THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As nonagenarian Carnatic musician Parassala B Ponnammal bade adieu to the world of music, many including her disciples from the music circle in the state shared their cherished memories with their beloved Ponnammal teacher.Ponnamal’s greatest treasure was her student circle, which included a number of prolific singers and musicians. According to academician and Carnatic musician K Omanakutty, she was the epitome of patience. “With her demise, we have lost an ideal musician, and a teacher who shared with us the aesthetic beauty of music. This is a great loss for south India.
I feel blessed that I, along with my brother M G Radhakrishnan, was able to acquire some understanding of music through her. I have never seen her get angry with anyone. Even at the age of 90, she was as skilled as ever,” she said.
For ace Carnatic vocalist Palkulangara Ambika Devi, 80, Ponnammal teacher has always been a person she adored. Ambika was only 13 when she attended the four-year-long Ganabhooshanam course taught by Ponnammal in the late 1940s. “She was very young and my favourite teacher at the Swathi Thirunal Music Academy. Her voice was very strong despite her petite appearance. Due to her voice, she was often compared to Damal Krishnaswamy Pattammal, a famous Carnatic musician and a Tamil playback singer,” she said.
According to Harikrishnan R, Ambika Devi’s son and former principal of Sri Swathi Thirunal Music College, the late musician was an encyclopaedia. “I realised that music is a divine affair through her. Though she did not teach me, I knew about her through my mother,” he said.Playback singer B Arundhathi said the classical music industry has lost a pristine musician, who had devoted her whole life to music. “I feel privileged that her disciplined music tradition was passed on to me through my gurus, who were her disciples. She was a humble soul, whose life should be seen as a model to emulate,” she said.
Hindustani musician Pandit Ramesh Narayan stated that Parasala Ponnamal was an irreplaceable gem. “We had honoured her at our music academy on Guru Poornima day before the pandemic. She was a very down-to-earth person and was the epitome of grace. Her rendition of songs was always very pure,” he said.
Ponnammal’s young students will also miss their teacher, who always ensured that they get a cup of coffee before the class commenced. N J Nandini, a classical music prodigy and one of Ponnammal’s disciples of the present generation, calls her the “ideal teacher”. “She does not take mass classes at her house in Valyashala. One-on-one classes are held instead. She sits on a cot and makes us sit on another cot opposite to her. She never allowed us to sit on the floor,” she said.
CREMATED WITH FULL STATE HONOURS
T’PURAM: The Cremation of Parassala Ponnammal was held here with full state with honours on Wednesday. Her sons Mahadevan and Subramanyan led the rituals at Valiyasala crematorium. Police offered gun salute before the body was taken to the pyre.
Firsts to her credit
Parassala Ponnammal had many firsts to her credit, starting from being the first woman to receive the Gayika title from the Swathi Thirunal Music Academy for performing at the legendary Navarathri Music Festival at the Navarathri Mandapam in the capital city.