The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Book to commemorate Annamayya jayanti

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Friday, May 15, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Book to commemorate Annamayya jayanti

Staff Reporter

Total expense for ‘Lakshagala Sankeertanarchana’ put at Rs.94,58,390
Department of Culture gave ‘extra-territorial’ support to the music bonanza

HYDERABAD: For all those who witnessed or were a part of the Guinness record-breaking ‘Lakshagala Sankeertanarchana’ held on Sunday, here is the good news. Silicon Andhra, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) and the Department of Culture which organised this mega event will jointly release a book ‘Song of Million Hearts’, which will take the reader through ‘behind-the-scenes’ journey of this event. Over 1,60,000 people from across the State had congregated in Parade Grounds on Sunday to sing ‘Annamacharya Keertanalu’ as part of the 601 Annamaya Jayanti Utsavalu.

Speaking at a ‘success meet’, Silicon Andhra founder Kuchibotla Anand said that the response had been beyond imagination and expectation.

“Though the count was fixed to 1,60,000, the police officers on duty told us that it had almost touched 2,50,000,” he said.

Refuting that traditional culture was on the wane, Mr. Anand said that the large attendance to the event was a proof of this.

“We hear many discourses about western culture eroding the traditional values and of youth not being interested to learn about their culture. But this is proved wrong. Over 70 per cent of the attendees comprised youth and almost everyone gathered there was dressed in traditional attire,” he said.

Message

Rallabandi Kavita Prasad, Director, Department of Culture, said that the event helped them spread the message of saint-composer Annamacharya across the world. “For the past 75 years we have been trying to spread Annamayya’s compositions across the country. Now, through this record, we have reached out to many people across the nation and world,” he said.

Giving the media a brief account of the expenses incurred, Mr. Anand said that this was perhaps the first time that an event of such a magnitude was organised by spending less than a crore.

Support

“Our total expenditure came up to around Rs.94,58,390 while the income generated was Rs.58,69,742,” he said.

The Department of Culture had not assisted financially but had given ‘extra-territorial’ support in the form of security, transport and media support, Mr. Kavita Prasad said. The TTD supplied one lakh booklets of Annamayya compositions, CDs and one lakh laddus.

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