Calling upon parents to teach their children music, Andhra Pradesh Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, on Wednesday, made a strong case for learning Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam to become proficient in Carnatic music.
“It is not necessary that we become scholars in these languages. It will suffice if we learn to speak and understand them to a certain extent. When we take up a song, we should know how to break it into phrases and syllables. It is not correct to assume that when we sing, ‘sahityam’ becomes secondary,” he said, presiding over the ‘sadas’ of The Music Academy.
He conferred the Sangita Kalanidhi title on vocalist Sudha Ragunathan.
Elaborating on teaching music to children, he said he wanted them to learn the art with determination.
Mr. Narasimhan, a native of Chennai who had his education here before joining the Indian Police Service, also recalled the morning prayer at Besant Theosophical High School regularly rendered by D. Pasupathy. He presented the Sangita Kala Acharya award to the musician.
He said a performer must be deeply conscious of his strengths and weaknesses.
The effect of the performance should be such that the listeners are kept spellbound till the end and they yearn for more. “This is the secret of artistry,” he said, urging students of music to devote their attention to the acquisition of purity in voice and ‘shruti.’
Mr. Narasimhan presented the Sangita Kala Acharya award to Kalyani Sharma, the TTK award to Prapancham Sitaraman and Thanjavur Ramamoorthy and the musicologist award to R.S. Jayalakshmi.
President of The Music Academy, N. Murali, welcomed the gathering and said the dance festival would begin on January 3.
