The birth centenary celebrations of legendary Carnatic music vocalist Madurai Mani Iyer (MMI), marked by a series of concerts across several cities, will conclude in Chennai on October 28, at the Mylapore Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.
The event, to be held from 2:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., will include two sessions, each of which will begin with excerpts from MMI’s concerts. The first session – 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. – will feature presentations on various aspects of his music by Dr. S.A.K. Durga, Dr. M. Narmadha, K.S. Kalidas and Chitraveena Ravi Kiran.
The second session, which begins at 5:00 p.m., features presentations on artists, composers and writers who contributed towards the success of MMI’s career. Ravikiran and Cleveland Sundaram will speak, followed by two concerts. One by R. Suryaprakash, M.A. Sundaresan, Mannargudi A. Easwaran and B.S. Purushothaman, and another by Gaytatri Girish, Dr. M. Narmadha, Mannarkoil Balaji and Adambakkam K.Shankar.
I was hoping that someone/group would take the effort to bring out a
book with anecdotes, photos etc. not in the public domain on MMI, similar to what was done for GNB.
I think the lack of the book or equivalent commemoration that is more
permanent, is reflective of the personality of MMI that he lived in the
memories of his admirers and thereafter, will become similar to his
illustrious uncle, MPI,who is lost to posterity!
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