Early in comes the festival at Tiruvaiyaru, near Thanjavur, the home of Thyagaraja, where the most noted musicians assemble to pay homage to the composer in song. During December and January, when Chennai is at its most pleasant climatically, a varied music festival is held in the city, and kutcheris (concerts) of Carnatic music may be heard in very town during Sri Ramanavami and other festivals.
A wind instrument peculiar to Tamil Nadu is the Nadaswaram, resembling a shehnai, but quite different from it. It is meant for the open air, and is played on all auspicious occasions, such as the ceremonial processions of temple –cars (termed ther) and at wedding. Nadaswaram maestros like the late Rajatnam have contributed much to the imaginative exposition of ragas, and one of the most evocative experiences one can have in Tamil Nadu is to listen, late at night surrounded a rapt, close-packed crowd, to the Nadaswaram of some gifted exponent.
Situated on the banks of the Cauvery, Tiruvaiyyar is ten kilometers by road from Thanjavur. Sri Thyagaraja, the celebrated saint and composer who lived in the 19th century, attained his Samadhi here.
Thyagaraja composed more than a thousand songs which are the very core Carnatic music. Every year in January, a vast gathering of musicians and music lovers assembles here to honor the memory of the great composer