Folk artists hit by Covid-19 seek financial assistance

Coimbatore: Folk musicians and performers in the city on Monday met the collector, seeking financial assistance.
They used to earn their livelihood between March and June by performing in temples and festivals, the artists said. But, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, they are facing a difficult situation this year.
As the government has barred public functions, the artists said they are in danger of having their livelihoods destroyed. All folk artists should be given a disaster relief fund of Rs 10,000 for each of the four months during which they lost their livelihood. Financial assistance should be given to all folk artistes, even to those who have not registered with the folk artists welfare board, they demanded.
Representatives of folk musicians and folk performing artists said there are 5,000 full-time folk artists in the city, who play instruments such as parai, urumi, pambai, udukkai, kottu melam, and performers of art forms such as karagam, maan aattam, mayil aattam and maadu aattam. During the festival season, they would perform in temples and fairs. Each performance would last two to three days. They would get around 10 performances per month. For each performance, after all expenses, they would be able to earn around Rs 1,000, the artists said.
M Jeevaraj, a parai artiste in the city, said, of the 5,000 full-time artistes, only 15% have registered in the folk artistes welfare board. “Even many of them have not received the Rs 2,000 assistance promised by the government.”
The government can employ them for conducting awareness programmes, the artists said and sought permission to perform at rituals by observing physical distancing. Institutions that offer folk art training should be allowed to function, they added.