A rendezvous for cultural activities
K. PRADEEP
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The Alwaye Sangeeta Sabha celebrates its Golden Jubilee this year.
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PHOTO: MAHESH HARILAL.
GOLDEN PAST: The Alwaye Sangeeta Sabha plans to renovate this building.
Every weekend they got together for a game of cards at one of the four houses huddled along a narrow street at Aluva. Very often the cards were put aside as they got engrossed in long-drawn discussions about classical music. Gradually, these conversations veered towards plans of organising regular music sessions. This led to the genesis of the The Alwaye Sangeeta Sabha (TASS).
TASS celebrates its Golden Jubilee this year. "Initially, programmes were held at the Pankajam Theatre nearby. At the end of every concert the organisers usually announced the next month's programme. This went on for about five months or so. However, on one occasion the theatre owners expressed some sort of hesitation in allotting the venue after the programme was announced. The organisers, most of them top officials in the industrial belt in and around Aluva, swung into action. In 40 days a new hall was constructed on the 25 cents of land donated by Dr. K. Narayana Menon," remembers P. K. Chandraeskharan Nair, who was an office-bearer of the Sabha for many years.
Sree Chitra Tirunal Balarama Varma inaugurated the auditorium on September 9, 1954. The inaugural concert was by Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. Almost all the leading artistes had performed here and the Sabha also had the unique distinction of conducting the choicest programmes every month, apart from special festivals.
"TASS was a pioneer in this field. There must have been similar organisations in other places, like in Thiruvananthapuram, but they had the patronage of the royal family there. In those days there used to be State transport buses waiting near the hall to take people back to neighbouring places at the end of the programmes," reminisces Nair.
Greats of classical music
The first few decades saw the golden age of this Sabha. Almost everyone who mattered in Carnatic classical music performed here.
"We were fortunate to have almost all the greats of classical music from Semmangudi, Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, G. N. Balasubramaniam, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, M. D. Ramanathan, Alathur Brothers, M. S. Subbulakshmi, M. L. Vasanthakumari, D. K. Pattammal, Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna right to K.J. Jesudas here. Then a long list of illustrious musicians like T.R. Mahalingam, N. Ramani, M. S. Gopalakrishnan, Rajaratnam Pillai, Shiekh Chinna Moulana Sahib, T. K. Murthy, Kariakudi Mani, Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Lalgudi Jayaraman, Papa Venkitarama Iyer and Rakamanickam Pillai," says Nair.
In the beginning the prime objective of this organisation was to nurture and propagate classical music. Later on, to keep pace with changing times, TASS decided to include dance and drama in its monthly programmes. "Records reveal that we have had some of the best dancers like Vyjayantimala, Kamala Lakshman, Travancore Sisters (Lalitha, Padmini, Ragini), Padma Subrahmanyam, Chitra Visweswaran, Sonal Mansingh on our stage. In fact, we had the rare occasion of having Srividya dance, with her mother M. L. Vasanthakumari providing the vocal accompaniment," says C. Satheesan, the present president of TASS.
"Drama and Kathakali were two very popular items that members always looked forward to. I remember how the hall used to be filled to capacity for the plays by prominent troupes like Kalanilayam and KPAC," Nair says.
For long TASS was the cultural hub of Aluva. Then, like most such organisations, it suffered a huge slump. Now in its Golden Jubilee year there is an attempt to revive those golden days.
Now the only activities being conducted regularly here are the monthly programmes, training classes in dance, mridangam, violin, and painting, Thyagaraja Aradhana every year on January 26 and a dance-music festival during Navarathri.
"We have chalked out very ambitious plans for our Golden Jubilee and we hope to realise it. More than anything else we are attempting to bring people who share similar interests together again. The building needs renovation. We have plans to build a new one here with underground parking and two floors that can be utilised for our use and even rented out ," says C. A. Chandran, convener of the organising committee formed for the event.
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