Tanjavur Vaidyanatha Iyer

Obituary on Brijnarain

Brijnarain, the moving force of the Sur-Singar Samsad, Bombay, passed away on 12 January. Brijnarain and Sur Singar Samsad had indeed become synonymous. A simple, unassuming, genial and very down to earth person, he won the hearts of most senior artists which enabled him to keep the banner of the Samsad flying high since 1949 when the first Swami Haridas Sammelan was organised by him. It featured outstanding musicians like Ustad Faiyaz Khan, Kesarbai Kerkar, Amir Khan, Dilip Chandra Vedi and the Dagar Brothers. At that time he incurred a loss of 10,000 rupees, since support from expected quarters failed to materialise. He then reorganised himself and made a comeback in 1953-54, relying largely on his own efforts to mobilise funds for conducting the festival.