KOCHI:
Noted playback singer Jyothi Menon, along with an assemblage of nine of her former batchmates of RLV College of Music and Fine Arts, Tripunithura rocked the Biennale stage with a medley of soulful songs at the weekly ‘Arts and Medicine’ programme at the Government General Hospital here today.
It was Jyothi’s third performance at the all-Wednesday programme, and she shared the stage with her 1994-98 batchmates to give a spirited performance at the 230th episode of the programme, which aims to provide solace to the patients through therapeutic music.
The other singers that shared the stage were Shibu Anirudh (professional singer and music director), Ravindran (music director), Rafeeq P M (journalist), Resmi Jeevan (music teacher), Shaivini Prabha (singer), Molly Shibu (choir singer), Binitha Sunil, who runs a music institution and Manoj kumar. The team dished out a total of 14 melodies in Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam, which included two duets rendered by the pairs Jyothi and Shibu and Shibu and Shaivini.
Shibu started the concert with the mellifluous song ‘Kurishu Varachalum’ while ‘Pennale Pennale’, a group song by the team, marked the finale of the gripping performance. All the renditions were enthusiastically applauded by the appreciative audience comprising patients, bystanders and medical staffers.
“This is a collaborative effort of friends and batchmates that made it possible to be part of a show for the patients through heart-warming songs. Our interest in music brought us in active contact with each other and we started a whatsapp group to share our musical experience,” said Jyothi, the vocalist.
“We are grateful to the organisers for giving us a chance to perform at the hospital,” she added.
Arts and Medicine, a joint initiative of Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) and Mehmood Memorial Orchestra.
Jyothi, whose was initiated in music at age of five, drew inspiration from her father, a music enthusiast. She was trained in Carnatic music under the tutelage of Parvati Teacher, besides Kavalam Sreekumar and Kaduthuruthy Radhakrishnan. Her forte is pure Carnatic and Hindustani, especially Geet and Ghazal.
She has won several awards and accolades for her impeccable performances, and these include Gold Medal for ‘Hamsadhwani’, the first music reality show on Doordarshan; Best Female Singer award for ‘Anna Kitex Voice 2000’; and the first prize winner of University Youth Festival (1990-92) organized by M G university, Kottayam.
During the past 20 years she has participated in more than 2,000 stage shows in India and abroad along with some renowned playback singers. She has sung for Malayalam films, such as Priyom, Venal Maram, and Nakshathra Kanulla Rajakumaran Avanundoru Rajakumari, and has a number of multilingual music albums to her credit.
