The seventh annual Tamil music festival organised by Sadhana Sadan, Vadavalli, was held at Siddhi Vinayakar Temple in Chinthamani Nagar, Saibaba Colony, Coimbatore.
Spread over four days, from April 22 to 25, the fest featured music recitals of senior and junior artists who rendered songs composed by Tamil poets, selections of hymns from Thevaram, Tiruppugazh, Tiruvachakam and compositions of Maha Kavi Subramania Bharathiar, Papanasam Sivan and Arunachala Kavirayar, in both the forenoon and afternoon sessions.
Soulful renditions
The highlight of the celebration was the kutcheri by 81-year-old Lakshmi Ramaswami, marked by the remarkable tonal quality in her bhava-laden presentations.
The Ramanataka compositions of Arunachala Kavirayar presented by Anandi Krishnan were soulful. The vocal recital of Brinda Raghunath accompanied by Ganesan on the violin and Perumal on the mridangam was filled with intensity of feeling.
The programme arranged by Thiruppugazh Mama, Hariharan, who was assisted by K. Sivaramakrishnan, retired Professor of Music, Government Music College, Coimbatore, K.S. Raghunath, mridangam player and M. Sakthivel, nagaswaram vidwan, drew wide acclaim from the audience.
Earlier, Dr. I.K. Subramaniam, retired Professor of Tamil, while inaugurating the festival stressed the importance of Tamil isai and the need to popularise it among the people.
