Dutch musician Frans Versteijnen (left) enjoys Carnatic concerts and Chennai’s December Music Season each year.
| Photo Credit: RAGU R
Frans Versteijnen has not missed a single Chennai Music Season since 1981. The 72 year-old Dutch national who has been based in Thailand since 2014, attends a minimum of four concerts every day during the season.
A musician by training, Frans began as a drummer and later learnt to play the tabla—a journey that first brought him to Chennai in 1981.
“I had come to meet a Dutch woman who was living with her teacher’s family in Chennai and learning Bharatanatyam,” he recalls. “When I met her in Tambaram, her teacher asked me to stay with them and accompany her to concerts every day. That was when my fascination with Indian music and musical instruments truly began.” Since then, Chennai’s December music season has remained an unbroken ritual for Frans, marking a lifelong connection with the city’s classical music traditions.
Frans began attending instrumental concerts and developed a particular interest in the veena, flute, ghatam, tabla, and mridangam. Fifteen years ago, he moved to Thailand to study Buddhist philosophy and went on to build many meaningful friendships there. “I sold my house in the Netherlands and bought a home in Thailand, where I have been living ever since. Being so close to India, I never miss the music season and spend nearly five weeks in Chennai every year,” he says with a chuckle.
Though he stops by sabha canteens for coffee, Frans avoids eating there. “Sabha canteens are overrated. They are expensive and the quality is not always good,” he says. Instead, he seeks out affordable, well-cooked meals near the sabhas he visits. “That’s how I discovered Satya Sai Mess near Narada Gana Sabha. For meals, I usually stop at Sangeetha in Mylapore.”
Frans stays at Broadlands Lodge in Triplicane, and often brings along fellow music lovers staying at the hotel for concerts. Travelling on a shoestring budget, he takes the bus to the sabhas in the morning and then walks from one venue to another. “Walking is how I discover small eateries that serve hygienic, good food,” he adds.
All these years, the friend he first met in 1981 accompanied him to concerts, but in recent seasons he has been attending them on his own. “Chitra Banu, the Indian name she adopted, runs a dance school in the Netherlands. She is currently unwell and undergoing treatment in hospital. Hopefully, she will be able to join me again next season,” he says.
Published – December 18, 2025 01:29 pm IST
