Chennai: The 173rd Thyagaraja Aradhana Festival began 11 January and the annual rendering of pancharatna kritis by Carnatic muscians will be held tomorrow (15 January) at Thiruvaiyaru in Thanjavur. Earlier, the festival was inaugurated by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu.
Every year the festival is organised by Sri Thyagabrahma Mahotsava Sabha for five days as a tribute to saint composer Thyagaraja, who is one among the trinitry of classical south Indian music. The festival is held during the composer’s death anniversary at Thiruvaiyaru, the place where he attained samadhi.
Hundreds of vocalists and instrumentalists from various parts of the world participate annually in the festival, singing pancharatna kritis and this year it will be held tomorrow, on the last day of the festival. It will be telecast live on Doordarshan, for the first time in High Definition (HD).
According to a release, the festival began even before Prachar Bharathi was started and from 1939 the All India Radio has been broadcasting it live to music lovers across the country. It is also being telecasted live in Doordarshan since 1980.
With change in transporting mediums over the years, this year for the first time, Doordarshan will be telecasting the event in HD format. All India Radio too for the first time will be broadcasting it live using a new technology called DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale). It can also be seen live in the youtube channels of DD National, DD Chandana (Karnataka), DD Podhigai (Tamilnadu), DD Yadhagiri (Telangana), DD Sapthagiri (Andhra Pradesh) and DD Malayalam (Kerala).