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NT Bureau
Chennai, Dec 24:
 

Vocalist Sudha Ragunathan who received Naadhalaya Sironmani Award from Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalswami at the 12th music festival of Valayapatti Kaashyap Naadhalaya is seen with other award recipients at a function yesterday.

        In a bid to motivate exceptionally talented youngsters in the field of Carnatic music and to encourage others to follow suit, five youth were given scholarships and awarded for their performance at a function here yesterday.

        After inaugurating the 12th Year Music festival of Valayapatti Kaashyap Naadhalaya, N Gopalaswami, Chief Election Commissioner, gave the Kaashyap Child Artiste Awards to T Sai Sharan (Vocal) and Vidyanandi N Iyer (Veena).

        He also gave scholarships instituted by Naadhalaya to J Radhika, J Chitra (Nadaswaram) and to G Shanmuganathan (Thavil).

        In his special address, Gopalaswami said Carnatic music is being played for ages and in order to develop it along with tradition and culture, youngsters should be given opportunities to showcase their talent. He also said industrialists like Nalli Kuppusamy Chetti should come forward and support these skilled artistes.

        He also presented the Madurai Somu Memorial Award to SRG Sammandham and SRG Rajanna (Nadaswaram) who are also called as the Sembanarkovil Brothers. Referring to them, the Chief Election Commissioner, who is also an ardent fan of Carnatic music from his childhood days, said the custom of presentation of awards to percussionists began a long time ago.

        Naadhalaya Sironmani Award was given to noted vocalist Sudha Ragunathan on the occasion. In her acceptance speech, she said, 'not only awards encourage us to scale heights but the support of fans also.' A Venkatramani, trustee, Naadhalaya, ARS Malarvannan, trustee-secretary, Nalli Kuppusamy Chetti, industrialist, also spoke on the occasion.