Sigarangalin Sangamam

True to its name the function "Sigarangalin Sangamam" was a congregation of great personalities who are each a Sigaram in their own way. On stage we had P.Suseela, T.M.Soundararajan, P.B.Srinivas, K.J.Yesudas, Balamurali Krishna, Vani Jayaram, L.R.Eswari, A.L.Raghavan, Chitra, Mano and Hariharan. RMKV organised this programme in Nehru Indoor Stadium on Sunday, 14th November 2010.

P.Suseela Music Trust honoured three legends - TMS, PBS and Yesudas.

P.Suseela started the show with her old song "Unnai kaanadha kannum kannalla". It was very soothing to listen to that song after a long time. This was followed by another P.Suseela hit "Unnai ondru kaetten unmai solla vendum" rendered by the great Chinna Kuyil Chitra. L.R.Eswari rendered one of her all time super hit songs "Kaathodu thaan naan paaduven". While the pallavi was sung well she found it hard to sing the rest of the song due to her old age.

Unni Menon sang with P.Suseela "Kaalidasan Kannadasan kavidai nee nerungi vaa padikkalam". P.Suseela's daughter-in-law Sandya then sang "kaalai thendral paadi varum raagam oru raagam". I am listening to Sandya for the first time and she has a very good voice.

Hariharan sang two songs "Ennai thaalatta varuvaala" and "Aayiram Nilavae vaa".
Hari did not practice this SPB hit and could not render justice to the song. Mano came on stage to sing the great TMS song "Ado anda paravai pola vaazha vendum". While he was struggling to reach the high pitch notes the audience was recalling the TMS original in their minds.

TMS, PBS attempted to sing and could not succeed in singing well due to advanced age. They have given such great numbers and the audience enjoyed their presence on stage. When they were singing the great old numbers the entire audience would have rolled back a few decades into the real time when those songs hit the big screen.

A.L.Raghavan surprised everyone by singing the song "Enginrunthaalum Vaazhgha" and it was a treat to listen to him. He sang with ease and voice was excellent despite his age.

Vani Jayaram also sang very well the great P.Suseela number "Aalaya maniyin osaiyai naan kaetten".

Balamurali Krishna sang very well despite his advanced age. He sang the song "Thanga Ratham Vandadu veediyile" with P.Suseela. It was a fantastic presentation by both of them. Balamurali's singing was the highlight of the evening - what a fantastic performer.

Harish Raghavendra got a chance to sing with P.Suseela "thuyilaatha pen ondru kanden". It is a great honour and chance for this young budding singer to perform with the legend in front of other legends. The joy, pride and happiness was all over the faces of his parents.

Yesudas came as the last performer and stole the show with with two great hits "vizhiye kadai yezhudu" and "poove senpoove un vaasal varum".

Staying in Dubai has its own advantages but nothing to beat the advantage of staying in Chennai where one gets to attend these musical nights and other programmes at regular intervals.... I do not miss any of these programmes whenever i am in Chennai.