Happy Birthday, Dasettan!
I am celebrating Yesudas's 75th birthday with a diary-like report and photos from 1994- when we attended a great Carnatic concert he gave. He was at my present age when I saw him then in Seattle- he had no grey hair- just as it is now!:-) . I had a brief encounter with him on Ernakulam Broadway near Paico, (in 1980, I think)- He was returning from Sujatha's (singer) wedding reception. Having seen him suddenly coming out of a store, I ran to him and talked something with the excitement of a 20 year old college student. He told me that he was coming from the wedding function - he was at his prime stardom, but he was down to earth, and friendly...
This was written before the Malayalam typing became popular and I thought it is better to upload the hand written version to remind myself that I used to write a lot of letters and diaries by hand... The photos were taken in film camera and I scanned them last night - they are a bit grainy though... I couldn't find the negatives.
I also had the privilege of spending some time with him in 2008, in Vancouver and I will post those photos and write-up I did for Mathrubhumi when we celebrate his 80th birthday!
See Guru Chembai's Photo in front of him - He did an invocation prayer to his Guru before the curtain opened.
He insisted on setting the audio controls himself. He brought his own mic and a recording system also.
Made for each other!
Dasettan @ 54
Great accompaniments
Great moments for the photographer and family! He was the one asked me and Bindu to pose with him. He called one of the local organizers and asked him to click !
May the divine voice keep mesmerizing us for many more years to come!