The second edition of Trinity Arts Festival of India got under way on Friday with Solicitor-general Mohan Parasaran conferring the Carnatic music legend M.D. Ramanathan Memorial Award and the ‘Isai Perarasar’ title on Neyveli Santhanagopalan.
Inaugurating the eight-day music festival, Mr. Parasaran said it was befitting that the arts festival was named ‘Trinity’ as it was held in the memory of Makkal Kural founder-editor M. Shanmugavel, M.S. Subbulakshmi and Rukmini Devi Arundale.
Mr. Santhanagopalan, he said, was a musicologist and guru who had developed his own style in singing.
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He was also a great teacher, he said.
Krishna Gana Sabha secretary Y. Prabhu described Santhanagopalan as a complete musician while singer Sirkazhi Siva Chidambaram called him a vidwan with a great heart.
Conferring the title of ‘Isai Arasi’ on Ranjani Santhanagopalan, Saashwathi Prabhu and Saindhavi Prakash, Mr. Parasaran described them as a ‘trinity’ and said they had a great future.
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In his acceptance speech, Neyveli Santhangopalan said he wanted to be a mirror to the Trinity and the voice of the people.
Festival convenor, Murali Raghavan, said 32 artists would be felicitated over the next seven days. In the coming years, the dance and music festival would be held over two to three weeks.
Trinity Arts Festival chairman R. Muthukumar said Chennai was turning out to be a music capital and they wanted to play a small role in it.