Yesudas' Musical Campaign for peace

Legendary Indian singer K.J. Yesudas began a cross-country musical campaign against terrorism and communalism in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday with the motto "Music For Peace" in the presence of Kavita Karkare, widow of Maharashta Police's Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, who was killed in the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Kavita Karkare handed over the torch to Yesudas to mark the launch of the 'Sangeetha Yatra' at the Kairali-Swaralaya-Yesudas award function held in Nisagandhi open air auditorium. Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan spoke at the function.

Sangeetha Yatra will cover major cities, including Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru. As a part of his musical campaign, Yesudas will hold music programmes in various centres in Kerala.

Meanwhile, this year's Swaralaya Kairali Yesudas Award was presented to noted singer Kavitha Krishnamurthy. Musician M.S. Viswanathan was presented the award for overall contribution to music. The function was followed by a musical programme 'Gandharva Sandhya', in which violinist L. Subramaniam, singers Kavitha Krishnamurthy, P. Suseela, Sreenivas, M. Jayachandran and T.M. Balu took part.