Guna Gaaun Main, popularly known as G2M, a devotional online singing competition, has become one of the signature events of Chinmaya Naada Bindu Gurukula, Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth. This was the 3rd year of the event and the 2nd year in succession of it having been conducted as an online event.
This year’s G2M drew 300 participants in the 1st round from 10 countries – Australia, Canada, Iceland, India, Kuwait, New Zealand, Singapore, UAE, UK and USA. 80 of them stepped up to the 2nd round leaving 40 to vie for the coveted prizes.
Swami Advayananda, Trustee at Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth and Director of Chinmaya International Foundation, inaugurated the final event. He expressed his happiness at knowing that so many people have benefited from G2M, participating from even far off places like Iceland! He congratulated the finalists, opining that the judges would find it difficult to choose the very best, because the best were gathered!
Placing literature, music and the fine arts on a high pedestal, Swami Advayananda quoted Bhartrhari, saying that those not inclined to the finer arts have no inner refinement and operate at a very basic level of evolution. Among all the arts, music and dance – positioned at the acme – have in them the capacity to take one to the highest of perfection. Swami Tejomayananda’s motto for Chinmaya Naada Bindu (CNB) “Swara to Ishwara, Nartana to Paramatmana” bows in reverence to the supreme joy these divine arts provide.
Two luminaries from the world of music carried out the extremely difficult task of judging the contestants – Kum Sriranjani Santhanagopalan and Shri Sriram Parasuram.
Sriranjani Santhanagopalan, a sought-after Carnatic musician, is an “A” graded artiste of All India Radio. Winning her first award as a 4-year-old, through her music journey, she has received several prestigious awards.
Sriram Parasuram, an amazing achiever, hails from a family steeped in musical tradition. He gave his first public performance on the violin when he was 8 years of age. He is an A-TOP grade artiste on All India Radio and Doordarshan for both Carnatic and Hindustani Violin.
The performances by the finalists left listeners amazed at the depth of talent available in the genre of Indian classical vocal music. The command over the raga, laya, sur, taal and the melody in the voices kept one riveted from start to finish. It is evident that some of these vocalists have a long promising journey in the world of music.
The judges offered very encouraging feedback to the contestants, mentioning that a high standard of competition was maintained, and also lauded the efforts of the organizers.
The Chinmaya Naada Bindu team that worked for the success of this programme thanked all the participants – those who made it to the final rounds and those that did not. The margins by which some did not make the final list were miniscule. Some of those faces will surely be seen in the finals next year!
The morning spent in listening to the melodious singing of the name of the Lord was simply divine.
Report by Smt Parveen Bahl
