PepsiCo Chairman Indra Nooyi on Saturday urged all those who cared about the future of The Music Academy to embrace the December Music Season’s spirit of renewal and rejuvenation; and to make the most of a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine the future of culture in Chennai and all of southern India.
Inaugurating The Music Academy’s 92nd Annual Conference and Concerts, Ms. Nooyi also asked them to think about what can be done to usher in a future where music lovers would come to the Academy both to remember the past and celebrate the future.
Stating that it was an honour to officially kick-start another December Music Season that is so rich in history and meaning, she said that Chennai was changing, transforming from the conservative city of her youth to a global metropolis and a hub of technology and culture. Perhaps it is an opportunity for the Academy to do the same, she added.
She also presented Sangita Kalanidhi M.S. Subbulakshmi Award instituted by The Hindu to this year’s Sangita Kalanidhi-elect renowned Carnatic vocalist Aruna Sairam.
President of The Music Academy N. Murali, said that the Margazhi Music Festival in Chennai had evolved over nine decades into something unique and special. The Academy, he said has been conducting these annual conferences uninterruptedly from 1929.
‘Decisive action’
Speaking about the “virtual storm blowing across the Carnatic music world,” Mr. Murali referred to the challenges that had arisen from the #MeToo Movement with allegations of sexual harassment against some artistes coming in to the open. In keeping with the responsibility of protecting its fair name and reputation and living up to its high standards of probity, the Academy took firm and decisive action. “Following a nuanced approach and applying some specific and objective criteria, seven musicians originally slated to perform in this music festival were dropped,” he said.
Ms. Sairam saluted her guru, Sangita Kalanidhi T. Brinda, and the role that she had played in her career. “I acknowledge the contributions of women artists, who have preceded me — for, it is their pioneering efforts that have paved the way for musicians like me,” she said. Vocalist Sanjay Subrahmaniam and violinist A. Kanyakumari were present.