Prabhatha Sangeetham
The time is 5-20 in the early morning. Marghazhi chillness pervades all around. The house is open but not lit. We enter the house and go to the hall. Suddenly, we are transported to another era, another world. The hall is aglow with more than fifty oil-lamps (kuthu vilakku, paavai vilakku etc) of various sizes in Kerala style. The fragrance from the flowers permeates through the house. No electrical lamps are lit, just these oil lamps.
There are about 20 persons sitting on mats and we join them. A singer starts her concert exactly at 5-30. “Prabhatha Sangeetham”, it is called. The melodious voice adds to the divinity of the atmosphere. No mikes, no loud speakers, no accompaniments – it is a one-to-one concert. The whole ambience is heavenly and you are in a state of bliss. The concert goes on for one hour. We leave the house by 6-35 after being in heaven for one hour.
This is the house of Mr. N Venkataraman, at Luz Avenue, Mylapore. He and his wife are holding this unique Prabhatha Sangeetham every year from Dec 25th to Jan 13th, for the past 11 years with dedication and bhakti. Senior and well-known artistes are singing here. OS Thyagarajan, Carnatica brothers, Gayathri Girish, Neyveli Santhanagopalan are some of the musicians who will render concerts this year. Everyone is welcome, even if one does not know Mr. Venkataraman.
This (Dec 29th) morning at 5-15 myself, Vijaya, and Neeraja attended the concert (Ms Savitha Narasimhan). Truly a remarkable experience, hard to describe.
Rajappa
10:45 am on 29 December 2008
** By the way, Mr. Venkataraman is the maternal uncle (mama) of Neeraja ! And today, we met Gayathri’s mama there – he does not know who Mr. Venkataraman is, he and his daughter just walked in after reading about this in a local paper. Gayathri’s mama came yesterday also.
The time is 5-20 in the early morning. Marghazhi chillness pervades all around. The house is open but not lit. We enter the house and go to the hall. Suddenly, we are transported to another era, another world. The hall is aglow with more than fifty oil-lamps (kuthu vilakku, paavai vilakku etc) of various sizes in Kerala style. The fragrance from the flowers permeates through the house. No electrical lamps are lit, just these oil lamps.
There are about 20 persons sitting on mats and we join them. A singer starts her concert exactly at 5-30. “Prabhatha Sangeetham”, it is called. The melodious voice adds to the divinity of the atmosphere. No mikes, no loud speakers, no accompaniments – it is a one-to-one concert. The whole ambience is heavenly and you are in a state of bliss. The concert goes on for one hour. We leave the house by 6-35 after being in heaven for one hour.
This is the house of Mr. N Venkataraman, at Luz Avenue, Mylapore. He and his wife are holding this unique Prabhatha Sangeetham every year from Dec 25th to Jan 13th, for the past 11 years with dedication and bhakti. Senior and well-known artistes are singing here. OS Thyagarajan, Carnatica brothers, Gayathri Girish, Neyveli Santhanagopalan are some of the musicians who will render concerts this year. Everyone is welcome, even if one does not know Mr. Venkataraman.
This (Dec 29th) morning at 5-15 myself, Vijaya, and Neeraja attended the concert (Ms Savitha Narasimhan). Truly a remarkable experience, hard to describe.
Rajappa
10:45 am on 29 December 2008
** By the way, Mr. Venkataraman is the maternal uncle (mama) of Neeraja ! And today, we met Gayathri’s mama there – he does not know who Mr. Venkataraman is, he and his daughter just walked in after reading about this in a local paper. Gayathri’s mama came yesterday also.
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