Tamil Nadu to unleash Creative Economy at Global Investors Meet

During the Chennai Music Season, besides vocals, music lovers flock to solo instrumental music shows. Within instrumentals, the mangala vaadyams ('auspicious' instruments), such as nagaswaram and thavil, continue to enthral music enthusiasts.

With the Tamil Nadu government having opened three new institutes to teach nagaswaram and thavil in 2022, these instruments have got a further boost. Artisans like Sathish Selvaraj have a reason to smile.

Narasinghapettai nagaswaram

Selvaraj, a fifth-generation nagaswaram maker from Narasinghapettai, a hamlet near Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district, has more reason to rejoice as he all set to participate in the Global Investors' Meet 2024, being held in Chennai on January 7 and 8. What is a nagaswaram maker doing at this international meet? Selvaraj will be taking part in it under the 'Creative Economy' section, a unique category that has been introduced by the state government for the first time. Here, he will be displaying the nagaswarams that he makes and explaining how they are made.

Of the two types of nagaswarams, artists prefer the 'pari nagaswaram', due to its length. It is longer than its predecessor, the 'thimiri nagaswaram' and hence, it has a pleasing sound and can be easily handled. It was Ranganatha Aasaari, who happens to be Selvaraj's great-grandfather, who developed the pari nagaswaram and its usage was acknowledged by nagaswaram legends like Thiruvavaduthurai Rajarathinam Pillai.

The Narasinghapettai nagaswaram was awarded a Geographical Indication (GI) tag in 2022, which made the instrument even more popular.

This significant development, along with his father's demise, pushed Selvaraj to carry forward his family's traditional occupation though he was interested in launching his own tourism business. It should be noted that pari nagaswaram is currently manufactured by only four families in Narasinghapettai, one of them being Selvaraj's family.

"The state government has invited us to showcase our work at the Global Investors' Meet (GIM). We expect that our nagaswarams will attract many global manufacturers to produce this instrument on a larger scale," he said.

Celebrating traditional cuisine

It is not only Narasinghapettai nagaswaram, but other heritage products that won GI tag like Chettinad’s palmyra baskets besides popular food YouTube channel 'Village Cooking Channel', which promotes traditional village food, have been invited to promote their work at GIM.

Talking to The Federal, V Subramanian, channel administrator of the Village Cooking Channel, said they hoped that the diverse rural food culture of Tamil Nadu will get recognised at the global level when they participate at GIM.

"This opportunity can bring the much-needed focus on youths like us, who start their own YouTube food channels and battle unemployment," he pointed out. According to experts, the creative economy is one of the fastest-growing sectors that employ talent.

Making Chennai an AVGC hub

Another sector that will be seen at the Creative Economy section is the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic (AVGC) industry, which is in the process of being revived in the state.

The 2022-2023 budget had estimated that the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic (AVGC) sector in India has the potential to capture 5 per cent (approximately $40 billion) of the global market share by the year 2025. It is expected to grow annually at the rate of around 25-30 per cent, creating over 1.6 lakh new jobs annually.

Kuhan Madhan, policy specialist, Guidance TN told The Federal, “Realising the AVGC boom across the globe, the Union government has set up a task force to promote AVGC sector, two years ago. After which, states like Karnataka and Telangana, have come with their own policies to encourage the AVGC sector. However, it was Tamil Nadu which was the first to build a base for the AVGC sector way back in the 2000s itself.” And, gives the example of how they had a VFX company called Pentafour Chennai, which did visual effects for the 1998 Tamil movie Jeans.

It should be noted that the movie held the world record for many years for having the most number of visual effect shots in a film, he added.

"So, it was Tamil Nadu that initially had set a base to develop an animation and visual effects industry. But due to lack of support, many players moved out and the AVGC sector remained at a nascent stage in the state. Now, we are trying to change all that and make the city an AVGC hub," he said.

The state is also trying to come up with its own AVGC policy that will bring the players in this industry, including designers, visual effects artists and other related human resources under one roof. The policy is being developed by the state IT department by engaging experts from all sectors including tourism.

"Once the policy is developed, we can build AVGC parks similar to TIDEL park, where the small AVGC companies can use our labs," said Madhan.

Creative City

Renowned historian V Sriram, who is also one of the panelists in the Creative Economy section at GIM, told The Federal that Chennai, which was recognised as a 'creative city' by UNESCO in 2017, for its rich musical tradition, is also known for nurturing creative skills in fields such as cinema, theatre, etc.

"Perhaps no other city has people with such vibrant and diverse creative skills," he added.

"For instance, take Kolkata. It is a very creative city but the film industry in the city is not a big player. If you take Mumbai, the film industry plays a bigger role, but for classical music, Pune is the bigger city. Delhi has got a little bit of everything but Chennai is the city where you can find representation in all the creative arts. There cannot be a better place than Chennai then to attract global investments in the creative economy sector," said Sriram.