Artistes performing at the event last week at Lok Bhavan.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Young musicians – flautist Chiranthan Venkataraman and vainika S. Ajitesh – both prize winners in last year’s The Hindu Margazhi Music Competition say they are on top of the world! They had the opportunity to perform before the Vice President C.P. Radhakrishnan and the Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar last week at Lok Bhavan.
Violin gurus and vidhushis M. Lalitha and M. Nandini, who were invited to perform, chose to invite these two young musicians to join them. “When I got a call from the Lok Bhavan asking me if I could perform, I called Lalitha who is in Germany. She immediately suggested that I should invite two youngsters, who won prizes in The Hindu’s competition for which we were judges. We wanted to encourage youngsters and instrumentalists. So, we chose these boys,” said Ms. Nandhini.
Chiranthan and Ajithesh, who got second prize in their respective categories in the competition, were not told that the performance was to be held with the dignitaries as guests. “We were only informed that it was a government function. Nandini Madam gave us a tentative list of songs that she would perform at the event and told us to practice the krithis. The night before the concert, we were told that we would perform at Lok Bhavan,” said Chiranthan, a class 11 student of Velammal School.
Ajithesh, a second year ECE student of VIT Chennai, said that they were pleasantly surprised to see the insides of Lok Bhavan and also witness the preparations being done to organise the event. “We are thankful to The Hindu for selecting us as prize winners in the music competition and grateful for the opportunity to perform at such an important event.” The songs on the list that evening included Mooladhara Moorthe, Bho Shambo, Jayathi Jayathi Bharatha Matha and Paarukulle. They were accompanied by vidwan Sridharan Sankaran on the mridangam.
Published – August 26, 2026 05:30 am IST
