London Still Too Far

The upbeat music session at a house in Kodambakkam the famed Kollywood locality in Chennai has suddenly become lacklustre.

The upbeat music session at a house in Kodambakkam the famed Kollywood locality in Chennai has suddenly become lacklustre. Staccato,a 15-member outfit,which was chosen to perform on the Asia stage at the London Olympics Festival,may not be able to make it now,owing to sponsorship troubles.

The four sponsors (whose names the band does not want to divulge) have pulled out since the stage at the Olympic Park overlooking the Thames will not allow any banners,logos and flexes while the band performs. It is surprising as the number of congratulatory notes we had received earlier was huge and a host of sponsors was showing interest. But the moment they realised that they will not have any representation on stage,they backed out, says Ajay Gnanasekaran,Staccatos percussionist and manager.

The band,mostly known for instrumental music apart from cover versions of AR Rahman and Illiyaraja compositions,was chosen by the London Olympics organising committee. This happened after Kaashif Rafiq,the youngest member and Rahmans nephew,sent CDs of their music to the committee. They are scheduled to perform on July 30 and August 13.

Staccato has now approached Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha to help them out. They have also written to the states tourism ministry for funds. Everybody congratulated us but no government body has come up yet to support us, adds Gnanasekaran. Vandana Srinivasan,the lead vocalist,says,Now that there are two weeks left,we are disillusioned and dont think well be able to make it.

When asked why the Organsing Committee is not funding their trip,Gnanasekaran says,We are part of the cultural exchange festival and not the main opening or closing ceremonies. The bands original tracks Salsa and Train of Strings a latino and a flute-based instrumental track respectively were chosen for the performance.

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