KOCHI:
For the singer at the open ground, it was a refreshing change from his radio job that never lets him see the listener. For the audience at the hospital, too, the biennale-time concert lent a welcome change from the usual air of gloom and anxiety.
Young T P Vivek strung together a collection of songs across languages and genres at the weekly ‘Arts and Medicine’ show organised at the General Hospital, Ernakulam, by the Kochi Biennale Foundation in association with the Mehboob Memorial Orchestra. The singer from Nilambur of Malappuram district has for the past three years been working as a casual announcer at Akashavani Kochi FM.
The HrudayGeet programme turned out to be a blend of various streams of music, garnering applause from the audience comprising patients, bystanders and medical staff at the 254th episode of the all-Wednesday show. With the February 6 episode, ‘Art and Medicine’ completed its fifth year of running.
Vivek hails from a family with a strong cultural background: his mother was his first music teacher, followed by several gurus that also includes Hindustani masters. Today, the artist is himself a practitioner of north Indian classical, besides being a member of ‘Khayal-e-Qawwali’ that is a Bangalore-based Sufi-Qawwali band.
With him at the concert was Nikita Tineesh, a native of Chotaanikara south of Kochi. She has been successful in getting into the last rounds as finalist for music shows in leading television channels.
Together, the pair sang 14 songs. Vivek began with ‘Cheruppathil nammal randum’ from the 2016 movie ‘Kappirithuruthu’. ‘Chandrikayil aliyunnu chandrakaantham’, penned by Sreekumaran Thampi and composed by V Dakshinamoorthi for the 1968 movie ‘Bharyamar Sookshikuka’ and ‘Neeyalathe aarundennude’ by iconic Mehaboob and A P Komala from the 1960 movie ‘Neelisaali’ were duets that particularly captivated the audience.
“It’s not just you get solace, we too get it in return,” said Vivek. “We feel upbeat, elated. The satisfaction one derives on stage is incomparable.”
