|
The 24th annual Isai Vizha of the Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha was inaugurated at the Vani Mahal on December 9, 2003, with an inspiring and thought-provoking address by V Shankar, President, Shanmukananda Fine Arts and Sangeetha Sabha, Mumbai. Later, violin maestro Lalgudi G Jayaraman conferred the titles of Vani Kalasudhakara on Carnatic vocalist S Sowmya, violinist Dr Narmada, mridanga vidwan K R Ganesh, danseuse Urmila Sathyanarayanan and S Ve Shekhar for his contribution to theatre. Lalgudi Jayaraman and Shankar lighted the traditional lamp to mark the commencement of the festival.
 Shankar pointed out that Nagiah was responsible for the construction of Vani Mahal in 1944 for the benefit of residents in T Nagar. "He would have been happy to see the hall being rebuilt, that too with the blessings of the Kanchi Sankaracharyas. The hall was aptly called Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi Mahaswami auditorium last year, and the performers here will surely have their blessings", said Shankar, one of the main persons responsible for the renovation of Vani
Mahal.
 Music was not only a great integrator bringing various thoughts, cultures together into a confluence but was also a great healer as mentioned in the science of Ayurveda, he said adding that God's blessings came directly to the musicians themselves.
"Sound when stretched is music;
Movement when stretched is dance;
Mind when stretched is meditation;
Life when stretched is celebration", Shankar said, amidst applause.
 He pointed out that Music too is celebration.
The Sabha's act of providing awards to musicians was aimed at rejuvenation and not a terminal recognition coming at the sunset of their lives, he said.
Pointing out that musicians helped spread goodness, everyone in society too must help spread goodness and to lead purposeful lives.
 Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited's Director (Marketing) S Radhakrishnan, who had also come to Chennai for the inauguration of the festival, said the company believed in supporting Indian forms of music, particularly the Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha's annual fest, the Kalidas festival in Nagpur, the Pune festival, besides the festival of the Shanmukananda sabha in Mumbai. No city in the country could match the Chennai annual music and dance festival, he pointed out.
 The Krishna Gana Sabha secretary R Krishnaswamy and Dr V V Srivatsa, musicologist, said all the five recipients of the award this year richly deserved the
honour.
Replying to the felicitations, Sowmya recalled the training from Dr S Ramanathan and other gurus, while Dr Narmada, who comes from the Parur Sundaram Iyer tradition, thanked her father, M S Gopalakrishnan and her gurus, for her first title. K R Ganesh recalled the way his father Kumbakonam Rajappa Iyer had trained and brought him up.
 Urmila Sathyanarayanan thanked her gurus, her parents, husband and other members of the family for providing tremendous support.
S Ve Shekher recalled that in the past drama troupes would not get a hall during the music season from December to January, and some of them would even hope that a vocalist would get a sore throat and cancel his programme, giving a last-minute opportunity to a drama troupe. He was glad that a drama artiste had been recognised by the sabha during the music festival, and hoped this would be emulated by other sabhas too. Shekher announced that he would donate the cash that goes with the award to the secretary of a sabha in north Madras who was ailing and
 required aid for treatment. He prompty handed over the amount to Krishnaswamy to arrange for collection from other sources and pass it on to the ailing secretary.
The programme was ably compered by Va Ve Su, who provided a vital link to the evening's events. Other sabhas too could consider having such good comperes rather than entrust the work to their own presidents or secretaries who sometimes perform woefully or in an unprofessional manner.
R Rangaraj
More News
|
