Chennai’s annual Bharat Sangeet Utsav, the city’s pan-Indian music festival, made a triumphant comeback last Wednesday at the Narada Gana Sabha after a two-year gap. The event organised by Carnatica along with Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha will go till today and the week was chock-a-block with a line-up of noted performers across themes and genres.
The event opened with ‘Mangala Isai’, an ensemble performance by students from the Tamil Nadu Dr J Jayalalithaa Music and Fine Arts University and Government Music College, Chennai, followed by Sudha Raja’s Sargam Choir, performed by 75 children from the Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan group of schools.
The evening also saw musicians Lalgudi GJR Krishnan, Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi, Thiruvarur Bakthavathsalam, and Neyveli Santhanagopalan being conferred the Global Ambassador of Carnatic Music award, in honour of their contributions towards spreading Carnatic music appreciation across the world.
The day also being Nalli Kuppuswami Chetty’s 83rd birthday, he was given a special felicitation. Two of his books, Sri Seshadri Swamigal and Mother Earth, were released on the occasion.
Among the guests for the musical evening was RS Ramanathan, former judge of the Madras HC, who expressed his admiration that Nalli was able to find time amidst all his other engagements to write two books. “There’s a saying in English which goes ‘a busy man has time for everything,’ and that is exactly the case with Mr Kuppuswami Chetty. In the midst of his busy schedule, he has found the time to write these two remarkable books,” Ramanathan added.
The concluding day will feature ‘108 Divya Desams’, a katha kutcheri by U Ve Dushyant Sridhar with Anahita Ravindran and Apoorva Ravindran, and a fusion ‘South meets North’, with Kunnakkudi M Balamuralikrishna, a Carnatic vocalist, and Pandit Jayateerth Mevundi, a Hindustani vocalist.