Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Cam phones and Carnatic music to celebrate Chennai

As the Madras Day is nearing, more and more people and many organisations find their own way to celebrate the city.

In the days when every third person owns a camera phone, why not a contest to capture the moods of the city as people walk with their cell phones down the road?

When this idea was expressed to Sathish Babu of Univercell, one of the leading retailers of Cell phones in the city, he was excited. He has details of number of cam phone users in the city, what do they shoot and how do they preserve the pics! He and his marketing team are brainstorming on this idea. The people of Chennai are going to be thrilled about an unusual but a simple and easy contest they can partake.

Soon we may see cell phone users shooting a flower seller at the Mada streets of Mylapore, fisherfolks at the kuppams or the expression of a musician at a classical music concert.

And yes, what is Chennai, without Carnatic music? Come December, people from all over the world throng the city to listen to music. They don’t mind hopping across the sabhas in various corners of the city after every two hours to listen to their favourite musicians.

As the city celebrates Carnatic music every year, Carnatic music decides to celebrate the city in turn for the Madras Day!

Carnatica, an institution run by two young musicians K. N. Sashikiran and S. Sowmya is up with a thematic programme for Madras Day.

When we met Sashikiran yesterday, he told us that he is already on the job along with the musicologist Dr. V. V. Srivatsa researching the Madras composers and compositions on the deities of temples in Chennai. This tech-savvy team will do a multimedia presentation on music in the city over the years. They will also jam up with their friends in an interactive concert on August 27 (Sunday) evening at the P. S High School auditorium.

The spirit of the city surprises us. If you and your institution are wondering how to be part of the celebrations, do mail us for ideas and guidance. E-mail:madrasday@yahoo.com

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