Margazhi music season 2025: Catch TM Krishna, RK Shriramkumar and others at Soulfest 2025’s mic-less concerts

At the MS Subbulakshmi Arangam at Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, one does not have to jostle for seats right up in front, in fear of not being able to hear the performers singing onstage.

“The technology here goes into how the auditorium has been designed, and not in the use of microphones. The auditorium is so designed such that natural voices convey evenly throughout the space. Whether you’re sitting in the last row or the second, you hear the singers and the instruments with the same evenness and intensity,” says Sashi Kumar, chairman, Asian College of Journalism.

Violinist RK Shriramkumar
| Photo Credit:
JOTHI RAMALINGAM B

The sprawling space will play host to Soulfest 2025, a series of mic-less Carnatic concerts this Margazhi music season, from December 24 to 28. The series aims to celebrate the pristine quality of voice and instruments, without electronic amplification. Performers as a part of the line-up include violinist RK Shriramkumar, the Sangita Kalanidhi designate for 2025, Carnatic singers Sikkil Gurucharan, Archana, Aarathi, Vignesh Ishwar, Bharat Sundar, Amritha Murali, Nisha Rajagopalan, Aishwarya Vidhya Raghunath, Vijay Siva, Brindha Manickavasakan, and flautist JB Sruthi Sagar. The festival ends with a concert by Carnatic singer TM Krishna.

A new musical edition

Brinda Manickavasakan
| Photo Credit:
SRINATH M

While the auditorium, which has been architecturally designed for natural acoustics, has hosted concerts for the music season over the last few years, this is the first edition of Soulfest. With Asian College of Journalism also celebrating its silver jubilee year, all concerts will be free for the public to attend, with only registrations required.

“Hearing pure sound that hasn’t been amplified makes for a more immersive experience. This is not just of the voice, but of the percussion and everything else. All of it comes together so beautifully,” Sashi says, of the concert experience audiences can expect.

In its first edition, Soulfest has been curated by Gowri Ramnarayan, writer, playwright and singer, who says the artistes they approached for this festival were all delighted to perform without microphones. “Today’s musicians are largely trained to sing into microphones. There are many factors that come into play; including the right voice modulation and how to achieve a balance so that the instruments do not drown out the vocals. We are also used to amplification at a level much higher than necessary. So when you have mic-less concerts, you need to have artistes who are absolutely willing to take up the challenge,” she says.

Archana and Aarathi
| Photo Credit:
VEDHAN M

Keeping in tune with the name of the fest, every artiste will speak about, and perform one song that has touched their soul, or a piece they have a special connection with.

“We were keen on having a balance of both male and female performers, and also have an all-women ensemble take the stage with singer Brinda Manickavasakan, who will spotlight the compositions of Musiri Subramania Iyer. Archana and Aarthi will sing in as many languages as they can, and we will celebrate Muthuswami Dikshitar’s legacy through Vijay Siva’s concert,” Gowri says, about the programming. “We were also very keen on having RK Shriramkumar for a solo concert, to honour and celebrate him as the Sangita Kalanidhi designate this year,” she adds.

Soulfest 2025 will take place from December 24 to 28 at MS Subbulakshmi Arangam, Asian College of Journalism, Taramani. Register for free at theticket9.com/e/ms-subbulakshmi-voice-rang