10/22/2018 Geetha Bennett on the Kalanidhi moment - The Hindu

 Chennai Margazhi season

A Kalanidhi moment

Geetha Bennett
NOVEMBER 30, 2017 17:16 IST
UPDATED: NOVEMBER 30, 2017 17:16 IST

Looking back on the day a child took the centre stage

C ome September, summer gives way to festive mood in the U.S. Just as in Chennai, where
Dasara, Deepavali and Karthigai follow each other, here, it is Halloween, Thanksgiving and

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10/22/2018 Geetha Bennett on the Kalanidhi moment - The Hindu

Christmas culminating in the birth of the New Year.

Chennai has an additional reason to celebrate with December ushering in the Music Season.
And what is Season without titles and awards conferred on artistes. The most looked forward
to is of course the Sangita Kalanidhi, conferred by The Music Academy. This year, the honour
goes to Chitravina N. Ravikiran. And this reminds me of the time he had just been discovered
as a child prodigy.
When Ravikiran was about three or four years old, he was on the Music Academy stage with
many senior musicians occupying the front rows. They sang a line of a raga and he named it.
(In those days, there was no building, only a pandal on the side). Without any fuss, Ravikiran
revealed the name of each and every raga. My father, Dr. S. Ramanathan, (Sangita Kalanidhi)
sang a phrase of a very rare raga and he identified it correctly as Paadi. (There is a Muthuswami
Dikshitar kriti in Paadi: ‘Sri Guruna,’ available on YouTube both on the veena and vocal as
taught by my father).

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Ascending graph

Now on the same Madras Music Academy stage, Ravikiran is getting the Sangita Kalanidhi
title and I am very proud to have seen this child prodigy’s career graph go up with his hard
work, ingenuity, love and passion for the music. Also this is the centenary year of S.
Ramanathan.
My sister Latha’s husband Radhakrishnan (R.K., we call him) shared with me a story about the
year my father received the Sangita Kalanidhi title. A few years ago, R.K. was working as
financial controller in a Chennai-based company. He and his joint managing director attended
a party hosted where the late T.T. Vasu (former president of the Academy) was also there. R.K.
introduced himself as the son-in-law of S. Ramanathan. Immediately, in the presence of many,
Mr. Vasu shared his experiences about the way appa was unanimously selected for the Sangita
Kalanidhi title in 1985.

Mr. Vasu mentioned that S. Ramanathan did not accept any other concert during that season
inside or outside of Chennai. He also declined any hotel or car facilities offered by the
Academy. He sat in the front row with his famous black case from the moment the morning
session started until the last note of the evening concert during the entire Season.
When appa was asked to recommend one of his students for a concert, he did not mention any
name even though he had several. It was my fortune that on their own the Music Academy
gave me the afternoon slot for my veena concert for the first time.
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The afternoon appa heard that he was selected for the award, amma was cooking. My father
came down from upstairs and announced with the usual twinkle in his eyes that the soon-to-
be Sangita Kalanidhi was hungry and would like to eat lunch. Amma did not understand for a
second. When she realised what appa was saying, she immediately made payasam to celebrate
the moment.
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