Smt. MANI KRISHNASWAMI FOUNDATION , Chennai
The 2023 “Mani & MK Award for Lifetime Achievement” was conferred on Vidushi. Smt. SUNGANDHA KALAMEGAM at a ceremony organised on the evening of 12 July 2023 (Mani Krishnaswami commemorative day).
The Award ceremony conducted in the mini-amphitheater-like semi-open-air auditorium of SUNAADALAHIRI was well-attended by vidwans, rasikas, all-time fans of Mani Krishnaswami and admirers of Smt. Sugandha Kalamegam.
The prayer invocation song was rendered by Smt. Prarthana Sai Narasimhan.
The award ceremony was prefaced by a delightful 90-minute kutcheri performance. Smt.Kalamegam was accompanied by SarvaShri. R.K. Sriramkumar on violin, on the mridangam by Arun Prakash and Guruprasad on the Ghatam.
At the Award ceremony, Sri. M.K.Sudarshan delivered a Welcome Address and Sri T.K. Seshadri , Trustees of the Foundation honoured the dignitaries on stage.
Smt. Suguna Vatadachari conferred the Award, a “bahumaanam” of ₹.25,000/- and a Citation to Smt. Sugandha Kalamegam and gave a keynote address.
Felicitations speeches were also delivered on the occasion by Sarvashree. Cleveland Sundaram, RK Sriramkumar and Nithyananda Rao.
The SMT.MANI KRISHNASWAMI FOUNDATION also gave away at the same event the inaugural “2023 MANI & MK AWARD for OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION in PROMOTING CARNATIC MUSIC” to 3 institutions: (1) Sunaadalahari of the Indira Ranganathan Trust, Chennai (2) Madhuradhwani of The ARKAY CONVENTION, CHENNAI and (3) Mani Krishnaswami Academy, Mangalore . The Awards included a plaque and “bahumaanam” of ₹.50,000/- to each of the awardees.
The Awards were conferred by Sri Cleveland Sundaram and received by Dr. Krishnan Shankar, Sri. Bharath Kumar and Sri. Nithyanand Rao and Vibhu Rao.
The ceremony concluded with a Vote of Thanks proposed by Sri Giridhar, Foundation Trustee.
Below are a few short video-clips and photos taken at the event . A full-video coverage will be made available later by Sri Sriram of Sunaadalahari.
M.K.Sudarshan, Managing Trustee