 2008, after their first ever Kutcheri in India, they said, “This is the first time we have sung without mikes and speakers and this is the first time we have performed in India. When we think of Chennai, we only think of kutcheris in the Sabhas. We have never heard of mikeless kutcheris and open air park kutcheris. This is a very unique concept and this was a different kind of experience for us. The audience was very close to us, unlike other kutcheries. Without the mike, we had to put in more effort and our voice came out much better. This has given us a lot of confidence. Also, we were really surprised by the big crowd that was present early in the morning and their encouragement really motivated us to perform even better."
A Mikeless Kutcheri in the rain
A year later, three overseas students from the Middle East performed at the Nageswara Rao Park - two from Kuwait and one from Dubai. Malini Vishwanath, Guru of 13year old Raghavi of Kuwait, had said that it was a challenging platform for her student "Every voice has a genetic quality. One cannot go beyond the domain. We had worked, in preparation for this kutcheri, for almost 6 months as it was to be a mikeless kutcheri. I think Raghavi was her natural self this morning and enjoyed presenting the kutcheri in front of the informal park audience. Any young student would be deeply honoured to be part of the Sunday Kutcheri in the Park."
When Arul Priya came all the way from Dubai, the early morning rain might have led to a calling off of the kutcheri. But in an instantaneous act, the staffers from Sundaram Finance brought umbrellas and she began her performance with umbrellas held aloft amidst loud cheers of appreciation from the audience.
Record Breaking Series
Around 1400 children have participated in the mikeless kutcheri series at the Nageswara Rao Park. In addition to the monthly Sunday Concert, Sundaram Finance also organizes Mikeless Concerts during the popular festival of Navarathri and as part of the four day annual Mylapore Festival. Organised on the first Sunday of every month, the series had gone on uninterrupted for 14 years till March 2020 when the Pandemic struck. By then, the Kutcheri in the Park concept of Sundaram Finance had already gone into the Limca Book of Records as the longest running open air mikeless concert in the country.
While the Kutcheri had gone on uninterrupted for 14years till March 2020 and the audition committee at Sundaram Finance had chosen artistes for the rest of the year, the national lockdown following the break out of the Pandemic in the last week of March 2020 meant that the Kutcheri in the Park could not be held for two years. Like the suggestions made in the early years of the Kutcheri to convert it into a 'miked' kutcheri, there were thoughts on going online with the Kutcheri concept. However the team at Sundarm Finance resisted the temptation and has stuck to the novel concept of a physical kutcheri sans mikes and speakers.
The wait is finally over. The company has decided to relaunch the monthly series from the first Sunday of April 2022.
Commenting on the re-launch, Rajiv Lochan, MD, Sundaram Finance Ltd., said “The Sunday Kutcheri in the Park has served as a launch platform for budding young artistes for 14 years and has now become an integral part of Chennai’s cultural fabric. With the pandemic behind us, we are excited to re-launch the open air mikeless kutcheri at the Nageswara Rao Park and look forward to providing opportunities every month to young children to showcase their musical talent in front of an informal audience at the park.”
To select the artistes, Sundaram Finance came up with an audition model where children would first be tested for their voice and then be chosen to perform at the park. To audition, email: sundaykutcheri@sundaramfinance.in
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