Johnson's demise: ‘Shakthigadha’ orphaned again

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Shakthigadha, the choir given birth by music maestro G Devarajan, has once again been orphaned. It was just one-and-a-half years ago that music composer Johnson, who also happened to be Devarajan’s student, came to the helm of affairs of Shakthigadha.

Slowly, the troupe was being shaped up into order, trying out new pastures and making its foray into more stages. With Johnson Master making a sudden exit, heeding to the call from above, the troupe has been left stranded yet again.

Satheesh Ramachandran, who is Devarajan’s student and who was picked up by the maestro himself to lead the choir, had invited Johnson Master to a programme hosted by Shaktigadha some one-and-a-half years ago. In a spur of the moment, he had invited Johnson to hold a post in Shakthagadha and the latter soon became the Director of the choir.

"In every sense, he was our guiding light for the past year and more. He had new ideas to rejuvenate the choir. We were planning to conduct a statewide music competition in colleges under the banner of Shakthigadha. It was his idea. We had drawn up the brochures and sent out invitations to more than 115 colleges only the other day. Johnson Master was to visit Thiruvananthapuram the following week and hold a press conference to announce the contest. We are left in the dark as to what to do now,’’ said Satheesh on Friday before he started off for Thrissur late in the day.

Shakthigadha holds family gatherings once a month, when the members (41 of them) and their family members too can render songs of their choice. "Johnson Master loved being a part of these gatherings. He has spent hours with us on some of these gatherings. He loved to put forward new suggestions for improvement. He was a man with firm ideas and beliefs,’’ recalls Satheesh.

"On Wednesday, when I called him up in Chennai, he said he had a severe chest infection. But seemed jovial enough to talk about the contest we were planning and about his upcoming visit to Thiruvananthapuram. His demise has come as a total shock,’’ said Satheesh.