Parassala B Ponnammal dies at 96 (courtesy surendranbjp)
Highlights
- She was affected by age-related illnesses
- She is survived by sons D Mahadevan and D Subramanian
- Ponnammal had damaged gender stereotypes in classical music
Thiruvananthapuram:
Legendary Carnatic musician and Padmashree awardee, Parassala B Ponnammal, who enthralled classical music lovers for the final eight a long time via her unimaginable live shows, died at her dwelling in Valiyasala right here on Tuesday, household sources stated.
She was 96 and was affected by age-related illnesses for a while, they stated.
A doyen of Carnatic music, Ponnammal was a musician who had damaged gender stereotypes in classical music and have become the primary girl scholar to enroll within the historic Swathi Thirunal College of Music right here throughout the Forties.
She had accomplished the courses-Gana Bhushanam and Gana Praveena- from there with first rank earlier than starting her profession as a music trainer on the Cottonhill Girls”s School right here.
Ponnammal additionally scripted historical past by turning into the primary girl college of the Swathi Thirunal College and the primary ever girl principal of the well-known RLV College of Music and Fine Arts, Tripunithura.
Breaking the centuries-old custom of male dominance, she additionally turned the primary girl to sing on the Navaratri Mandapa right here as a part of the navaratri celebrations on the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple in 2006.
”Guruvayur Puresa Suprabhatham”, ”Trisivapuresa Suprabhatahm”, ”Ulsava Prabhandam”, ”Navarathri Kriti”, ”Meenambika Sthothram”, and compositions of Irayamman Thampi have been amongst her well-known vocal renditions.
Besides conducting tons of of live shows throughout her eight decades-long musical journey, she additionally moulded a handful of fantastic musicians by making them her disciples. Besides the Padma Shri in 2017, Ponnammal was additionally a recipient of a number of notable honours together with the Lifetime Achievement (*96*) instituted by Chennai Fine Arts, Sangeetha Prabhakara (*96*), Sangeet Natak Akademi (*96*), Swathi Sangeetha Puraskaram, Sree Guruvayurappan Chembai Puraskaram and so forth.
She is survived by sons D Mahadevan and D Subramanian.
Her husband Devanayakam Iyer and a son and daughter died earlier than.
Condoling her demise and hailing her contributions to the phrase of music, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan stated Ponnammal had been an emblem of conventional serenity in Carnatic music.
He additionally remembered how the legendary girl musician had carried out on the Navaratri Mandapa by defying custom.
