Now, it is raining melodies every night on Facebook!

Playback association’s effort to raise funds for struggling musicians

It may not be among S. Janaki’s most anthologised songs, but she has not sung too many sweeter melodies than Avidunnen gaanam kelkkaan… It is one of those gems created by the combination of lyricist P. Bhaskaran and composer M.S. Baburaj.

Recently, K.S. Chithra sang that song from the 1967 film Pareeksha during a live show online. She sounded magical.

That was just one of the several songs she rendered during her programme that lasted nearly an hour and a half. It has been viewed more than 3.4 lakh times thus far.

That is only one of the several live shows being organised by the association of the playback singers of Malayalam cinema, SAMAM; the objective is to raise funds for struggling musicians, whose woes have increased on account of the lockdown, which has rendered them jobless.

60 singers

The series features more than 60 singers over 60 days and is streamed live on the association’s Facebook page.

It had begun on May 4, with a show by the association’s president Sudeep Kumar, and will go on until July 2. So you could listen to almost all of the leading singers of Malayalam cinema.

“I don’t think there has ever been a series of music shows featuring so many professional singers anywhere and the response has been overwhelming,” Sudeep told The Hindu over phone. “Many of our shows recorded more than one lakh views.”

M.G. Sreekumar, Shwetha Mohan and Vijay Yesudas have been among the most popular performers thus far. And they have delighted their audiences.

Shwetha’s rendition of Aa nimishathinte nirvruthiyil… (Chandrakantham), another Janaki classic, Vijay’s version of his father’s great Hindi song Teri tasveer ko… (Sawan Ko Aane Do) and Chithra’s recreation of her own classic Pularkaala sundara swapnathil… (Oru Mey Masa Pulariyil)… have all been pleasing to the ear.

More to come

And there is more to come. “We are also trying to get P. Jayachandran to sing,” says Devanand, the association’s joint secretary. “He has never performed for an online audience, but we are trying to get him sing for us.”

Sudeep says the programme has so far raised ₹12 lakh. “We hope to collect more,” he says. “We plan to help about 500 musicians.”

You can watch the programme live at https://www.facebook.com/samamofficial from 8 p.m. onwards every night.

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