CHENNAI: The 12th annual Vodafone-Rotary Parallel Music Fest, a music concert conducted to provide a platform for differently-abled artistes, was organised recently at the Music Academy. The event was inaugurated by violinist Kanyakumari, the guest of honour. Jointly organised by Vodafone India and Rotary Club of Madras Coromandel, the annual fest is held to provide talented musicians the platform to showcase their skills in classical music (both vocal and instrumental).
The Distinguished Differently Abled Artiste award was conferred on ghatam maestro Suresh Vaidya-nathan and the Promising Differently Abled Artiste award was given to R Jaisankar, a visually challenged vocalist.
The awards were given away by S Murali, business head of Vodafone, TN, and S Gopalarathinam, MD, Chola MS and General Insurance. The highlight was a concert titled East Meets West, a jugalbandhi of Kanyakumari on the violin, Patri Satishkumar on mridangam, and Anil Srinivasan on piano.
The Rotary Club of Madras Coromandel has also been working for the visually challenged through the Karna Vidya Foundation, and also has a club called Drishti for visually challenged youngsters.