Chennai :
THOUGH the Tamil Isai College was established 60 years ago, only about 150 students have enrolled. The college offers courses in ancient Tamil musical instruments. College authorities decided to spread awareness about the school at the Hindu Spiritual and Service Fair on Wednesday. N Padmini, a Bharatanatyam lecturer at the college, said, “This is the first time we are setting up a stall here. We feel that nobody knows that such a college exists.”
The college was started in 1932 by Rajah Sir Annamalai Chettiyar in Chidambaram and eventually found its place at the Raja Annamalai Mandram. Besides music and dance, the college has classes in Tamil history and literature. The college is on the top floor of the hall, but the teacher claimed that not many know of its existence. “People attend shows there, but don’t know what happens at the hall. We don’t have a proper board too because the Metro barricades and settlements outside hide the signs,” said Padmini.
Tamil musical instruments like veena, mirudhangam, nagaswaram and thavul are taught at the college. Moreover, the college has rare instruments from the 18th and 17th centuries like the kinnari yazh, mayura veena and pancha muga vadhyam. “We have instruments that only some museums might have; we restore them, but don’t have students willing to learn or even try their hand at them,” said another teacher at the stall.
The institution also has an evening college for students, who are interested, but cannot afford to attend the day college. The college offers three-year diploma courses and invites students of all ages. Padmini said that since the youth are hesitant to pursue music as an immediate career choice, many do other courses and then come back to music, while others wait their whole lives and choose to learn music or dance much later in life. “We have no age bar; anyone can choose to learn. No restrictions,” she added.
Apart from the music college stall,another stall at the fair displayed over 25 Tamil musical instruments collected from around the State, from a cow-horn to several types of mirudhangam. S Sivakumar, who runs the stall, said the display was an effort to get visitors to learn about the instruments and get a idea of how vibrant Tamil music was. “It is believed that there was less illness and there were fewer health issues in the past because there was music to listen to and music healed diseases. Nowadays no one listens to anything classical,” he said.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service / August 04th, 2016