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‘Connoisseurs should help in the promotion of arts’

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Honour: Bellary M. Venkateshachar was conferred the title ‘Sangeetha Kalaratna’ at the valedictory function of the Semmangudi Birth Centenary and 40th Music Conference, in Bangalore on Sunday.

Bangalore: Music provides a kind of pleasure which the human soul cannot do without, said Sudhakar Rao, Chief Secretary, quoting Confucius.

He was speaking at the valedictory function of the Semmangudi Birth Centenary and 40th Music Conference organised by the Bangalore Gayana Samaja, here on Sunday.

Mr. Rao said that the samaja was known for its comprehensive commitment to music and promotion of young talent.

“The samaja has come to be a definitive cultural landmark of Bangalore. Music is the medicine of the mind, and thanks to the samaja, the medicine is available to all Bangaloreans,” he added.

On the occasion, conference president and renowned singer Bellary M. Venkateshachar was felicitated and conferred the title “Sangeetha Kalaratna”.

He was also honoured with a gold medal, Kum. Jyothi Subramanyam Award and Sri V.T. Srinivasan Memorial Award.

Responding to the felicitation, Mr. Venkateshachar called upon connoisseurs of music to help organisations such as the samaja to promote the arts.

“I have noticed that the number of rasikas attending concerts has reduced greatly. This is due to several reasons, which I will not go into. When I began my career, thousands of people would attend the kutcheries. People must attend concerts and help organisations promote the arts,” he said.

Ten artistes were felicitated for their contribution to arts and conferred the “Artistes of the Year” Award.

The artistes are Sudharani Raghupathi (dance); Garland N. Rajagopalan (music); R. Krishnaswamy (promotion of fine arts); N. Ananthapadmanabha Rao (vocal); Babu Rai (mridangam); C.K. Tara (Sugama Sangeetha); N. Srinivasa Rao (musical instruments manufacture); M.A. Jayarama Rao (gamaka); M. Suryaprasad (art review) and R. Parthasarathy (nadaswaram).

On behalf of the recipients, Ms. Raghupathi said that the award reminded them of the responsibility that they had as artistes. “It has reminded us that we have to rededicate ourselves to the award.

“Whoever said accepting awards was easy was wrong. On behalf of all the awardees, I thank the samaja for reminding us of our responsibilities,” Ms. Raghupathi said.

Semmangudiyin Koral, a biography on Semmangudi Srinivas Iyer written by Karaikudi Subramanian, was released by B.N. Srikrishna, former judge, Supreme Court.

The author said that he hoped that the book would be released in Kannada soon.

Mr. Srikrishna spoke about the times he interacted with the great musician. He said that not many people know that Semmangudi was very witty.

Manu Baligar, Director, Kannada and Culture; Mr. Rajagopalan; and H. Kamalnath, president of the samaja, spoke.

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