The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Eight renowned musicians honoured

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Monday, Apr 21, 2008
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Eight renowned musicians honoured

Staff Reporter

Artistes recall S.V. Narayanaswamy Rao’s contribution

Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy.

Honouring excellence: Director-General of Police K.R. Srinivasan (fourth from left) and Joint Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, New Delhi, C.S. Kedar (fifth from left), after felicitating eminent personalities in the field of music in Bangalore on Sunday.

Bangalore: Eight renowned musicians were felicitated on the occasion of Sree Ramaseva Mandali’s Founder’s Day celebrations in Bangalore on Sunday.

They were Mysore V. Subramanya, L. Bhimachar, Basavanagudi Natarajan, M.S. Govindaswamy, M.T. Selvanarayana, B.G. Srinivasa, B.N. Chandramouli and H.L. Srivatsan.

Director-General and Inspector-General of Police K.R. Srinivasan, who felicitated them, said he had been attending concerts organised by the mandali for the past 27 years. “There used to be times when both the artistes and audience had to leave once it started raining. It is good to know that the mandali has now grown to become an institution in itself,” he added.

Achievement level

The achievement of the mandali can be measured in terms of the number of people attending its concerts everyday, in spite of the onslaught of television, films and cricket matches. “I have known S.V. Narayanaswamy Rao, the founder of the mandali, and have had the privilege of interacting with him a number of times. The mandali’s 45-day programme, I am sure, will soon become a 60-day programme. I hope the organisers achieve this before the institution’s 75th anniversary,” he said.

Musician T.V. Gopalakrishnan, while speaking about Mr. Narayanaswamy Rao, said that every year, Mr. Rao would visit Madras (now Chennai) after offering prayers at Mantralaya. “He was totally committed to the mandali. The only reward he wanted was an enthralled audience. His service to the cause of classical music deserved more recognition,” he added.

Token advance

Mr. Gopalakrishnan said that Mr. Rao used to give Rs. 20 as token advance to all artistes. “That was a fixed amount. All artistes, no matter how reputed they were, got only Rs. 20. No one ever complained because everyone knew that it was for a cause. That was the level of respect he got from them,” he added. He said the work started by Mr. Rao was now being ably carried on by his sons.

Speaking on behalf of the artistes who were felicitated, Mysore V. Subramanya said Mr. Rao was synonymous with the Sree Ramaseva Mandali and classical music. K.K. Namboodiri of the Kristal Group and C.S. Kedar, Joint Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, New Delhi, spoke. The programme was followed by a flute concert by N. Ramani and troupe.

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