It is a jubilant time for the performing arts in Chennai as the much awaited world-famous ‘music and dance season’ has actually come ‘a-live’ this year after a two-year online avatar. There are titles galore as almost every sabha is presenting awards for three years to ‘catch up’ on the two years lost during the pandemic. Sruti extends its hearty
congratulations to all the awardees as they celebrate an important milestone in their lives. We are happy to have
written about most of them over the years; in fact, we can even take pride in the fact that Sruti has often been an
important source of reference for the selectors. In this December bumper issue, we present a list of some of the major awardees in a nutshell.
This year, the convenors of the two major dance confests are awardees themselves. Rama Vaidyanathan receives the Nritya Kalanidhi birudu from the Music Academy, and Roja Kannan the title of Nritya Kala Nipuna from The Mylapore Fine Arts Club. Rama is the convenor of Sri Krishna Gana Sabha’s Natya Kala Conference focussing on ‘Roots – tracing its stories’, and Roja Kannan the convenor of Kartik Fine Arts’ Natya Darshan confest titled ‘Dvi Nethra – a vision of parampara’.Sruti congratulates the two versatile artists and wishes them success in their endeavour.
Close on the heels of the ‘season awardees’ we have the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi announcing its awards for
the years 2019, 2020 and 2021. These national awards cover the entire gamut of the performing arts – music, dance and theatre. This year SNA has announced a special one-time Sangeet Natak Akademi Amrit Award – 2022 under the auspices of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM) to commemorate 75 years of India’s Independence; this will be presented to 86 personalities. The prestigious SNA Fellowships (Akademi Ratna) will be conferred this time on ten eminent personalities. Sruti offers its felicitations to these veteran artists who have spent a lifetime in the service of the arts. As many as 128 artists will be honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (Akademi Puraskar). The Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar (age below 40) will be given to 66 talented young artists. It is indeed a very extensive list covering three years—Hearty congratulations!
This December 2022 issue brings down the curtain on The Sruti Foundation’s remarkable efforts in bringing out its monthly print magazine Sruti for almost 40 years. We do so with a flourish and have therefore chosen to focus on an iconic performing artist who is an international celebrity – ‘Dr.’ Padma Subrahmanyam. She turns 80 this February. A trailblazer, ardent ambassador of Indian culture and a vociferous propagator of our rich cultural heritage, her holistic approach to the arts is evident in her every move. I have watched her numerous performances from the late 1970s till date. I have had several opportunities to interact closely with her – an encyclopedia of knowledge yet so affable: from the time when our family played host to her and her troupe in Dhanbad (now in Jharkhand) in the mid 1980s; as a participant in the 15-day residential Natya Sastra Siksha Camp at Mahabalipuram in 1989; as joint secretary of ABHAI when she was its
President leading 1000 dancers at the Big Temple; and at various cultural events and informal interviews at Nrithyodaya. Truly a remarkable influencer for gen-next!
Besides some of our regular features, we bring to you interesting stories of two renowned artists – Carnatic vocalist and teacher Geetha Raja, and percussionist and composer K. Arun Prakash. The former is a traditionalist propagating the Brinda bani, while the latter is a quiet rebel painting strokes on a broad musical canvas. To coincide with versatile film music composer G. Ramanathan’s death anniversary in November, his contribution in popularising excellent Carnatic music through films is highlighted by writer Vamanan. Happy reading!
As you turn the last pages of the magazine, it is time to say goodbye from our monthly version as Srutimoves into its digital avatar from January 2023. As a magazine, Sruti will be published online every quarter with a ‘print on demand’ option and an annual print edition every December. Our website will be updated every week with new articles, interviews and profiles. You will be happy to know that subscribers will also have access to our archives. All subscribers with pending subscriptions will be sent individual communications shortly with details on how the balance amount with us could be utilised.
It has been a truly learning experience at Sruti. Our thanks are due to every person, organisation, advertiser, as well as to our subscribers, readers, writers, correspondents, trustees, and our eminent editors who have contributed to the success and stature of the print magazine over the past 40 years. Srutilooks forward to their continued support in the years to come as it moves into the digital arena in a big way.
S. JANAKI