Southern singers captivate Delhi’s music lovers

The recently held South Side Story music festival in Delhi featured some captivating performances by singers, musicians and band from the south and also laid out delicious South Indian cuisine.

Much to the delight of NCR’s music lovers, the Gods relented as the incessant rains stopped during the weekend ensuring smoothing sailing for the sixth edition of the Radio 93.5 Red FM’s South Side Story at the Capital’s Indira Gandhi Stadium.

The annual festival, in print partnership with The Hindu, lined up excellent performers and none disappointed the audience. Among the splendid performances, noted Carnatic musician, author, and activist, TM Krishna’s was excellent. It was unusual, as Krishna himself remarked, for a classical performer to be made a part of a festival dedicated to a different genre of music. Yet, this soulful singer mesmerized the youngsters seeking and soaking contemporary music.

Krishna sang noted 19th Century Tamil writer Subramania Bharati’s poem on women’s empowerment and verses by Kerala’s spiritual reformer Sree Narayana Guru. His rendition of Muthuswami Dikshitar’s songs inspired by Western orchestral music played by British bands 200 years ago, had the listeners in raptures. He ended with an excellent rendition of the well-known patriotic Bangla song ‘Dhana Dhanya Pushpa Bhara’ by poet Dwijendralal Ray. The fast-paced jugalbandi between his accompanying ghatam and mridangam artists and solo pieces by the violinist had the audience completely hooked.

The two-day event on August 31 and September 1 commenced with Khatija Rehman rendering songs in her mellifluous voice, which included ‘Ulagam Oru Naal’, ‘Anbendra Mazhaiyilae’ and ‘Latika’s Theme’. She was followed by Sean Roldan & Friends who increased the tempo, getting the crowd all charged up. They performed songs that included ‘Maya’, ‘Mandira’ and a number from their new album.

The captivating rendition of ‘Bhagavathi’ in Malayalam suffused with powerful lyrics and heavy instrumental music by Sithara’s Project Malabaricus provided a rousing start for this group. The lead singer, Sithara Krishnakumar, next sang her ever-popular ‘Rithu’which had the crowd joining her. She also sang ‘Kadha’ and ‘Arutharuth, Arutharuth’ among other numbers.

The crowd was then treated to some exhilarating vocals, guitar playing and drumming by Agam The Band. They swayed and sang as the group belted out ‘Celestial Nymph’, ‘Rangapura Vihara’, ‘Boat Song’ and ‘Koothu Over Coffee’ among other tracks.

Nithya Mammen set the ball rolling on the second day with ‘Chinnamma’, a funky number followed by her debut playback song ‘Nee Himamazhayayi’. With a strong voice and superb music to back it, she had the audience rooting for her. She also sang the popular ‘Jo Bheji Thi Duaa’from the movie Shanghai originally sung by Arijit Singh and Nandini Sarkar.