TVG hosts fest in Besant Nagar temple; Dec.18 onwards

One venue in the city is special to some artistes.

The hall at the Sri Varasiddhi Vinayaka Temple in Besant Nagar, south Chennai.

It is simple, clean and can accommodate about 300 people. The music of the temple rituals also floats in but that creates the atmosphere!

Musicians and dancers living this side of the city like to perform here.

Prof. T V Gopalakrishnan who runs AIMA in this part of the city also runs a December season festival. The 2012 edition starts on Dec.18 and will go on till Dec.24 and has some pretty good artistes.

Shafeekudeen and Shabana, sishyas of the Dhananjayas dance on Dec.19, 6 pm and a concert by Dr Rukmini Ramani follows ( 7.10 pm), the Akkarai Sisters' violin concert is on Dec.20 evening, followed by the talented Pavitra Srinivasan presenting Sundara Kandam, a natya feature on the glory of Sri Hanuman.

Lalgudi GJR Krishnan's violin recital is on Dec.21, Rama Varma's vocal concert 

on Dec.22, 7 pm and Kadri Gopalnath and Kannyakumari ( sax and violin) perform on Dec.23 evening.

The fest, dedicated to Chembai Bhagavathar, TVG's guru is open to all.

Sunday quiet rules at MFAC: truly Mylapore

If there is one place that holds a middle class Mylapore world together it may well be the Mylapore Fine Arts Club (MFAC) community when it gatheres at the sabha's hall at a time like the December Season.

The people, the attitude and the buzz is just Mylapore and the community seems very comfortable inside this very skeletal hall located on what is now called Musiri Subramaniam Road.

The Sunday quiet ruled here even as the sabha prepared for its opening evening this season. The early guests attended a little ritual - the flag hoisting ceremony.

The chief guest today was Gopalkrishna Gandhi and the awardees were senior vidwan T V Gopalakrishnan and dancer Shobana.

The house was fairly full. The speeches rambled.

TVG spoke of his first days in Madras in 1951, stepping out here with a mridangam, a sruti box and two sets of clothes and checking into a lodge in Triplicane and of his early concerts at MFAC.

Shobana rambled - she made it a point to tell the audience that she was wearing a pattu sari bought by aunt Padmini at Nallis ( yes, patron Nalli Kuppuswamy was one of the guests on stage) some 60 years ago and presented to her later.

A sober start to the 'season' at MFAC.