K.A.Viswanathan
After a gap of two years the Sri Shanmukhananda sabha opened for cultural festivals with awarding Sri Shanmukhananda Bharat Ratna Dr. M. S. Subbulakshmi fellowship in music awards to 50 young and promising artistes across the country in all genres of music like Carnatic vocal and instrumental, Hindustani, vocal, instrumental Veena, Mrudangam, Violin, Sitar Table, Sarod, Saxaphone and flute. The awardees are from Mumbai, Chennai, Kerala, Delhi, Kolkatta, Hyderabad and Bangalore . Of this 21 awardees are from Chennai.
The governor of Maharashtra Mr. Bhagat Singh Koshyari presented the awards carrying a fellowship grant of Rs. 1 lakh per annum for three years a shawl and mementoes. As of now, the Sabha had honoured 153 young artistes with a fellowship grant of Rs. 3.56 crores. Following this Shanmukhananda Dr. M. S. Subbulakshmi Sangeetha Pracharya Award was presented to seasoned vocalist Vidhushi Seetha Narayanan of Divyadhwani from Chennai. Smt. Seetha Narayanan is a passionate music teacher and the founder of Divyadhwani , a school for Carnatic music , started in 1986 to meet the need for quality Carnatic music training school in Chennai.
The Sabha president Dr.V.Shankar said the last two years have been the most difficult in its long history. ”Now that the pandemic seems to be receding and restrictions partly withdrawn the auditorium has opened with 50% occupancy” he said.
