Renowned Tamil scholar U V Swaminatha Iyer, who brought long-forgotten works of classical Tamil literature to light, had also compiled the biographical sketches of 400 musicians. Earnest efforts must be made for printing and publishing these works, said Justice V Ramasubramaniam.
Presenting the prestigious Sangita Kalainidhi title to Carnatic music vocalist Trichur V Ramachandran at the ‘Sadas’ of the 86th Annual Conference and Concerts at the Music Academy here on Tuesday, the Madras High Court judge elucidated the six seasons or Ritus in a year in the Hindu Panchangam: Vasant (Spring), Grishma (Summer), Varsha (Monsoon), Sharad (Autumn), Hemant (Prewinter) and Shishir (Winter). “The Music Academy has added one more to it – Sangita Ritu or music season,” he said.
Stating that several legal luminaries had been experts in music, the judge cited the example of T V Subba Rao, a practising advocate, who became one of the founding members of the Music Academy and won the title of Sangita Kalanidhi. “The legal world has produced many musicians, but it cannot be claimed vice-versa,” he quipped.
Justice Ramasubramaniam also made a mention of Prof P Sambamoorthy, a lawyer who headed the Department of Music when it was set up for the first time at the Queen Mary’s College.
Another great lawyer, T M Krishnaswamy Iyer, popularly known as Tiruppugazh Mani was an expert in rendering Tiruppugazhs and became famous for his renditions at the Tiruttani temple, he said.
Touching upon legendary Tamil scholar U V Swaminatha Iyer’s contribution to music, the judge said the literary giant had penned about 400 biographical sketches of musicians, but those had not been brought into print so far. He appealed to the gathering at the function to make efforts to have them printed.
Earlier, Justice Ramasubramaniam conferred the Sangita Kalanidhi title to vocalist and Padma Bhushan awardee Trichur V Ramachandran and presented him with a shawl, Virudhu (citation) and gold medal. He also presented the Sangita Kala Acharya award to vocalist J Venkatraman and violinist Vidushi T Rukmini and the ‘TTK Awards’. Later, prizes were also given to senior and junior artistes for outstanding performances at the festival.
N Murali, president, Music Academy, said the festival, which had been inaugurated by Chief J Jayalalithaa on December 15, has had a successful run.