The upbeat music session at a house in Kodambakkam the famed Kollywood locality in Chennai has suddenly become lacklustre. Staccato,the 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 river will not allow any banners,logos and flexes to be put up while the band performs. It is really surprising as the number of congratulatory notes we had received earlier was huge and a host of sponsors were showing interest. But the moment they realised they wont 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 A R Rahman and Illiyaraja compositions,was chosen by the London Olympics organising committee. This happened after Kaashif Rafiq the youngest member of the band and AR Rahmans nephew sent the demos of their music to the committee. They are scheduled to perform on July 30 and August 13 at the Asia stage. Staccato has now approached Tamil Nadu Chief Minister,J Jayalalitha,about the same. They have also written to the states tourism ministry asking for funds. Everybody congratulated us but no government body has come up yet to support us, adds Gnanasekaran. Vandana Srinivasan,the bands lead vocalist,says,With just two weeks to go,we are disillusioned and dont think well be able to make it. When asked as to 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. Ours is an invite to play at the festival. The bands two original tracks Salsa and Train of Strings latino and a flute-based instrumental tracks respectively,were chosen for the performance.
