Madras Music Season

What it is

A katcheri is the modern name for a Carnatic concert, and the season is made of them. Most take place in the afternoon or at night. The music comes from the Carnatic repertoire of south India: compositions that are sung or played, with space left for improvisation. In the early years the programme held only Carnatic items, including harikathas, which tell stories in song, lecture demonstrations, and ceremonies where artists received awards and titles. Dance, drama and other art forms were added later. A season that once lasted a single month now runs for at least six weeks.

Origins and history

The season dates from 1927. That year an All India Music Conference met in Madras at the same time as the annual session of the Indian National Congress, and those taking part passed a resolution to set up the Madras Music Academy. The people behind it were the same group that had started the season. At first concerts were held in different venues each year and at different times of year. The academy settled at its present home on T.T.K. Road, and from 1928 it held the season every December. An earlier slot in March and April was dropped in favour of December.

Sabhas and their halls

The concerts are put on by sabhas. A Carnatic sabha is an organisation that arranges concerts and gives out titles and awards, often to mark talent it wants to encourage. Most sabhas have a hall or two of their own, while smaller ones hire a space for the season. A main hall usually holds around 300 listeners; a mini hall takes no more than 75. Long-standing sabhas include the Madras Music Academy, Narada Gana Sabha, Sri Krishna Gaana Sabha, Tamil Isai Sangam, Mylapore Fine Arts Club and Rasika Ranjani Sabha. The Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society, which performs at Tattvaloka in Teynampet, is on the list too.

Free concerts and tickets

Money is not needed for the whole day. At most sabhas the morning and afternoon concerts cost nothing, and only the evening slots, which usually start around four, are ticketed. Everything at Bharathi Vidya Bhavan is free, and the season there begins a little earlier than elsewhere. The Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society gives its Tattvaloka concerts free as well, and the mini hall at Narada Gana Sabha, the Obul Reddy hall at Vani Mahal and the Kamakoti hall at Krishna Gana Sabha are usually free too. Season tickets and single concert tickets both exist; at the academy, season tickets tend to sell out on the first day.

Today and change

The season has widened as it has grown. Some writers place its scale alongside the biggest cultural gatherings anywhere, and in 2004-05 around 600 artists gave more than 1,200 performances, most of them vocal, with instrumental, dance and drama items as well. The Chennaiyil Thiruvaiyaaru festival, a week of music, is held as part of the season. Live streaming arrived in 2013, when Parivadini began putting concerts online for free and gave its first award. Listeners come from across India and from Indian communities overseas, and the halls keep drawing new audiences.

How Madras Music Season is kept

Sabhas choose their concert lists and put them out before the season. Mornings often begin with free concerts, afternoons bring more music, and the ticketed main performances come in the evening. Listeners eat between concerts at the canteens and stalls that many venues set up. Titles and awards are given out in ceremonies during the season. Alongside the concerts there are lecture demonstrations, harikathas and dance or drama programmes. Audiences move from hall to hall through the day, and the whole thing runs from mid-November into January.

When and where

The season begins in mid-November and continues into January, so it covers about nine weeks. It used to be held in March and April, in the Tamil month of Panguni. Organisers moved it to December, the Tamil month of Maargazhi, because the weather was better and more visitors were likely to come.

It is kept in Chennai, in Tamil Nadu, India, with concerts in halls owned or rented by sabhas across the city. The Madras Music Academy holds its concerts at its own venue on T.T.K. Road. Artists and audiences come from other parts of India and from Indian communities abroad.

What Madras Music Season means

For those who keep it, the season is a chance to hear Carnatic music live, at length, with many artists appearing over a few weeks. It also passes the music on: promising younger performers get their turn in front of listeners, and skill is marked with titles and awards. Regular listeners treat the concerts as part of the city's winter, and the halls become meeting places for people who follow the music closely.

Questions people ask about Madras Music Season

See also

GhazalA short rhyming poem of love and parting, recited and sung from Arabia to South AsiaPulikaliPainted tigers and leopards dance through Thrissur on the fourth day of OnamBhangraA Punjabi harvest dance, first kept by farmers and now performed worldwideQawwaliDevotional Sufi singing from South Asia, led by hereditary parties at shrines

Good reading and sources

• Madras Music Season on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-10.