Season launched: 'Isai Peroli' for Gayathri Girish.
By KutcheriBuzz Staff / Chennai

December 1 may be too early to open the December season of music and dance in Chennai. But for Kartik Fine Arts, with its long schedule of concerts, it isn't.

As the city battled peak hour traffic in Alwarpet, the Governor of Tamil Nadu, P. S. Ramamohan Rao drove in to Sathguru Gnanananda Hall on TTK Road, to inaugurate the 29th year Art Festival of Kartik Fine Arts.

It was not a full house but the familiar faces at such openings were present as the function, was conducted businesslike.

The title of 'Isai Peroli' was conferred on Carnatic vocalist Gayathri Girish and the title of 'Nadanamamani' on Bharatanatyam dancer Kavitha Ramu. The awards comprised a medal, citation and cash component of Rs. 15, 000 each. Also, the 'D. K. Pattammal Award of Excellence' (instituted by vocalist Nithyasree Mahadevan) was presented to Carnatic vocalists Mambalam Sisters (Vijayalakshmi and Chitra) and the 'Best Cultural Organiser' award to N. Ethirajan, Secretary, Mylapore Arts Academy.

The Governor has attended festivals before and this was a familiar event for him. But he had something timely to say - he said that the music season in Chennai was the city's USP at this time of the year and he wanted the sabhas in the city to work together to promote Chennai as a tourist destination for art and culture.

Such words have been said before but neither the state nor sabhas have looked beyond their home turf.

Gayathri Girish had a special word of thanks for her guru, T N Seshagopalan. So did dancer Kavita for her guru, K J Sarasa.

N. G. Kannan, Director, Marketing, IOC, Mumbai, was the guest of honour at the function.

Following the inauguration was a Bharatanatyam recital by Poornima Ashok Kumar, a disciple of Ananda Shankar Jayanth of Hyderabad.

Click here for the sabha's concert schedule