Carnatic Vocal By Maharajapuram Srinivasan

The South Indian Cultural Association (SICA) is organising its 48th Annual Festival of Music & Dance from 10th to 16th March, at the Ravindra Bharathi auditorium. The week-long festival will feature several renowned artistes such as violinists Lalgudi G J R Krishnan & Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi, flautist Shashank, dancer Vyjayanti Kashi, and vocalists S Sowmya, O S Arun, Maharajapuram Srinivasan and Madurai T N Seshagopalan.

Today the 5th and penultimate day, Maharajapuram S Srinivasan will be performing a Carnatic vocal recital. He will be accompanied by Parur M A Sundereswaran on the violin, Trivandrum on the mridangam and Nemani Somayajulu on the ghatam.

Maharajapuram S Srinivasan is the grandson of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer and son of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Maharajapuram Santhanam, both veterans in the field of Carnatic music. Srinivasan is an acclaimed musician in his own right, who has been performing music concerts individually since 1986. He has had the good fortune of being the primary disciple of both his grandfather as well as his father, and has thus imbibed their rich musical heritage.

He is an 'A' grade artiste with, and also regularly performs for, the Doordarshan and the AIR, and has accompanied his father, the illustrious Maharajapuram Santhanam, in all his concerts in India as well as abroad. His son Maharajapuram S Ganesh Vishwanathan is also an upcoming Carnatic vocalist who performed at the Keyes High School last month for Kalasagaram.

Endowed with a fine feeling for melody, Srinivasan is striving to admirably combine the Lakshana and Lakshiya styles handed down to him by his ancestors, and desires to prove his mettle as a chip of the old block.

SICA was founded in 1959 by Dewan Bahadur Aramuda Iyengar, the Finance Minister of Hyderabad's Nizam and a great patron of Carnatic music. The association has since organised more than 1,000 concerts. It has provided a basic platform for upcoming artistes like U P Raju and Nagamani, Mandolin Srinivas and the Malladi Brothers. It conducts workshops, felicitates artistes, and provides both moral and financial support to upcoming artistes. Dr S Chakravarthy, IAS, former Chief Secretary to the Govt. Of AP, is the current President of the association, and R Chakrapani is the General Secretary.

Entry is by season tickets of Rs. 300 per head for members. For others, it is Rs. 500 per head. Please contact R Chakrapani at 2742-5374/98491-24675 or V Ramachandran at 92461-61420 for further details.