KOCHI:
Lawyers practising at the Kerala High Court presented today a music concert for cancer patients as part of an ‘Arts and Medicine’ weekly cultural programme the Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) has been organising in downtown Ernakulam for four years.
Members of a two-year-old barristers’ Whatsapp group named ‘Music lovers FM@HC’ took a refreshing break from the heated arguments vital to their profession and rendered popular songs at the all-Wednesday ‘Arts and Medicine’ show at the Government General Hospital.
The 245th episode of the therapeutic show, which typically features more of amateur than professional artists, comes a fortnight ahead of the KBF’s Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018, the subcontinent’s biggest contemporary art show. The series not only functions as a balm for the patients; it is also a platform that echoes the changing trends in mainstream music. This was the second time lawyers from the High Court performed at the hospital.
The singers today comprised a curious lot: Kerala State Human Rights Commission member P Mohandas, advocates Sabitha B, Rajasree, Rija Suman, Simi Renjith, Malini K Menon, Vipindas, Shyam Kumar K T, Jai George and Sunil N J. Adv Soniya M was the coordinator of the programme.
Two non-lawyers, too, performed at the two-hour show co-hosted by Mehboob Memorial Orchestra. One was Leah Ann Philip, a class-5 student at Rajagiri Public School in Kalamassery, thus becoming the youngest performer of the day. The programme also had a guest singer: gastroenterologist Dr Prem Premchand, of Queens Hospital in Romford, UK, who is a brother of Adv Mohandas. P Suresh, their sibling, was present at the venue to support the show and enjoy the music.
Kochi mayor Soumini Jain inaugurated the programme. Cine/TV actor Kumarakom Reghunath spoke and interacted with the audience. The Whatsapp group with 250 members was formed in September 2016 to help fellow lawyers and do charity for the needy. At the hospital today, its members delivered dialysis kits for the patients and promised more such help in the future.
Pre-teenager Leah has done playback singing for four films and has done albums and participated in albums and stage shows on TV channels such as Asianet and Shalom. Adv Sabitha’s opened the show by rendering ‘Kaatil Ilam kaatil’ from the 1965 film Odayil Ninnu. That was followed by Mohandas’s ‘Kastoori Manakunallo’ from Picnic (1975). Leah sang ‘Main Kyon Hu’, while Dr. Premchand rendered the superhit ‘Mana Ho Tum’ originally sung by the iconic K J Yesudas. Overall, today’s concert featured 16 ditties, the last two being group songs: Oru madura kinavin lahariyil and Raapadi kuyiline thedi.
