Belying his age, 109-year-old "Sopana Sangeetham" exponent Pala Ramapuram Padmanabha Marar performed at the Government General hospital here leaving those gathered to hear him awe-struck.
Sopana Sangeetham is a form of classical music prevalent in the temples of Kerala.
Marar, who recited the traditional diety invoking Lord Rama, is considered the most aged performing artist in India.
The performance was part of the the Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) popular "Arts and Medicine" programme.
Marar, who practises the daily ritual at his neighbourhood Sree Ramaswamy temple near Pala off Kottayam, was helped on to the stage by two disciples. One of them subsequently provided accompaniment on the "edakka" (a handy percussion instrument) as the vocalist dedicated a song - much to the admiration of an audience consisting of doctors, nurses, patients and bystanders. Many were awestruck by the strength of his tone that belied his age.
The recital was followed up by Ansar and his Ilayanila band with an hour-long performance of popular old and new Malayalam hits. Stage performer Sruthi Satishkumar provided female back-up.
A roused gathering began making individual requests for old songs. The show ended on a high note with a "chain song" performance by Ansar and his brother, playback singer Afsal.
Ansar was the winner of Kerala's first reality show, Hamsadhwani, which was conducted by Doordarshan in 1997.
Dr Mohammad Ali, orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital said the programme always drew good response, with the seats getting filled up quickly and people standing around the area for the whole length of the show.
The Arts and Medicine project is being conducted by KBF in association with the Mehboob Memorial Orchestra and the Ernakulam district administration.
KBF Research Co-ordinator Bonny Thomas said the Arts and Medicine project had stopped for a while because of the monsoon rains. "It is back now-and we have received the usual warm response from doctors, patients and bystanders. We have an exciting line-up for the next few Wednedays with artistes like ghazal singer Umbai, playback singers Vidhu Pratap, Ranjini Jose and Gayatri Asokan," he said.
