A grand function was got up by Indian Fine Arts and the GNB Birth Centenary Celebration Committee on Jan.6, 2009. A year long celebration is planned, with monthly concerts and talks on the veteran musician G. N. Balasubramaniam, afffectionately called as GNB by his fans.

The Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami inaugurated the proceedings, and gave a fine speech extolling GNB's music.The former Attorney General K. Parasaran, Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, M. Gopalakrishnan, Dr.CVK, Trichur Ramachandran, Nalli Kuppusamy Chetti, Lalgudi Jayaraman and TN Krishnan were the dignitaries on stage---each of them had personal memories of GNB. They shared them with a packed audience, filled with nostalgic octogenarians who still relive GNB's heard by them in the 50's and 60's and fascinated youngsters who aspire to be someone like GNB.

Dr. CVK disclosed a fine hidden talent for singing, regaling the audience with some unique incidents. Dr. Balamuralikrishna recalled how he learnt a lot from GNB's music, and how much he used to enjoy travelling in the same car to office, with GNB, discussing music all the way.
Senior violinist T.N. Krishnan was on a nostalgic trip, describing his and GNB's forays into the world of Chinese food, delighting the listeners.
Another veteran musician Lalgudi Jayaraman enjoyed every moment of the evening on stage, nodding acknowledgement of the remarks of the speakers, smiling with pleasure every now and then. His speech was read out by GJR Krishnan, who read out in the first person, as written by Lalgudi himself and even sang a bit as Lalgudi would have done, to demonstrate GNB's style of singing.

Mangala isai started off the evening's proceedings with a lovely concert by Mambalam M.K.S. Siva on the nadaswaram, playing three of GNB's compositions in Nattai, Yadukula Kambodi and Nalinakanthi, before playing the all-time GNB favourite of Vasudevayani in Kalyani, to a rapt audience. Sudha Raghunathan lit the Kuthuvilakku, a homage to GNB, surrounded by all the dignitaries on stage. AKC Natarajan gave a brief concert after all the speeches, bringing this fine evening to a close.The proceedings was compered by Rupa Gopal, freelance photojournalist.