Artistes should be given their deserving positions in society and their talent should be given due recognition, said poet and lyrist Pirai Soodan. He was the guest of honour at a function held at Sri Baldevdas Kikani Higher Secondary School on Sunday to confer Vocational Excellence Award to playback singer S.P. Balasubrahmanyam by the Rotary Club of Coimbatore.
Quality
Lauding the remarkable career of S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, better known as SPB, in the music industry spanning across 46 years, Mr. Soodan said that the artists had to go through great troubles to keep up the quality of their work.
According to the organisers, the award was conferred for the contributions made by Dr. Balasubrahmanyam as a singer and actor as well as his efforts to reach out to the needy.
According to the citation of the award, the singer who had won Padma Sri and Padma Bhushan had sung over 40,000 songs in four languages. He had also won six national awards. He had directed music for over 40 films, and had worked as a dubbing artist, television anchor and even produced movies.
Swami Dayananda Saraswathi was the chief guest for the event.
In his acceptance speech, he recalled his days as a beginner in the industry. “It was singer S. Janaki who asked me to try singing for films. My aim was to become an engineer and look after my family,” said Dr. Balasubrahmanyam.
V. Kumaran, president of the club, Mahendra Dave, Project Chairman, V.S. Chandrasekaran, vocational service director, Gurdip Singh Anand, regional coordinator and Joseph M. Paul, secretary, also spoke.
The Hindu was the media partner for the event.
