Charity Begins At Home For SP Balasubramaniam

The 8th annual meet of the SPB (SP Balasubramaniam) Fans Charitable Foundation was held at Arkay Convention Centre, Mylapore, Chennai on Saturday, 22nd March 2014.

The foundation made donations to the tune of Rs.2 lakhs to 6 different NGOs in this event - Hand in Hand India (Kanchipuram), Armed Forces Flag Day Fund (Chennai), Blind Welfare Charitable Trust (Tirupatoor), TNMM Govt Higher Secondary School (Vadavasi), Marwar Govt Higher Secondary School (Acharapakkam) and Bala Ashramam (Chrompet, Chennai).

Mr. N Guruprasad on Gatam and his troupe of musician gave scintillating performance in Carnatic music.
Special guests for the evening, Music Composers Mr. Vidyasagar and Mr. Ramesh Vinayagam stirred up some amazing nostalgic moments in a discussion with Mr. SPB. They recalled their association with him and recalled many of his imitable virtues and his knowledge and talent.

Mr Ramesh Vinayagam, spoke at length how Mr SPB had played a key role in his formative years as a musician and a composer, from his very first album ‘Prathidhwani'. He recalled instances where Mr SPB would render a complicated tune within 30 minutes flat. Together the trio recalled many memorable moments working with legendary music composers Mr MS Vishwanathan and Mr K V Mahadevan.

They talked about the camaraderie, which existed in yesteryears, amongst musicians and singers even amidst the restrictions posed by technology, which has been lost now-a-days as technology grew. Vidyasagar spoke of the technical perfection, extraordinary of commitment and dedication Mr SPB displays. He spoke of an instance during the recording of ‘Athindom' song in the movie Chandramukhi, when after the song was recorded, SPB who had left for home came back to the recording studio because he [SPB] had felt he had not rendered a single note as well as he could have, and recorded it again.

Later when Mr SPB spoke, he said that the fans charitable foundation rigorously verifies the credentials of the organization in need and then donates to deserving ones. He said he sincerely believes Charity begins at home, so he contributes his might every month, and contributions come in from one and many fans across the world. He drew attention to the fact that the foundation has avoided any sort of publicity all these years. However, now these activities are being publicized a little so that, the social organizations in true need can approach the Foundation and the foundation can perhaps help a few more deserving organizations.