Not on song: Chennai music sabhas see red after COVID-19

COVID-19 induced lockdowns in the last two years have affected all sections of society and Chennai’s music sabhas are no exceptions. While last year the music sabhas went online, this year only a few are readying themselves for offline performances, and others are happy with online concerts.

Due to this, the finances of the sabhas are badly hit, as the ticket sales are either down completely or less than 50 per cent of the seats are being filled.

It appears to be a butterfly effect of sorts for the sabhas, with banks and corporates facing an economic downturn, the slowdown is being felt on sabha stages this music season. With their coffers running bare, companies have been forced to tighten their purse strings, and have cut down or even completely withdrawn their sponsorship, and sabhas and performers are feeling the pinch alike.

“Several sabhas get to know the sponsorship funds being allotted to them as early as July each year. But this year, several sponsors said that they won’t be able to support any sabha as their own business is down,” said M Krishnamurthy, secretary of Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, the oldest sabha in the city, and one of those badly affected by the downturn.

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Krishnamurthy said that he has been searching for new sponsors since July, but has hit a dead end. “Sponsor donations account for 50 percent of the total revenue each year for sabhas. If a sponsor fails to come through, finding a new one, especially this year, is a near impossible task,” said Krishnamurthy.

Many sponsors said that it is only their corporate social responsibility (CSR) which they used to direct towards sabhas, but in the last two years, CSRs have been diverted towards COVID-19 treatment.

In 2017, when Chennai city was awarded UNESCO’s creative city tag, many people in the art and music scene hoped it would help attract more tourists and would eventually increase earnings for the sabhas during the music season. Unfortunately, according to the sabha secretaries, it hasn’t picked up pace yet.

Some sabhas say that even ticket sales have plunged. Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha, which has one of the bigger auditoriums in the city — Vani Mahal — says ticket sales are down and banks, which used to be it’s one of their main sponsors, have cut down on funding.

“It’s never been this bad,” says sabha secretary N. Krishnamurthy.

Krishnamurthy said that every alternate year, they increase the compensation of artists and accompanists. “In the last two years, we could not afford to hand out the hike,” he said, “and that’s why sabhas have come up with innovative ways to increase earnings.”

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Older, established sabhas like Music Academy have been holding up, but are still keeping their fingers crossed.

“Sponsorship has not come down so far for the Academy, which is one of the oldest sabhas and that is probably the reason why we did not had a problem with sponsorship even during the slowdown,” says Music Academy president N. Murali. “But it is still early days and I only hope the support continues. Sabhas are on their own and there is no support from either the state or central government,” he added.