109-yr-old singer wows audiences at Ernakulam General Hospital

Kochi: At 109 he can still keep  audiences engaged with his performance. Sopana sangeetham exponent, Pala Ramapuram Padmanabha Marar, won the admiration of doctors , nurses and patients at the Ernakulam General Hospital on Wednesday with his recital of a traditional rhyme invoking Lord Rama.

Counted among the oldest performing artistes of the country, Marar was accompanied by one of his disciples on the edakka at the event organized under the  Arts and Medicine programme. Many in the audience were awestruck by the strength of his tone that belied his age.

His recital was followed by an hour long performance by Ansar Cochin and his Ilayanila band .  Peppered with some popular old and new Malayalam hits, the show ended on a high note with a ‘chain song’ performance by Ansar and his brother, playback singer, Afsal.

Dr Mohammad Ali, an orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital  pointed out that the ‘Arts and Medicine’ programme was meant to help patients. It is conducted by Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF)  in association with the Mehboob Memorial Orchestra and the Ernakulam district administration.

KBF research coordinator, Bonny Thomas said that the Arts and Medicine project had stopped for a while because of the heavy monsoon. “But it is back now and we have received a warm response from doctors, patients and bystanders. We have an exciting line-up for the next few Wednesdays with artistes like ghazal singer, Umbai, playback singers, Vidhu Pratap, Ranjini Jose and Gayatri Asokan scheduled to perform,” he added.