Awards, speeches and a concert by Abishek Raguram launched the season this year. It might have been dull and dreary in the city due to the incessant rain, but the atmosphere inside Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan was nothing short of festive last Friday.
Amid music and nadaswaram performances, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Cultural Festival 2015 was inaugurated by N. Murali, Vice-Chairman, The Hindu, and president, The Music Academy.
Speaking at the inauguration, Mr. Murali said that the event was a forerunner to the upcoming Chennai Music Festival, which is instrumental in making the city the country’s cultural hub. “There is no other cultural festival that celebrates the performing arts like the Chennai music festival. Today’s function is about the propagation of our rich musical heritage,” he said.
He also spoke on what made Bhavan a great institution. “Bhavan’s beauty is that it embraces the composite culture of India regardless of religion or creed. It has done justice to the great cause of our cultural heritage.” Eminent violinist A. Kanyakumari and renowned musician Neyveli Santhanagopalan were honoured with the P. Obul Reddy and P. Gnanambal Memorial Lifetime Achievement Awards instituted by P. Vijayakumar Reddy and Preetha Reddy.
Kanyakumari said, “An award is always something to feel happy about. When such an honour is conferred by Bhavan, the happiness doubles.”
Dr. Jayanthasree Balakrishnan, Professor, Department of English from PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, said music and arts were of the utmost importance and Bhavan’s efforts to keep the arts alive were consistent with what the founders had envisioned.
Justice S. Jagadeesan, former judge of the Madras High Court, said “Kanyakumari is a violinist par excellence while Santhanagopalan is erudite and known for his depth of knowledge.”
