Alamelu Mani

Octogenarian vocalist Alamelu Mani, mother of ghazal singer Hariharan, is among the few great teachers of the south Indian music form left in the city.

One singer who could have carved a niche for herself in Chennai but chose to remain in Mumbai is 81-year-old Alamelu Mani. Highly respected for her staunch classicism, she performs in Carnatic music's nerve centre every now and then, but always returns to her home base in Dadar. 

It might be natural to describe her to the lay public as the mother of the popular ghazal and playback singer Hariharan, but Carnatic music fans tend to refer to him as Alamelu Mani's son.

Mani, who continues to teach, began learning music from HAS Mani, whom she later married. When he died, the young Alamelu was shattered. But a year later, in 1964, she began learning from the great T Brinda, who belonged to an illustrious devadasi lineage: Veena Dhanammal was her grandmother and the legendary dancer Balasaraswati her cousin.

Perhaps a new model will develop, and it is too premature to pass a verdict. But today, people like Alamelu Mani stand out, as one the last representatives of a lost world of Carnatic music in Mumbai.