It is silver jubilee year for Valayapatti Kaashyap Naadhalaya Trust. The Margazhi music festival, organised in association with Guruvayurappan Asthika Samajam, Nangainallur, is dedicated to Madurai Somasundaram, whose centenary is being celebrated this year, and D. K. Pattammal. The nine-day festival will be inaugurated on December 19 at the Samajam premises by Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswati, 70th head of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Pitam.
The festival opens with mangalavadyam at 4 p.m. by Mannargudi MSK Sankaranarayanan and Mannargudi MSK Venkatesan in the company of Kongampattu A.V. Murugaian and Thollammoor M.Rajaraman (Thavil). This will be followed by Udayalur Kalyanaraman’s namasankirtanam. The series of concerts begins on December 20 with the vocal concert of Vijay Siva at 6.30 p.m.
The Trust is honouring several musicians. Those to be conferred titles at the inauguration are: Madurai Somu Memorial Award - Neyveli Santhanagopalan, D. K. Pattammal Memorial Award - Bombay Jayashri, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer Memorial Award - C.S. Sajeev, Flute Mali Memorial Award - R.Thiagarajan.
MSG Memorial Award - Lalgudi GJR Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi, Nagaswaram Thiruvavaduthurai Memorial Award - Mannargudi MSK Sankaranarayanan and Mannargudi MSK Venkatesan, Valayapatti Award - Kongampattu AV Murugaian, Pazhani Subramania Pillai Memorial Award - Tiruvarur Vaidhyanathan, Ghatam Pazhani Krishna Iyer Memorial Award - V. Suresh and Ganjira Mayavaram Somu Memorial Award to Selva Ganesh
Carnatic vocalist Neyveli Santhanagopalan
At the valedictory function, 6 p.m. onwards on December 27, the Balamurali Krishna Memorial Award will be given to Sriram Parasuram and Anuradha Sriram. Vijay Siva will receive the Nedunuri Memorial Award. Other awardees are: Musiri Subramania Iyer Memorial - T.K. Ramachandran, Kumbakonam Brahmasri Balubhagavathar Memorial Award - Cuddalore Gopi, Karukurichi Arunachalam Memorial Award - Mambalam MKS Natarajan, Violin Lalgudi Jayaraman Memorial Award - Narmadha, Flute N. Ramani Award - Sikkil Mala Chandrasekhar, Violin Mridangam Murugaboopathy Memorial Award - Neyveli Narayanan, Ghatam Umayalpuram Kothandarama Iyer Memorial Award - Sukanya Ramgopal, Ganjira Harishankar Memorial Award - K.V. Gopalakrishnan.
Those chosen for the Valayapatti Kaashyap Child Artiste Awards are Swarathmika (vocal) and Bhargav Tumkur (violin). The Valayapatti Kaashyap Scholarship goes to Master P. Sivanesan (nagaswaram) and Master M.Kumarasamy (thavil). The winner of Namagiripettai Krishnan Special Award is Master Namagiripettai Gokulakrishnan
