The Government Music College is celebrating its 50th anniversary celebrations from Jan. 23 to Feb.1 at Tagore auditorium in the college campus off Greenways Road, Raja Annamalaipuram. P. A. Ramaiah, IAS secretary, Tamil Development, Culture and HR & CE, will preside over the inaugural function. R. Kasinathan IAS, Commissioner, Art and Culture Dept. and senior musician Salem Jayalakshmi will also participate.
K. A. Pakkirisamy Bharathi, principal of the college will deliver the welcome address.
A series of performances have been planned for this occasion.
On Jan.23, at 10.30am, Padma Subramanyam will present a Bharatanatyam recital followed by Nadaswaram concert by V. Satyanarayana and party.
On Jan.24, 10am, vocal concert by O. S. Arun will be followed by Bharatanatyam performance by the students of Chandra Dandayudhapani. Vyjayanthimala Bali will present a special Bharatanatyam concert on 'Ragam Tanam Pallavi' at 3pm
On Jan. 25, vocal concert by Sirkazhi Sivachidambaram at 11.30am will be followed by a flute concert by Sikkil Neela, Kunjumani and Mala Chandrasekhar.
On Jan.27, Sikkil Gurucharan's vocal concert is at 10am; Bharatanatyam by students of Anita Guha at 11.30am and Chitravina concert by Ravikiran at 2pm
On Jan.28, 'Ashta Nagam', a dance drama by students of Padma Ramaswamy is due at 10am followed by vocal concert by Anuradha Suresh Krishnamurthy and at 2pm, a violin duet by Lalgudi G.J.R. Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi.
On Jan. 30, Mambalam sisters will sing at 10am followed by Bharatanatyam performance by Madura Viswanathan and then, a concert by Kadri Gopalnath on the saxophone at 2pm
On Jan.31, Bharatanatyam by Priya Murle and Roja Kannan at 10am followed by Bharatanatyam by Satvika Sankar. Sriram Parasuram and Anooradha Sriram will present a Jugalbandhi at 2pm
On Feb.1, vocal concert by K. J. Yesudoss at 10am followed by Bharatanatyam performance by A. Kalyani and A. Nandini. At 2pm, Shailaja will present a Kuchupudi dance.
Admission to these programmes is open to all.
The music college which has had many avatars has seen some great artistes at its helm and as gurus and some students have gone on to make names for themselves.
Contact 2493 7217.
If you were involved with the college, share your anecdotes of the past, in about 10 lines. E-mail to - editor@kutcheribuzz.com
Here are the messages we received at KutcheriBuzz:
Ex-student of Government Music College, shares his experiences here...
Dear Sir,
I am happy to know from Kutcheri Buzz that TN Govt. Music college is celebrating their Golden Jubilee Celebrations this week.
It is indeed a long-cherished memory that I carry with me, since the days I was a student in this college, way back in the years 1985 and 86. Distance-wise also it is a long long way – 2,200 kms - I am now working in Delhi. Though, I was a 'drop-out' (due to sudden arrival of a Government job in a place outside Chennai), these one-and-a-half years of studying in this college was helpful in acquiring a strong foundation of the basics in carnatic music and quite an amount of theoretical knowledge (which sometimes frightens my wife who has learnt carnatic music for a decade).
Eminent musicians used to give carnatic music concerts in this college for the students and I vividly recollect two concerts, one by Late. Dr. S. Ramanathan and another by Late Dr. M.L.Vasanthakumari, enthralling us by their technicalities and superior music. Under the aegis of SPIC-MACAY, we were also treated with Hindustani Concerts of Shri Asad Ali Khan (Rudra Veena) and
Smt. Prabha Atre (Vocal).
I also vividly recollect the 'music festival' like atmosphere created during the three-day 'inter-school/college' competition conducted by the Teachers-Students Association of this college in the year 1986 (November, if my memory does not fail me).
Whenever I meet my college-mate, K. N. Padmanabhan, a leading mridangam artist in Delhi, in any of his concerts, we recall our memories of those days in this college. I also had the occasion to visit this college last to last year and met some of the teachers who were still there (Madam S. Rajeshwari as Principal and Smt. Kalyani Ganesan, HoD - Veena). I am grateful to all those teachers who had taught me, be it Veena, musicology, or even some general aspects of music.
On behalf of all the ex-students, I am taking the liberty to wish every sucess for the Celebrations.
V. Srikanth
Address: B-420, Kendriya Vihar, Sector 51, Noida, Pin 201 307.
Email Id: srik_ambi@yahoo.com
