Ours is a musical organisation which is conducting monthly concerts on the Bahula Panchami day of every month culminating with the Aradhana Mahotsavam every year for the past 60 years. Regular music classes are also undertaken for students and many of them are participating in music programs
As a young boy who was passionate and enthusiastic about music, Sri Soundararajan had asked permission fr
om his father to attend the Annual Thyagaraja Aradhana Festival which is held at Tiruvaiyaru on the banks of the Cauvery at the sanctum sanctorum of Thyagabrahmam who attained Samadhi here.Instead of granting permission, his father painted a picture of the Saint Composer and gave it to the young boy for paying homage. Setting aside his disappointment with the turn of events, this young boy joined hands with Sri Veena Vasu in organising a concert dedicated to Sri Tyagaraja on the Bahula Panchami day. The concert used to be held at their house in West Mambalam with his father’s painting of Saint Thyagaraja as the presiding deity. This incident took place in the year 1952. Since then for the past Sixty years , Nagai Sri Soundararajan, the ever smiling, dedicated and enthusiastic Mridangam Vidwan continues to hold concerts dedicated to Sri Tyagaraja every month on the Bahula Panchami day to this day.After the above incident, there has been no looking back and has been conducted without a break. The painting of the Saint Composer presented to the young Sri Soundararajan by his father with a purpose can be found even today adorned with flowers during all these concerts. The Anniversary which usually falls during January every year is celebrated with the spontaneous participation of many Vidwans as homage to Saint Thyagaraja and the love and respect they have for this dedicated person Sri Soundararajan for his sincere and concerted efforts over the years in conducting these events. Sri Soundararajan fondly remembers the never say die spirit of Late Sri Veena Vasu who worked tirelessly till his last breath in successfully conducting these monthly concerts and the Annual Aradhana. Since then, Sri Soundararajan has been the lone crusader continuing to organise these events with the same enthusiasm and dedication which started 60 years before. The legendary musicians Late Sri B.V. Lakshmanan took keen interest and helped Sri Soundararajan in many ways by participating regularly and bringing in more number of Vidwans to take part in these events. Presently, Sri Soundararajan’s entire family members, disciples, other musicians and rasikas continue to whole heartedly support and patronise all the events conducted by him. An energetic 80-year old Nagai Sri Soundararajan goes around the city visiting friends and musicians to muster support for the events he conducts monthly and annually. Initially the concerts were held in his house and later it was shifted to various venues like schools and other houses within West Mambalam. Sri Soundararajan says that it was the Divine Will which came in the form of the Correspondents of SMR Matriculation High School who offered their school premises for conducting these events. Sri Rakkappan and Smt Shanthi Rakkappan of the School do not collect any rent or electricity charges for the premises and have also gone a step further by naming the Hall where these concerts are held as “Thyagaraja Hall”. This shows their dedicated service to the cause of music. Kalakkadu Sri Ramanarayana Iyer was the person who christened this one man organization as “Sri Sadguru Gana Nilayam”. Sri Soundararajan never went out of the way to promote his career and this in spite of being awarded a prize and adjudged the best junior mridangam player at The Music Academy in the year 1969. His motto in life has always been simple living and high thinking and his life has been fully devoted to the pure bhakthi of Saint Thyagaraja. It goes to the credit of Sri Soundararajan that Mridangam Vidwans Tiruvidaimarudur Sri Radhakrishnan and Sri B. Ganapathiraman have really been a great source of strength in assisting Sri Soundararajan for the conduct of annual aradhana every year.In memory of our founder member Sri VeenaVasu his disciple Visalur Sri Gurumurthy has been rendering concerts on the bahula panchami day in the month of November every year. He is also a great source of strength in organising the annual aradhanas and monthly concerts. Nagai strongly feels that a concert’s success is directly proportional to the number of Thygaraja Krithis sung in it due to its devotional and bhakthi. These outpourings were the result of the direct dialogue the Saint had with Lord Rama. The song ‘Sri Rama Paadama’ (Amrutavahini) is always close to his heart. He asserts “It is the generous support of Musicians, both Seniors and Juniors which has been helping him to conduct this ‘Sangeeta Yagna’ (Musical offering and service) for the past six decades,” and quoting that immortal line — ‘Endaro Mahanubhavulu Andariki Vandanamu.’
