Click to play videoChennai: Kutchery season is here and Chennai is abuzz with sounds of Carnatic music and musicians from across the globe. One such enthusiast is 12-year-old Vaibhav Mouli from Baltimore who is fast turning out to be a tough competition for his Chennai counterparts.
“I actually want to learn medicine. I also want to promote music and make sure that music is as prominent in the US as in Chennai,” Vaibhav said, who began learning Carnatic music at the age of two and chose Chennai for his first performance in India.
“Being an NRI there are so many expectations, good and bad. No matter what they are you have to stick to your path and do what you can do,” Vaibhav added philosophically.
For many like him, music is a means of staying in touch with their roots. Twenty-year old Rohan Krishnamoorthy from Michigan has been travelling to the city every year for a decade now to perform during the Kutchery season. But even after performing with renowned artists, he feels NRI musicians have it tough.
“There's a glass sealing. Perhaps even a second class citizen treatment that the NRI musicians face. This is quite unfortunate. It would be excellent if the institutions here choose more on merit base selection process without the nationality or where the musicians come from,” Rohan said, who is a percussionist.
It is to give people like Rohan a platform that exclusive concerts for Indian musicians from abroad are held in the city.
Secretary of Hamsadwani theatre, R Sundar said, “This season we have got 54 NRI performers holding about 38 concerts."
It's twice as hard for the NRI musicians to find a slot to perform as compared to musicians born and raised in Chennai. But whatever be the problem, they make sure that they make it up with their talent.
But as far as the audience is concerned, it doesn't matter where they are from or where they have been raised, all that matters is good music.
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