The 8th Annual Meet of the SPB Fans Charitable Foundation was held at Arkay Convention Centre, Mylapore, Chennai on Saturday, 22nd March 2014.
 

SPB Fans Charitable Foundation conducts various charity events and donations across the year, after identifying deserving organizations. The annual meet is a platform for the fans to meet with the legend Dr. SPB. The programme was compered by Ms. Janani Ranjan, who started off the evening's events with a divine invocation song.

 

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).

 

N Guruprasad on Ghatam and his troupe of musicians gave a scintillating performance in Carnatic music.

 

Special guests for the evening, music composers Vidyasagar and Ramesh Vinayagam stirred up some amazing nostalgic moments in a discussion with SPB. They recalled their association with SPB, and recalled many of his inimitable virtues and his knowledge and talent. Ramesh Vinayagam, spoke at length on how 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 SPB would render a complicated tune within 30 minutes flat. Together the trio recalled many memorable moments working with legendary music composers MS Viswanathan and K V Mahadevan. Vidyasagar and SPB revealed the genius of MSV & KVM where they could identify a singer’s skills and range and set tunes, and the extraordinary creativity of these legends.

 

They talked about the camaraderie, which existed in yesteryears, amongst musicians and singers even amidst the restrictions posed by technology, which is lost now-a-days as technology has grown. Vidyasagar spoke of the technical perfection, the extraordinary commitment and dedication 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 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 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.