CHENNAI : Subramania Bharati, the Tamil poet who marked the advent of modernity in Tamil literature in the early 20th century, continues to inspire many people even today.

People such as Radha Vijayan, who teaches Western and Indian music to multi-racial students in Singapore

This youngest son of the late actor M.K. Radha is now working on an album of Bharati songs.

Five songs

The 56-year-old Vijayan says the album will contain a rendering of five Bharati songs in choral form, based on Indian ragas.

One song of Bharatidasan will also form part of the album whose CD ROM will have "minus-1 track" enabling listeners to sing along when it is played.

Mr. Vijayan, who has been living in Singapore from 1992, says he went to the city-state as a member of a dance troupe of dancer Padma Subrahmanyam for the Singapore Festival of Arts '92.

Subsequently, he was invited by K.P. Bhaskar, president of Nrityalaya Aesthetics Society, to build choir teams for Indian music in Singapore.

After working with the Society for eight years, Mr. Vijayan set up his institute. Today, it has two branches there. Mr. Vijayan hopes to release the album by March.

Another effort to perpetuate the memory of Bharati has come from the veteran K. Ramamurthi, who has been spreading the fame of the poet in his own way. Mr. Ramamurthi has brought out a publication in Tamil, capturing important events in the life of the poet.

The book, of 115 pages, has been published by Thirumagal Nilayam, Chennai. (Phone: 24342899, 24327696).

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