Musicians seek government help to tune up their lives

COIMBATORE: For musician couple N Gunasekar and G Anushya, life was out of rhythm since the Covid-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdown. With no avenues to perform and earn, their livelihood was hit.
The couple used to perform for marriages and temple festivals, as part of a troupe, earning anywhere between 1,500 and 2,000 per programme. In addition, they were into conducting music classes that fetched them 300 to 400 per student a month.
With temples shut, ban on festivals and gatherings, and marriages becoming low-key affairs, the couple say, there isn’t any platform for them to earn. “We are surviving on free rice from ration shop.”
According to him, people who had booked them for marriages and other festivals have taken back the advance amount. And students are not keen on attending classes at this juncture. “We are trained classical musicians, who have been in the profession for decades. We can’t switch professions now. Unless the state helps us with financial assistance, we won’t be able to tide over this hardship,” Gunasekar says.
Like them, there are around 2,000 artists, who perform in orchestras, marriages and temples, and conduct classes in the district. Some of them are singers and others, instrumentalists. They are experts in a variety of genres such as Carnatic music, bhajans, devotional music and dance dramas.
A Manikavasagam, of Arumuga Goundanur near Perur, who runs a troupe of 15 performers, says they used to perform dance drama ‘Krishna Leela’ and devotional orchestra music in temples. “Since the lockdown, there has been no programmes and no income for us. Usually, we get to perform five ‘Krishna Leela’ and many music programmes in temples in March-June season. But this year, there were no programmes and our artists are struggling.”
For a programme, they say, vocalists might get paid a few hundred rupees more than instrumentalists, many of who are skilled at playing more than one instrument. N Thangavel, who plays mrindagam, dholak, tabla and ghatam, says apart from the 1,000 given by the state, free ration rice and help from a few parents of their students, he hadn’t had any other income so far this year. “Earlier, musicians from the district were organized as an association, which is no longer active. We want the state to help us.”
Manikkavasagam said they were planning to bring together musicians in the district and perform online. However, they are not sure whether that would help them earn. “We hope the state would provide us financial assistance.”