Musical Journey for Murugan Temple continues

Staff Reporter

A cross-section of the Sub-Continent communities resident in Auckland will get together to present an evening of entertainment in aid of the fast-progressing Thirumurugan Temple in Otahuhu.

The Programme, scheduled to be held on Saturday, February 21 at the Auckland Normal Intermediate School Hall (Poronui Street, Mt Eden) will be the 2015 edition of the Musical Journey that began last year (Indian Newslink, March 1, 2014).

Temple Project

Organiser Nadesan Nanthakumar is behind the private initiative, which raised $4200 for the Temple last year. A number of members of the Sri Lankan community have evinced interest, strengthening the effort to complete the Temple Project.

As mentioned in our October 15 (Diwali Special) 2014 issue, the total estimated cost of the Project including the initial purchase is about $2.7 million. Future costs could be about $600,000.

The Project is funded by a bank loan of $1.2 million, retained savings and donations from devotees. Members have also signed up for regular payments to service the bank loan.

Trustees of the Temple said that they would welcome donations either as one-off payments or as regular remittances.

Local artistes

Mr Nanthakumar said that the forthcoming Concert, called, ‘Musical Journey 2015- East Meets West will feature 22 local artistes including a range of genres.

Similar to the concert held in 2014, the entire ticket sales collection
will be donated to the New Zealand Thirumurugan Temple Society Building Fund.

The Concert will feature a number of well-known artistes in the community. They include Madan Mohan Kalyan (Keyboard and Synthesiser), Geerthana Nanthakumar (Synthesiser & Violin), Divya Nanthakumar (Keyboard & Violin) and Manisha Nanthakumar (Keyboard & Violin), Joseph Alexander (Electronic Drums), Joscel Alexander (Acoustic Drums), Antony Yempee (Lead Guitar), Diya Yempee (Rhythm Guitar), Shivam Padayachi (Bass Guitar), Basant Madhur (Tabla), Vindhya Suresh Ramachandra (Veena) and Balu Mallela (Mridangam and Ghatam).

Arumugarajah Yogakumar will be in charge of sound effects and Anuradha Suresh Ramachandra will be the Master of Ceremonies.

Tickets priced at $25 (Family), $10 (Adult) and $5 (Senior Citizens and Children) are available at a number of outlets, the Temple and the organisers.

East Tamaki Health Care is sponsoring the event with Kulan Kokulan, Dr Selva Selvakumar, Dr Vallipuram Sivakumar and Suren Surendran.

A more detailed report with more pictures will appear in our next issue.