CHENNAI: Vocalist and disciple of legendary singer D.K. Pattammal, N. Vijay Siva, was on Sunday conferred the ‘Sangeetha Kalasarathy’ title at the Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha during its 114th music festival.Eminent singers Nithyashree Mahadevan, Mohan Parasaran, V. Parthasarathy and Sudha Ragunathan presented an award each to other achievers.Mridangam specialist Guruvayor Dorai was awarded the Palghat Mani Iyer centenary award for being the oldest performer associated with one of the oldest sabhas.
“I have been playing since 1946 and am happy with the way the sabha honours senior artistes,” said the veteran.The 92-year-old maestro, Parur M.S. Anantharaman, was awarded the Dwaram Venkataswami award for his 80-year association with the sabha: that is, ever since he started giving stage performances.
Vocalists Sirkazhi Sivachidambaram, and the youngest among the awardees, K.Gayatri, were awarded the G. Ramanathan award and M.L. Vasanthakumari award respectively for their singing and association with the sabha.Religious head Rangaramanuja jeer inaugurated the function and gave away awards to eminent musicians. Business magnate Nalli Kuppuswami Chetty presided over the event and congratulated the awardees for their hard work and contribution to music. Other famous musicians, such as K. Sivaraman and Unni Krishnan, were present at the event. A newsletter on the year’s events and awardees of the sabha was also released.
