People not familiar with the legendary Carnatic musician Sant Thyagaraja will get a taste of his genius on Saturday. Around 100 musicians will render his Pancharatna Kritis (five gems) in Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeetha Sabha, located in Sion (East), in unison before a 1,500-odd audience. To observe the icon's 168th Aradhana (samadhi), the event has been in existence for more than 15 years.

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The Thyagaraja Aradhana will begin at 7pm and is open to all for free. The event will also be telecast live on Shankara TV. Radha Namboodiri, director of the Shanmukhananda music school, will be one of the vocalists, besides percussionists playing the mridangam and ghatam and string instrument musicians playing the veena, violin and more.

"The day will begin with the Abhishekam of the Panch Loha idol of the saint at 8am, for which a musician from Chennai will dress up as the saint and in-house musicians of Shanmukhananda Sabha will make offerings of rice and dal in his silver vessel. The whole day will be observed on the exact same lines as it is done in the saint's birthplace Thiruvaiyaru, Tamil Nadu," Namboodiri said.

Thyagaraja is said to be the among the greatest music composers of Carnatic music and one of the biggest musical prodigies of all time. Tyagaraja's compositions are rich in devotional and philosophical content. They are noted for their superior structure, handling of ragalakshanas and apt choice of raga and words.

Amarnath Suri, a 72-year-old Carnatic vocalist who belongs to the disciple tree of Sant Thyagaraja, will also be present to honour the great saint. "I have been praying regularly on this day for more than 50 years to pay my respects to him. He is the greatest composer in the world and the whole town, where he was born, sings in unison on this day," he said.

Sant Thyagaraja, along with Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri, are considered the 'Trinity' of Carnatic Music. Out of the 22,400 songs said to have been composed by him, only about 725 kritis have been recorded now, the masterpiece being "Jagadanandakaraka", composed of 108 names describing Lord Rama's attributes. Even as a boy, Thyagaraja composed his first song on Rama, Namo Namo Raghavaya, when he was only 13.

As a mark of respect and thanksgiving to the saint, Carnatic musicians from all over the world will get together and pay their reverence to him by singing the Pancharatna kritis on the Pushya Bahula Panchami (the day the saint attained samadhi) day. Vocalists and instrumentalists of various banis come to Thiruvaiyaru on the banks of the river Cauvery and take part in the aradhana festival.