South India Fine Arts Felicitates Vidwan Umayalpuram Sri. Sivaraman

Introductory Speech by K.S. Srinivasan President of SIFA, San Jose, CA
April 1, 2006 San Jose, CA: Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf of SIFA and all of you, I would like to thank Vidwan Umayalpuram Sri Sivaraman for sharing more than six decades of knowledge in a short one hour interactive session with all of you. To me this is a rather historic event. I know I have been waiting for this event for more than a decade. Today SIFA is truly honored, to be able to invite Vidwan Sivaraman to SIFA. We want to make complete use of this opportunity to felicitate and honor Vidwan Sivaraman who is both legendary Sangeetha Vidwan and a Mridangam Vidwan. The world of carnatic music is celebrating one of the major milestones of Sangeetha Kalanidhi, Padmashri, Padma Bhusana Vidwan Sivaraman today. He has been one of the few to be blessed with the gift of being “Mridangam Vidwan” from a very early age. Of course he achieved all of this by as he describes god’s grace, total dedication to the field of music, support and encouragement from his gurus Sri Arupathi Natesa Iyer, Sri Tanjavoor Vaidyanatha Iyer, Sri Palghat Mani Iyer, Sri Kumbakonam Rangu Iyengar. Vidwan Sivaraman sir has accompanied every legend in carnatic music such as Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, Arayikudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Mysore T. Chowdiah, Madhura Mani Iyer, Semmangudi, Allathoor Brothers to name just a few. He has done this in some of the most historic and more than a century old sabhas	such as Bidaram Krishnappa Prasanna Seetha Rama Mandira, Mysore, Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha, Chennai, Music Academy, Chennai, Bangalore Gayana Samaja that recently celebrated 100 years of service to music, Thiruvayur and so on. Ladies and gentlemen I am sure you will agree with me when I say, that today Vidwan Sivaraman stands as one of the icons that represent all of these giants in the field of music. By accepting our invitation Sivaraman sir has instantly transformed a young and bearly 26 year old sabha (SIFA) in to the “thyaga bramha gana sabha” or the “Prasanna Seetha Rama Mandira”. Sir we are truly honored and forever grateful to you for your gracious presence here with us today. In order to felicitate and honor you on this historic and auspicious occasion, SIFA has requested Ambassador Mr. B.S. Prakash, the Consul General of India to come and do the honors. Mr. B.S. Prakash is a 40 year veteran career diplomat from the India Foreign Service. Mr. Prakash’s education spans a wide spectrum with the undergraduate degree in Physics, Followed by Master of Arts in Philosophy from University of Mysore and M.Phil in International Relations. He has served as the ambassador to Germany, Austria, Saudi Arabia, Uganda. He is a regular columnist on rediff.com writing on literature, and arts, and he is fluent in Hindi, Kannada and German.