Y.V. Reddy (fourth from left), the former Governor of Reserve Bank of India, with mridangam mastero Trichy Sankaran after presenting him the Sangita Kalanidhi title at "Sadas" at the Music Academy on Sunday. From left are Sangita Kala Acharya awardees Rama Ravi, Neela Ramgopal, N. Murali, president, Music Academy, Mayavaram Somasundaram and T.R. Navaneetham who got the TTK award and M.B. Vedavalli who got the Musciologist Award.
Chennai : There is a need to enhance finance for classical music just as there is an urgency to restore classical values in finance, Y.V. Reddy, the former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, said on Sunday. Mr. Reddy, who presented the Sangita Kalanidhi title to mridangam maestro Trichy Sankaran at ‘Sadas,' the finale of the Music Academy's 85 annual conference and concerts, drew parallels between finance and the fine arts and said: “If the core of banking is finance and everything else revolves around it, the core of music is classical music.” Pointing out that classical music all over the world required public support, Mr. Reddy said enhancing finance for classical music and classical values in finance would enrich everyone globally. Mr. Reddy hailed the Toronto-based mridangam exponent as a multi-faceted genius who excelled as classical musician and teacher and contributed to the “globalisation of classical music.” “I feel that we do not have enough globalisation of classical music. On the contrary, in money and finance there is too much of globalisation and too much of finance. My submission is it is time to roll back too much finance and roll forward music, especially classical music,” he said. Lauding the Music Academy for its yeoman service in reviving, maintaining, propagating and developing classical music and making the December music festival perhaps the largest of its kind anywhere in the world, Mr. Reddy said the best compliment to the institution had come from Trichy Sankaran himself when he recently stated that he came here every year to recharge himself and felt at peace after playing here. Mr. Reddy also presented the Sangita Kala Acharya award to vocalists Vidushi Neela Ramgopal and Vidushi Rama Ravi, the “TTK' Award to Vidvan Mayavaram Somasundaram (kanjira) and Vidushi T.R. Navaneetham (flute), and the Musicologist Award to M.B. Vedavalli. Awards were also given to senior and junior artistes for outstanding performances at the festival.
The Hindu
