|
It was a typical Saturday morning at Mylapore. People going for their routine walks and exercises around the Nageshwara Park at 8.30 AM. But there was one thing that was peculiar, which caught everybody’s eyes.
There were a bunch of 15 children standing around Raga Sudha Hall, Luz in pavadais, dhavanis,kurtas and pyjamas. A closer look suggested that it was the Dikshitar Super Singer Contest 2011, Juniors’ Team Event. Inside, there was a buzz in the auditorium, with an aesthetic backdrop and stage décor, chairs filled with children and their parents dressed in colorful clothes, wearing beautiful jewelry and accessories, withagarbattis flaunting the air around the hall. At 8.45, a Sastrigal began performing puja to the Vinayaka and Dikshitar Photos that were placed on the stage and prayed for the lords’ blessings to all the children who had come there to showcase their skills.
The DSS 2011 was inaugurated in a grand manner by Smt. Vedavalli and Sri P.S. Narayanaswami soon after the prayers. There were nearly 100 students below the age of 17 who had come to participate. As the contestants started getting on stage, each of them presented different compositions and time kept moving along steadily like an Alfred Hitchcock Movie. Finally, at 3.30 PM, the competition came to an end and 8 teams (16 Participants) were chosen for the Grand Finale that is to be held on the 3rd of September, 2011 at The Obul Reddy Hall, Vani Mahal, T Nagar. The 3 eminent judges - Sri V. Subrahmaniam, Smt. Shyamala Venkateswaran and Smt. Srividhya Neelakantan, were instrumental in making the event a grand success and sat through the entire duration of the programme and encouraged the students and made them sing to the best of their capabilities. The response was outstanding and it was brilliant to see so many youngsters participating in a competition where they had to present the monumental kritis and works of Muthuswamy Dikshitar.
The event was hosted under the auspices of Nadajyoti Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar Foundation, a non-profit organization, whose sole mission is to propagate the works of Dikshitar. More such events need to be organized and awareness needs to be created for such noble causes. The Seniors’ Solo event, preliminary rounds, is happening at Raga Sudha Hall, Luz on the 27th of August, 2011 for children between the age of 18 and 25. Interested contestants may contact 42636529 for information and registration.
Rithvik Raja
|