CHENNAI, INDIA, December 20, 2023 (The Hindu): It’s exactly 6 a.m. at Mada Street in Chennai’s Mylapore, and school children dressed as various mythological characters are getting ready to perform. Popular Carnatic vocalist Saketharaman gives them the cue, and the group begins walking along the road, singing Margazhi Thingal, a verse from the Thiruppavai. Even as Mylapore wakes up to the sound of temple bells and fluttering pigeons, Carnatic music fills the air. This Margazhi season, veedhi (street) bhajanais are back, with several music enthusiasts gathering in the morning and singing bhajans and songs. In Mylapore, it was reportedly Seshachari, a lawyer, philanthropist and a friend of Annie Besant, who kickstarted this tradition during the end of the 19th century.

Several groups singing bhajans criss-cross each other on these streets during cold mornings in December, when monkey caps and sweaters make an appearance. The music should go on, and has been, for almost a hundred years, as Saketharaman reveals. Having grown up in the neighborhood, he has been part of such groups since childhood. “I remember singing on this very street when I was just nine,” he recalls, before rendering the same song Karthikeya Gangeya in Thodi raga, which was taught to him by Rukmani Ramani, daughter of its composer Papanasam Sivan. She has been carrying forward the veedhi bhajanai tradition of her illustrious father till date.

https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/music/music-on-the-streets-of-mylapore-why-carnatic-vocalist-saketharaman-is-celebrating-an-age-old-tradition/article66280644.ece

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