Biennale Music: Crowd Braves Downpour for a Torrent of Lilting Songs

KOCHI:
Undeterred by the grey skies that opened up into a torrential downpour, a huge crowd assembled at the premises of Ernakulam Government General Hospital here today as singers Balaram P and Sangeetha Nair regaled them with lilting Hindi and Malayalam ditties at the ‘Arts and Medicine’ programme organised by the Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF).
A joint initiative of KBF and Mehboob Memorial Orchestra and sponsored by CAFS (Casino Air Caterers and Flight Services), the all-Wednesday programme is intended to provide solace to patients through therapeutic music.
Balaram set the ball rolling for the 199th episode of the programme by crooning ‘Gori Tera Gaon Bada Pyara’ from the hit film ‘Chitchor’ , and followed it with ‘Vijana Theerame Kanduvo Nee’ from the 1971 Malayalam movie ‘Raathrivandi’. The performance of the singers kept the people glued to their seats as they ignored the inclement weather that showed little sign of abating.
Balaram, who hails from South Chittoor and is an officer at the Cochin Port Trust (CPT), is a professional singer who had participated in many of the TV musical programs. He struck a bond with the crowd with his soulful rendition of songs.
Sangeetha, a professional singer who had performed in many stage shows, has marked her presence at the ‘Santhwana Sangeetham’ programme, an initiative of the Punalur Government Hospitals in Kerala aimed to provide solace to patients through therapeutic music. She enthralled the audience with songs like ‘Aadivaakaatte’ from the movie ‘Koodevide’ (1983) and ‘Swarna Mukile’ from the film ‘Ithu Njangalude Kadha’ (1982). In all, they sang 13 songs that included two duets. The songs were mostly in Malayalam, three in Hindi and one in Tamil.
The programme drew to a close with the rendition of Mukesh’s evergreen hit, Suhana safar aur yeh mausam haseen’ a vibrant song from the movie ‘Madhumati’ (1958).