E-Paper
Renowned Carnatic vocalist Parassala B Ponnammal dies at 96
Parassala B Ponnammal sang at the Navaratra Mandapam in Sree Padmanabha Swami temple in Thiruvananthapuram in 2006, breaking 300-year tradition that barred women from performing at its Navaratri celebrations
Thiruvananthapuram: Renowned Carnatic vocalist Parassala B Ponnammal who broke many glass ceilings with her mellifluous rendition, died in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday due to age-related ailments, her family said. She was 96.
A recipient of many awards and honours including the Padma Shri in 2017, Ponnammal performed across the world and trained singers like KS Chitra and Omanakutty Amma during her eight-decade-long career. Her last public performance was in 2019 in Thiruvananthapuram. Some of her best renditions include compositions of Irayamman Thampi and KC Kesava Pillai.
She sang at the Navaratra Mandapam in Sree Padmanabha Swami temple in Thiruvananthapuram in 2006 with the help from erstwhile Travancore royal family that was once custodian of the temple, breaking a 300-year-old tradition that barred women from performing at its Navratri celebrations.
“Ponnammal teacher was the last word in Carnatic music. Her passion for music was unparalleled,” said noted Carnatic vocalist Dr Omanakutty Amma. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan also condoled her death, describing her as the “symbol of a great tradition of music.”
Ponnammal started learning music in 1932 when she was just eight and was the first female student in 1940 to enrol at Thiruvananthapuram’s Swathi Thirunal College of Music that opened a year earlier. It was then known as The Music Academy.
The young singer, born in a Tamil Brahmin family in Parassala, a small town along Kerala-Tamil Nadu border in 1924, passed out of the academy with distinction in ‘Gana Bhushanam’ and ‘Gana Praveena’ courses. She later trained under some of the legends of Carnatic music like Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and Papanasam Sivan.
Ponnammal started her career as a music teacher in Cotton Hills Girls High School in Thiruvananthapuram and later joined Swathi Thirunal College of Music, her alma mater, as a teacher and later rose to become its principal. Later, she became the principal of the RLV College of Music and Fine Arts in Tripunithura.
