CELEBRATION AND CELEBRITY TIME @ MUSIC WORLD

There's been a steady flow of celebrities to the Music World showroom at Spencer Plaza.  And for good reason too, Music World is celebrating its 4^th anniversary this year and a host of music releases coincided with its anniversary celebrations.

It started on November 1^st, with 'Mellisai Mannan' (King of Light Music) M S Viswanathan starting off the celebrations, which are to last for ten days.

November 2^nd saw Sri Manikkavinayakam, an illustrious descendant of the 2000-year-old Vazhuvoor family, which taught Bharata Natyam to Raja Raja Chozhan's daughter Kundavai Nachiar, contemporary music director Vidyasagar and Lyndall Grant the Arnold Schwarzenegger look alike visit the store. Manikavinayakam had his devotional audio album 'Ayyane Charanam' released by Vidyasagar.  A man of varied talents, Manikavinayakam began his training in classical music at the age of seven.  He learnt to render Tamil devotional songs such as Thevaram and Thirupugazh.  He has learnt mirudangam (South Indian percussion instrument) from Sri Harihara Sarma (father of famous percussionist Vikku Vinayakaram) and from Vinayakaram himself.  Apart from learning mirudangam, he has also continued his family heritage and has a firm grounding in Nattuvangam (dance form).  He has thus mastered three forms of fine arts.  He is also a music composer and has composed music for over 14,000 songs for leading music companies like HMV, AVM, INRECO, Magnasound and so on. 

Coming to the man who looks like or should we say has the looks of Hollywood action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger and signs autographs as 'Arnold the Terminator'.  Lyndall Grant who is here as part of the promotional efforts of Music World and Shopper's Stop has being doing the rounds for sometime now as Arnold Schwarzenegger and is Arnold's approved image builder.  He enjoys all the media attention that comes with the job, and the funny part of the whole thing is that, he has not met the actor till date.

On November 7th, M S Viswanathan, S P Balasubramanian, Srinivas who have sung in 'Sangeetham Santhosham' were at the store to promote the album.

Music World's Marketing Manager, Sanjay Gupta says that 90% or more of the purchases that happen during these events are impulse buys.  The events also add value perception to the brand and the particular album, which is being promoted during these events. As customers go back with the feeling that they have met the famous singers and most of the times have their autographs on the CDs and tapes that they buy.  He added that events also bring added bonus of publicity in the form of media coverage for the store, the artists and the albums that they are releasing.  On the downside, he admits that the security aspect is compromised as the 'crowds' make it difficult to detect shoplifts.

The latest at the Music World showroom was a fusion music concert by Rajesh Vaidya, a renowned Veena (South Indian stringed instrument) exponent and his group comprising Karukurichi Mohanaraman on mridangam, Subramanian on ghatam and G R Ganesh on the keyboard.  The crowd and their appreciative applause said it all, as the corridor leading to the store was jammed with people.  Rajesh who made his first foray into fusion music with Vikku Vinayakaram in 1996 has since then performed in several countries abroad.

As part of their anniversary celebrations Music World has also been offering music lovers of Chennai a lot of fabulous deals and goodies.  There are mega prizes like a Samsung VCD player and a 15% discount on all Hindi evergreen melodies, all Tamil Carnatic, Devotional and evergreen film melodies. The winners for these prizes are being drawn from the daily cash memos.

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