Violin maestro Nagai R. Muralidharan honoured with Mudhra Award of Excellence

Mudhra’s 28th Fine Arts Festival gets under way; Muralidharan’s contribution to the field of music draws praise

Violin vidhwan and guru Nagai R. Muralidharan was on Thursday presented the Mudhra Award of Excellence at the inauguration of Mudhra’s 28 th Fine Arts Festival that got under way in Chennai on Thursday.

Thangam Meghanathan, chairperson, Rajalakshmi Institutions, who presented the award, said that music had no language and was a very essential part of life. She lauded Mudhra and its founders Radha and Bhaskar for going online much before the other sabhas.  

Cleveland V.V. Sundaram said that Mr. Muralidharan had the wonderful opportunity to learn from many great stalwarts while working in All India Radio in Tiruchi. Even today, although he teaches music, his search for good music continues and he continues to learn.  

Mridangam vidwan Mannargudi A. Easwaran said Mr. Muralidharan’s style of performance was so good that seniors would ask him to accompany them despite him being young. For the Cleveland Festival, the vidhwan had been notating kritis for children for the Sustaining Sampradaya programme, he added. 

Sangeetha Mudhra Awards were present to winners of Mudhra’s Kutcheri Competition. The winners are Niranjan Dindodi (vocal), Gayatri Vibhavari (violin) and J.P. Suriya Nambisan (mridangam).  

Sabha Secretary Mudhra Bhaskar said the events till December 25 will be web streamed at www.paalamtv.com and on Mudhrabhaskar’s YouTube channel. It was in 1995 that Mudhra was started and since 2020, it has shifted to holding only online concerts.