The Hindu Margazhi Music Contest results are out

CHENNAI 

The results of The Hindu Margazhi Music Contest for the year 2022-23, are out. Judges went through around 600 entries and selected 86 contestants, who will get gift coupons of various denominations as prizes.  

A total of 32 prizes were selected by violin vidhushis and gurus M. Lalitha and M. Nandini in the instruments category; 22 prizes were selected by guru and mridangam vidhwan Poongulam S. Subramanian, and in the Hindustani category, guru and vocalist Lalita Sharma chose 13 entries as fit for prizes. 

Carnatic vocalists and gurus Gayathri Girish and Varalakshmi Anandkumar, who between them heard and judged a whopping number of 306 entries under the vocal krithi and vocal thukkada categories, very judiciously chose 20 prize winners. This year, there are also over 20 entries that have received special mention from the judges.

As usual, the Child vocal category, had a lot of participants. Both the gurus were very appreciative of the efforts of the parents in taking time to make the videos. “Many of the entries are just brilliant and we hope the children will continue their training. Those who could not make it to the final three, were given special mentions,” said the vocalists.  

Ms. Sharma said that this year, she saw more variety in the instrumental category. “I saw youngsters presenting performances on the Sarod. Some children were really good. Parents must create a mahoul (atmosphere) of music at home so that children take to classical music. It will help them build their character, their mental strength and make them remain cool in the face of adversities. I have seen many such examples,” said the guru, who is a senior student of Pandit Jasraj.  

Judges Ms. Lalitha and Nandhini said this year they found it very challenging to select winners. “Even in the child talent and junior categories many seemed to have taken the entries very seriously. Rare krithis and thukkadas were also featured. We had flutes, mandolin and veena instruments and had to split the prizes accordingly,” they said. They added that The Hindu Margazhi contest offered them an opportunity to listen to a lot of enchanting entries.  

Mr. Subramanian said that most prize winners had presented outstanding performances. “I particularly remember one tabla entry. He has amazing talent. A few mridangam entries had embellished the common Aadhi tala with khanda nadai and thishra nadai. I was happy to see many girls too performing ghatam and konnakol. Since many entries were of a professional standard, I had a real tough job selecting the finalists,” he said.