The felicitation of 91-year-old veteran musician Palagummi Viswanatham was one of finest days of the nine-day ‘Lalitha Sangeetha Navaha Mahotsavam.' It organised jointly by Delhi Telugu Academy and Little Musicians Academy, at Thyagaraya Gana Sabha, .He was the icon of Lalitha Sangeetham and the grand old man who preserved the art for such a long time. He watched and listened to many of his musical compositions sung by a number of musicians on the occasion. Most of the light music conductors and singers present at the venue are his disciples.
Palagummi composed these songs while he was serving as producer of Music in Hyderabad and Vijayawada stations of All India Radio. Even after retirement he composed many a light song and also wrote some. He is originally a carnatic musician — vocalist and Vainika — and hence his compositions never went out of the frame of carnatic ragas.
The evening had Palagummi's sentimental songs like Amma Donga that reflects the agony of a father watching his daughter moving away from his home after marriage and Okkasari Mavooru Poyi Raavaali , a song that documents the grandeur, traditions, friendship, generosity and greenery that prevail in rural land. Singer Vedavathi Prabhakara Rao, one of Palagummi's first rank disciples in whose voice the sentimental Amma Donga song crossed shores, rendered it on this occasion too. She also sang Aripirala Viswam's Sivapadamununchanela that opened the evening's musical schedule. Vinodbabu, a multifaceted artiste who sings and plays a variety of instruments, presented Okkasari Mavooru . He also rendered Entha Sundaramainadi along Pavani. Ramachari, the central figure of this whole event rendered another popular number — Nee Padamule Chalu Rama of Devulapalli. Swapna chose Vinjamuri Sivarama Rao's Vachenoyi Vasanthamu . It was a melodious rendition.
Plenty of other songs were rendered by Pawani, Balaji and Ramana, some along with a group of nearly 50 children of Little Musicians Academy of Ramachari who joined them in chorus, in songs like Narayana Narayana Allah Allah . There were also old songs like Mallenamma Mallenu that projected a message for social equality. This was rendered in the presence of Pt. Nehru, some decades ago at Gandhi Bhavan. Musicians and composers Banti, M.R.K. Prabhakar, Ushakanth, P.V. Saibaba, M. Chitaranjan, Vinnakota Muralikrishna, Bandaru Chittibabu, Kalaga Krishnamohan, K. Ramachari and Vasu Rao (son of S. Rajeswara Rao) were also felicitated on different days, followed by their music shows. Rendition of S. Rajeswara Rao's private light songs was the last of the events.
