Simple person. Great music. Maha award.

Guests, patrons, awardees, felicitators, sabha secretary were seated in a row on the dais at The Mylapore Fine Arts Club, as seen in all the inaugural functions. Customarily, a musician and a dancer are chosen for the awards. This year is no exception. Both the awardees this year are well-known and have received many awards earlier, It was apt to decorate a senior vidwan, who has received many titles in his career of more than 70 years with a 'maha' title.

'Cleveland' Sundaram felicitated violinist M. Chandrasekar and informed the audience the roles the vidwan plays - violinist, vocalist, composer, guru and above all a 'rasika'. He related the title 'Maha' given to the musician-composer of the 1800s Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan with the title of Sangeetha Maha Kala Nipuna to the maestro. "To me, he is 'Chandru Sir', though he is many talents rolled into one," Sundaram said. He also hailed the Veena Dhanammal bani in the violinist's way of playing the instrument.

Nandini Ramani, who felicitated the dancer Rajeswari Sainath vouched for the Pandanallur Bani and the layam inbuilt in the dancer's performances. Nandini did not forget to mention T. Balasaraswati and T. Jeyammal though.

Some pictures from the inaugural function:
Photos by Sripriya Ayyangar & Smita Joshi