Chennai’s Marghazi music fest is back, but sabhas struggle with poor ticket sales
Concerts are going fully offline after two years of COVID, but rains dampen tickets sales while power tariffs and rental hikes strain budgets
After a gap of two years, the Margazhi Music Festival is all set to start in all big and small sabhas in and around Chennai. In some sabhas, the festival has already started while the others are waiting for the Margazhi month to begin.
Every year, it is a hand-to-mouth existence for most of the music sabhas but this year it is turning out to be even tougher, as ticket sales have not improved.
“We hoped that since the COVID spread has come down this year and all sections of society are working normally, the ticket sales will be normal. At least, like it was in 2019, the last year before COVID started. But this year, ticket sales are almost 20 per cent less and even life members are not ready to get their tickets,” said M Krishnamurthy, secretary of the Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha.
Not many takers
Other sabha secretaries are also complaining that ticket sales are not up to their expectations.
Also read: Not on song: Chennai music sabhas see red after COVID-19
“Generally, we need not less than ₹45 lakh every December season to hold all concerts from morning till evening for 16 days. All sabhas depend on donations from companies and individuals. But, this year, not many are coming forward to provide funds,” said Krishnamurthy.
The ticket sales were good at the beginning of December but the cyclone and continuous rain in the city put a stop to people purchasing them.
“In 2020, we held all our concerts online and last year it was both online and offline. This year it is only offline and we expected the tickets to be all sold out within a few days after sales began. But, till now, the sales are 20 per cent less than in 2019 and we only hope it picks up in the coming days,” said Krishnamurthy.
Rents and power bills
Meanwhile, upkeep and other expenses continue to mount for the sabhas. They have to pay more for power consumption as the tariff has been revised this year, and also for procuring the mike, lights etc. Hall rentals, payments to main artists as well as accompaniments have also shot up.
Also read: Truncated Marghazi music festival to be held online and offline
“Power tariff revision alone has increased our expenses by more than 15 per cent. Since all sections of society are slowly coming back, we are hoping to compensate for the losses they had suffered in the last two years,” said Krishnamurthy.
Not all music sabhas have halls or auditoriums to hold their concerts, and most of them rent marriage halls or school auditoriums. “We have been holding our sabha’s music festival at a marriage hall in Mylapore. Despite holding it every year at the same place, this year the hall rent has been revised. This has added to our financial burden,” said Krishnamurthy.
Despite the UNESCO tag, the Chennai Music Festival does not have enough funds and has to constantly depend on companies and banks for donations.
