In 1974, K.J. Yesudas won his second successive national award for the best playback singer for a timeless melody created by composer G. Devarajan and lyricist Vayalar Ramavarma. More than four decades later, the song ‘ Padmatheerthame unaroo…’ (Gayathri) remains one of the greatest in Malayalam cinema.
Fittingly, Sudeep Kumar chose that song to kick off the grand finale of the 72-day live music show organised on Facebook by the association of Malayalam playback singers, SAMAM. He was followed by Mridula Warrier’s rendition of the K.S. Chithra song ‘Yamuna sangeetham…’ (Sound of Boot). A little later, Jyotsna came on the screen, with her version of S. Janaki’s classic ‘Sharike en…’ (Swapnam).
The show had begun well. And it got better as the night wore on.
Top singers take part
More than 70 singers, including Yesudas, P. Jayachandran, Chithra, Unni Menon, Minmini, Gayathri, Manjari and Rimi Tomy, performed to ensure that SAMAM’s initiative to raise fund for musicians rendered jobless by COVID-19 ended on the right note.
An amount of ₹25 lakh was collected from the series of shows that had begun on May 4. “We never imagined the programme would become such a big success,” Sudeep, president, SAMAM, told The Hindu. “It is gratifying to note that all the live shows were received enthusiastically by music lovers over the last three months.”
Among the most popular shows were those by Chithra, Jayachandran and Rimi Tomy. Chithra attracted 3.5 lakh views, while Rimi’s programme has been watched 1.5 lakh times within a week.
“I opened a new Facebook account just for this show and though I was apprehensive about the idea, I ended up enjoying it thoroughly,” said Rimi. “It was great interacting with music fans in real time and singing the songs requested by them.”
