Her maternal grandfather is Palghat Mani Iyer and her paternal grandmother is D K Pattamal … Her genes ensured she had a great voice and the environment at home ensured she trained hard and diligently. The result is Nithyasree Mahadevan, with a voice that can sing in any octave and can move hearts. Nithyasree is special because she was Appa’s favourite :).
Yesterday was another musical treat for us at Narada Gana Sabha. The only sad part was her concert was not a sell out, the hall was about 70% full and the audio systems were badly tuned in the first 45 minutes. Nithyasree’s voice sounded so different that my mother started saying that it probably was someone else and not her. Then 45 minutes into the concert, power went off. Luckily she had just completed singing a piece and was about to start another – power came back in a minute or so, and the audio system either got tuned by itself or someone set it right. Then the tempo was very different. The concert warmed up and Nithyasree’s real voice was heard.
I remember reading somewhere that D K Pattammal’s voice was likened to the sound of the Veena and Nithyasree has inherited that great tonal quality. Her voice resembles her grandmother’s closely, but it’s also distinct. There were two more power cuts but it didn’t dampen either Nithyasree’s spirit nor the audience’s spirit.
We had reached early and we ate lunch at the canteen – the mini meals is recommended. Just before Nithyasree’s performance there was a Bharatanatyam performance by Vaishnavee that we managed to catch for 30 minutes. She had danced to the Greek fable of Pygmalion. What a creative adaptation.
Nithyasree wore a beautiful Mango yellow sari with a pink border and the bottom border had black – lovely sari.
By the time the concert ended, mom was convinced that it was Nithyasree who was singing :). Again, as in the case of Sanjay Subramanyam, it would have been nice if Nithyasree could have interacted a bit with the audience and shared a little detail about the song that she was presenting. She sang several Tamil songs, which were fantastic but there were many non-Tamilians in the crowd, who could enjoy just the music, but would have loved to know what the lyrics meant. And when she sang the Ragam-Talam-Pallavi, for lay people like us, it would have been educational to know what the Ragam was. Some we could identify using the Thiruppavai songs :):), Indian jugaad at play.
Thanks Nithyasree for a musical treat … Can almost hear your voice still.
Sitting right now at Bharat Kalachar and waiting for Rajesh Vaidya to spellbind us with his Veena concert. The genius is walking around in track pants and a t.shirt, completely unassuming !! Wow.
#ChennaiDecemberSeason