Coimbatore: As curfew has been imposed due to coronavirus pandemic, livelihoods of various parties have been affected. Coimbatore Nathaswara artists, whose livelihood has been paralyzed, were playing Kalaignar Karunanidhi's song to grab the attention of the government to seek relief for themselves.
Coimbatore: As curfew has been imposed due to coronavirus pandemic, livelihoods of various parties have been affected. Coimbatore Nathaswara artists, whose livelihood has been paralyzed, were playing Kalaignar Karunanidhi's song to grab the attention of the government to seek relief for themselves.
The curfew order has been in place for more than 40 days to prevent the spread of coronavirus epidemic across the country. This has paralyzed the livelihoods of not only the merchants but also almost all others in different lifestyles. In particular, no festivals took place as all the temples were closed. Thus thavil and nathaswara musicians are in dire straits without income. Drummers at auspicious events, including weddings and temple festivals, have been paralyzed at home for the past 40 days.
This has created a situation where they are left with no way out of their daily expenses. Coimbatore Chinna Vedampatti is home to a large number of musicians. Some of the musicians played thavil and nagaswaram to express their plight as they brought their plight to the attention of the government and demanded relief from the Tamil Nadu government.
They sang various songs to the music for over an hour.
According to the musicians, more than a dozen families of Nagaswara artists live in the Coimbatore district. The curfew has been in place for the last 40 days and we have been suffering without any means of income as no festivals or weddings have taken place.
Our future is in question as we do not know how many more days this curfew will last. The government should provide adequate relief to artists like us who make people happy and take action to protect livelihoods. We have requested the government to play Kalaignar Karunanidhi's song by the suffering artists saying, "We are playing the trumpet for the welfare of the people and we are trapped by the Coronavirus."
