Sri Krishna Gana Sabha

Annual Cultural Festivals at SKGS

The incomparable Mali with the doyen Palghat Mani Iyer@SKGS.	The Delhi Troupe with renowned critic 'Subbudu' as director@SKGS in the 70s.	Abhinaya Queen Bala with Dr. Padma@SKGS in 1974.	The great Kathak exponent Birju Maharaj@SKGS.

Sri Krishna Gana Sabha organizes, in a year, four major cultural festivals one dedicated to Music, another for Dance, the third one for Drama and the fourth one in remembrance of our then General Secretary Sri R. Yagnaraman, apart from the monthly programmes for the benefit of its members and the rasika public.

The Music Festival slated for two full months and a little over with about two hundred concerts involving about 800 artistes is popularly known as “The Gokulashtami Sangeetha Utsavam (Janmashtami)” in the months of August, September & October 1st week. This music festival is looked upon as a major event of the year by the Rasika public evincing keen interest year after year. The talent promotion scheme of the young artistes, considered the forte of Sri Krishna Gana Sabha for over 45 years, has nurtured many of the present-day top ranking artists. The merit of the talented youngsters is judged by a panel of judges and prizes are awarded to encourage them to further their interest. Literary discourses by Scholars and eminent Pandits form part of the celebrations.

On the inaugural day of the Gokulashtami Sangeetha Utsavam, a Sangeetha Vidwan or Vidhushi of merit and popularity is honoured with the Birudhu “Sangeetha Choodamani” carrying a cash award, a gold medallion, a scroll and a shawl. The Sabha has conferred this annual award to about 48 musicians as of date.

“Acharya Choodamani” award also has been instituted from 47th Gokulashtami Sangeetha Utsavam in August 2002 to decorate deserving individuals dedicated to teaching the classical music to students. So far, we have honoured 12 musicians with this honour.

The Art & Natya Festival and The All India Natya Kala Conference are organized in the months of December & January of every year for a period of one full month from December 15th to January 17th. The daily programme commences with devotional music sessions followed by the Natya Kala Conference proceedings. The afternoons offer concerts by talented youngsters, followed by the performances of eminent, popular musicians in the evening. The last event in the day, is generally a dance programme by artistes of national/international repute representing varied classical system of dance. Sri Krishna Gana Sabha maintains a proud record of cultural events – music concerts by eminent Hindusthani Vocalists and Instrumentalists and Dancers of all systems participating over the years.

Here also, on the inaugural day of the Art & Natya Festival, we honour a dance artiste with the Birudhu of “Nritya Choodamani” carrying a cash award, a gold medallion, a scroll and a shawl. It is the prerogative and honour of the “Nritya Choodamani” awardee to convene the Natya Kala Conference for that year. So far the Sabha has conferred the Nritya Choodamani awards on 40 dancers belonging to Bharathanatyam, Kathak, Odissi, Manipuri, Kathakali, Mohini Attam and Kuchipudi styles.

The “Acharya Choodamani” award for senior classical dance teachers has been instituted from 47th Art & Dance Festival in December 2002 and has been a yearly feature since. So far we have honoured 12 artistes with this honour.

The Natya Kala Conference of all India level is a unique event of the Sabha for the past thirty three years. Eminent dance artistes are invited for the conference and eminent scholars both from within and outside our country make the conference a tremendous success. The conference comprises of lecture-demonstrations, research paper presentations and live performances on various aspects of dance as chosen by the invitees.

The Drama Festival is arranged in the month of April styled as “Chithirai Nataka Vizha”. Outstanding Tamil dramas, Sanskrit and English plays as well are selected to be staged for a period of 10 days. As in the Sangeetha Utsavam, on the Inaugural day of the drama festival, a drama artiste of repute is honoured with the Birudhu “Nataka Choodamani” with a cash award and gold medallion. So far, 21 Artists have been honoured.

From the year 2008, Sabha have started conducting ”Yagnaraman July Fest” as a measure of perpetuating the memory of Sri. R.Yagnaraman, who dedicated his entire life for propagation of classical fine arts in all art forms and has been instrumental in providing a platform to showcase great artistes from all over India.

As a part of the celebrations and as a fitting tribute to Sri. R.Yagnaraman ‘SKGS Yagnaraman Living Legend award’ is being conferred to an outstanding artiste of calibre, and ‘SKGS Yagnaraman award of Excellence for Music and Dance’, is being conferred on artists of younger generation who have excelled in their chosen field respectively. The series “Yagnaraman July Fest” coincides with his birthday and has been planned to be yearly feature of the sabha during every June-July.

Apart from all the above,

(i) the Sabha is also involved in propagating Nama Sankeerthanam for the last two decades and an award “Sankeerthana Choodamani” is conferred on Namasankeerthana Bhagavathar of repute.

(ii)Bhajans, Literary discourses and pravachanams were organized during the festivals and also during the rest of the year on appropriate occasions, Jayanthi Celebrations of vageyakaras and savants of music are being conducted.

(iii)The International Theatres Artistes Day is being celebrated every year in the month of March during which a Veteran Actor, Actor, Actress and a technician are honoured with the SKGS Award of Excellence in Theatre. The award carries a cash purse.

(iv)The Sabha in association with Sri Krishna Sweets is conducting monthly discourse on Sri Kanchi Mahaperiyavalin ‘Deivathin Kural‘ on Second Saturday and Sunday of every month, and programmes such as ‘Tamizh Valartha Saandrorgal’, ‘Idhayathil Vazhum Ezhuthalargal’, ‘Thittamidu Thottuvidu’, ‘Sakthi Sangamam’, ‘Sakthi Kodu’ etc