Chennai: Margazhi and music are two inseparable words for every Chennaiite. It is the season where all the sabhas would be crammed and runs out of space to accommodate rasikas. But fret not, Music of Madras, an online platform, is here to put an end to the trauma that people undergo to get hold of passes to witness their favourite singer’s performance.
Conceived and devised by K Kalyanasundaram, a chartered accountant, with the platform you can track the list of cultural happenings (music, dance, drama and stand-up events), book the tickets and for performers, they can advertise their shows for free of cost.
The android application has been in use from 2017 and the platform had the facility to browse through events. The digital platform was formally launched by ‘Kalaimamani’ OS Arun, who is also the brand ambassador and Kalakshetra former director Priyadarshini Govind here on Monday.
Addressing a press conference, Kalyanasundaram said, “We introduced ‘SMS for tickets’ option at a very short notice and the response was overwhelming. People from USA, Australia and other countries had requested to get passes. Since we were not ready with online ticketing option, our team had to go to the sabha, get the passes and share it with the customer.”
Recalling one such incident, he says, “It was the concert of the famous Sanjay Subramaniyam, there was a huge demand for the tickets that I had to request 10 of my office colleagues and even my son at 3 am to get the tickets.”
The founder says even when people stand in the queue, there would not be any guarantee that they would get tickets. With this application, he plans to overcome it. However, the ‘SMS for tickets’ option has been retained in the platform for sabhas with manual ticket option.
On search options, he said, “Users can filter the events based on artistes, date, sabhas and accompaniments.”
“The accompaniments have their own set of unique followers which is why we have considered this option to filter the events,” he added.
For the 2018 Margazhi festival, the Music of Madras has so far tied up with eight sabhas in the city and has around 4,000 passes for rasikas.
On promotional front, Kalyanasundaram stated, “We are planning to deploy correspondents to even interior regions like Villivakkam and Ambattur as there are also events happening but largely goes unnoticed.”
To list your event or book tickets, download the latest version from Google PlayStore and AppStore.