A senior nagaswaram maestro and a senior thavil vidwan were honoured by Dr.Chinnamoulana Memorial Trust and Rasika Ranjana Sabha for rendering more than six decades of service for promoting Carnatic music, at the 11{+t}{+h} `Shradhanjali' (anniversary) celebrations of nagaswaram maestro Sangeetha Kalanidhi and Padmashri Dr.Sheik Chinnamoulana here on Tuesday.
P.K.Thiagarajan, president, Board of Trustees of Sri Ranganathaswamy Devasthanam, Srirangam, and also national president of Institute of Valuers, who presided over the function, honoured senior nagaswaram vidwan Achalpuram S.Chinnathambi Pillai with a shawl and presented him with a purse of Rs.7,500 and a citation.
Similarly, R.Sridharan, Chief Financial Officer of Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Karur, honoured senior thavil vidwan Thirunangur N.S.Ramu Pillai with a shawl and presented him with a purse of Rs.7,500 and a citation.
Two nagaswaram instruments were also presented to students of music schools at the function. Vasudevan, Managing Director of Sangam Hotels, Tiruchi, presented a nagaswaram instrument to M. Arulkumar, a third year student of Sri Dhandayuthapani Swamy Nadhaswaram Music School, Palani, in memory of Venkataraman, managing director of Sangam Hotels. Senior nagaswaram maestro presented the other nagaswaram to K. Loganathan, student of district government music school, Erode, recognising their talents in nagaswaram music.
S.Kasim, Managing Trustee of Dr.Chinnamoulana Memorial Trust, in his address, said that nagaswaram vidwan Achalpuram Chinnathambi Pillai and thavil vidwan Ramu Pillai were the recipient of several awards and were the Asthana vidwans in temples and Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. N.Sekar, secretary of Rasika Ranjana Sabha, Tiruchi, explained the importance of the function. Mr. Thiagarajan and Mr. Sridharan recalled the services rendered by Sheik Chinnamoulana for the promotion and popularising Carnatic music throughout the world through nagaswaram and won the hears of all sections of the society.
Gopalakrishnan, an ardent lover of Carnatic music, had collected many compositions of Swathi Thirunal, Papanasam Sivan, Gopalakrishna Bharathi and Oothukadu Venkatasubbayyar and released a CD at the function and it was received by Mr. Thiagarajan.
Later, eminent musician O.S. Thiyagaarajan rendered vocal concert and was accompanied by T.V. Ramanujacharyalu on the violin, K.V.Prasad on the mridangam and B.S.Purushothaman on the kanjira.
