Centenary fete of Semmangudi to be a mega event
CHENNAI, July 18: Sri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer Golden Jubilee
Foundation and the Centenary Celebrations Committee have announced
a mega plan for celebrating the the birth centenary of Semmangudi
Srinivasa Iyer, the doyen of Carnatic Music. The birth centenary
falls on July 25, 2008.
The celebrations will commence with a curtain raiser concert by Ranjani and Gayatri at 6.30 pm on July 24 at the TTK Auditorium of the Music Academy. They will be accompanied by B. U. Ganesh Prasad (violin) and Arun Prakash (mridangam).
The centenary celebrations would be formally inaugurated by Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India, on Juy 25. He will release a commemorative coffee table book on Semmangudi authored by V. Subrahmaniam and V. Sriram. The book will also come with y a CD containing excerpts from his concerts.
Two recordings of live concerts featuring the maestro, published by the Carnatica Archival Centre for Music and Dance, will be released by Mr. M. A. Baby, Minister for Education and Culture, Government of Kerala. One recording is of a live performance of Semmangudi in the year 1974, accompanied by maestros Lalgudi Jayaraman and Trichy Sankaran. The second one, titled ‘SANGAMAM – The Celestial Confluence’, is a unique chamber concert featuring three Sangita Kalanidhi awardees - Semmangudi, M. S. Subbulakshmi and Vina vidwan K. S. Narayanaswamy. Another CD, being brought out by Carnatica on this occasion, contains the three Swarajathis of Shyama Sastri rendered by the senior disciples of Semmangudi as obeisance to their guru. A special postal cover is also being released to mark the centenary event by Mrs. Indira Krishnakumar, Principal Chief Postmaster General (Tamil Nadu Circle ). The releases will be capped by an audio-visual presentation on Semmangudi. Sangita Kalanidhi R. K. Srikantan will perform a special concert after the function, accompanied by R. K. Shriramkumar (violin) and Maanrgudi A. Easwaran (mridangam).
On the 26th at 9.30 am, veteran musician Parassala Ponnammal will give a vocal concert accompanied by Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi (violin) and J. Vaidyanathan (mridangam). This will be followed by an interactive session on Semmangudi’s music, with Sangita Kalanidhi R. Vedavalli as moderator. At 5.30 pm, Swarajatis of Shyama Sastri will be rendered by senior disciples of Semmangudi, followed by a concert of Sudha Raghunathan with M. R. Gopinath (violin), Neyveli Skandasubramaniam (mridangam) and R. Raman (morsing).
On the 27th, there will be a vocal concert of Seetha Rajan with B. U. Ganesh Prasad (violin) and Patri Suresh Kumar (mridangam) at 9.30 am, followed by Sangeethanjali by disciples of P. S. Narayanaswamy and V. Subrahmaniam. The grand finale at 6.30 pm will be a vocal concert of T. M. Krishna with R. K. Shriramkumar (violin), Guruvayur Dorai (mridangam) and B. S. Purushothaman (khanjira).
The celebrations will commence with a curtain raiser concert by Ranjani and Gayatri at 6.30 pm on July 24 at the TTK Auditorium of the Music Academy. They will be accompanied by B. U. Ganesh Prasad (violin) and Arun Prakash (mridangam).
The centenary celebrations would be formally inaugurated by Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India, on Juy 25. He will release a commemorative coffee table book on Semmangudi authored by V. Subrahmaniam and V. Sriram. The book will also come with y a CD containing excerpts from his concerts.
Two recordings of live concerts featuring the maestro, published by the Carnatica Archival Centre for Music and Dance, will be released by Mr. M. A. Baby, Minister for Education and Culture, Government of Kerala. One recording is of a live performance of Semmangudi in the year 1974, accompanied by maestros Lalgudi Jayaraman and Trichy Sankaran. The second one, titled ‘SANGAMAM – The Celestial Confluence’, is a unique chamber concert featuring three Sangita Kalanidhi awardees - Semmangudi, M. S. Subbulakshmi and Vina vidwan K. S. Narayanaswamy. Another CD, being brought out by Carnatica on this occasion, contains the three Swarajathis of Shyama Sastri rendered by the senior disciples of Semmangudi as obeisance to their guru. A special postal cover is also being released to mark the centenary event by Mrs. Indira Krishnakumar, Principal Chief Postmaster General (Tamil Nadu Circle ). The releases will be capped by an audio-visual presentation on Semmangudi. Sangita Kalanidhi R. K. Srikantan will perform a special concert after the function, accompanied by R. K. Shriramkumar (violin) and Maanrgudi A. Easwaran (mridangam).
On the 26th at 9.30 am, veteran musician Parassala Ponnammal will give a vocal concert accompanied by Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi (violin) and J. Vaidyanathan (mridangam). This will be followed by an interactive session on Semmangudi’s music, with Sangita Kalanidhi R. Vedavalli as moderator. At 5.30 pm, Swarajatis of Shyama Sastri will be rendered by senior disciples of Semmangudi, followed by a concert of Sudha Raghunathan with M. R. Gopinath (violin), Neyveli Skandasubramaniam (mridangam) and R. Raman (morsing).
On the 27th, there will be a vocal concert of Seetha Rajan with B. U. Ganesh Prasad (violin) and Patri Suresh Kumar (mridangam) at 9.30 am, followed by Sangeethanjali by disciples of P. S. Narayanaswamy and V. Subrahmaniam. The grand finale at 6.30 pm will be a vocal concert of T. M. Krishna with R. K. Shriramkumar (violin), Guruvayur Dorai (mridangam) and B. S. Purushothaman (khanjira).
