‘Carnatic music soothes and energises,” says Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti

For some years now, Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti, legendary seller of silks, philanthropist and music aficionado, has been wondering how to increase the number of youngsters attending music concerts. “We have to do something, because the halls are filled with the middle-aged and the elderly. We have to create a new generation of rasikas who will appreciate, enjoy and encourage the arts,” says the 86-year-old, who still attends upto five concerts a day during the Music Season in Chennai, when he is called to inaugurate the festival in many sabhas. 

“We probably have to create a system where young parents can either bring in their children to concerts, without the fear of being judged when children cry, or offer a supervised space for children so that they get used to the ambience of the Season,” he says. However, technology, he feels, is a great boon, because parents can introduce children to the concert experience at home.

It has been quite a few years since the Covid pandemic, but Kuppuswami Chetti says its effects are still visible in the music and dance circuits. “So many sabhas, which were operating out of rented premises, had to shut down. How could they sustain? Even sabhas that had their own premises struggled, because the number of people taking annual subscriptions came down. In one sabha I am a part of, that number came down from 600 to 200. When funds became an issue, it took the breath of the Season away,” he says. Though things are slowly limping back to normal, Kuppuswami Chetti says there is still a long way to go before things get back to their pre-Pandemic glory.

Kuppuswami Chetti looks forward to the day when he will see more housefull boards. After decades in the service of the arts, he has seen everything from sabha members going home to home to collect money, to sabha secretaries having great recommendation power when tickets were hard to come by. “Today, can you imagine anyone standing in a queue for a recommendation for a paid ticket?” he smiles.

Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti confers the Nadha Yogi title on R.K. Srikantan at Chennai’s Parthasarathy Swami Sabha on December 28, 2007.
| Photo Credit:
K. V. Srinivasan

If December and January are considered the season for the arts now, Kuppuswami Chetty remembers how the Madras of yore also had a dedicated slot of programmes during Rama Navami, with lectures and music programmes, much like what Binny Subba Rao did in Coimbatore on the vast lawns of his home.  

Over the years, Kuppuswami Chetti has seen today’s prominent singers as children sitting in the audience. He’s observed their progress from the junior morning slots to the sub-senior evening slots and then the main slot of the day, brimming with pride at their growth as artistes. 

“These days, I see very few people other than family and friends turn up for the morning slot. In those days, when senior singers did not have concerts, they would visit sabhas and listen to young musicians, and even attend each other’s concerts. Once, there was a veritable galaxy of stalwart-singers in the audience, and the youngster on stage was so overwhelmed with gratitude and joy,” says the patron of many sabhas.

Even today, he says, veteran theatre artiste Kaathadi Ramamurthy makes it a point to sit for all kutcheris at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, if he’s free that day. “There’s a seat named after him,” Kuppuswami Chetty smiles. “In fact, sometimes, he’d come straight from his play, with full make-up on.”

He fondly remembers that ego never determined relationships among artistes then. “Once, Lalgudi Jayaraman had gone to Madurai, and he came back saying he heard a young boy who sings very well. He insisted that we give him a slot in the evening. We had a small pandhal (tent) to platform young musician, and he performed there. People thronged the tent. That boy was TN Seshagopalan.”

Even after all these years, Kuppuswami Chetti makes it a point to attend as many concerts as he can. “I still can’t identify all ragas, but there’s something about Carnatic music. It soothes me, energises me. It is what I turn to after a hectic day. Do you know, when in a concert, I switch off from work completely. Only after the mangalam I remember my shop and the work I have left there,” he says, adding: “Revathi is my favourite raga. I love listening to it. Even today, before going to bed, I play Mandolin Shrinivas’s recording on my phone. His music moves me immensely. I miss hearing him play live.”

Published – November 28, 2025 03:12 pm IST