THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Noted Carnatic musician Padma Shri Prof Parassala B Ponnamal died here Tuesday. She died this afternoon at 1.30 pm at her residence in Valiyasala. Born to Mahadeva Iyer, headmaster and Bhagavathy Ammal in 1924, she was conferred Padma Shri four years ago.

Her early education was in Adoor and then in Parassala following her father's transfer. She got first prize in a music completion held in the capital city as part of the birthday celebrations of Chithira Thirunal at the age of 15. Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer was the judge of the competition.

She passed Ganapraveena and later Ganabhushan with first rank in the first batch of Swathi Thirunal Music Academy in Thiruvananthapuram. She had learned music from famous musician Papanasam Sivan. She started her career as a music teacher in Cotton Hill Girls High School in Thiruvananthapuram at the age of 18. She later served as lecturer and professor at Swathi Thirunal College of Music in Thiruvananthapuram.

She retired from service as principal of Thripunithura RLV Music College. From Neyyattinkara Vasudevan, Pala C K Ramachandran, Dr Omanakutty, M G Radhakrishnan, Kumara Kerala Varma to new generation Poovarani KVP Namboothiri are her disciples. She was the first woman to sing at the Navaratri Mandapam.

A huge crowd was witnessed during her concerts in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Her concerts featured works of Swathi Thirunal and Thyagaraja Bhagavathar as well as Pakkala and other famous Tamil works. Mavelikkara Velukutty Nair, Mavelikkara Krishnankutty Nair, Chalakudy Narayanaswamy, Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi, Nellai Mani, Udupi Sridhar, Rajesh and Nanjil Arul of the new generation have read pakkamelam for her concerts.

She has received Government of Kerala’s Swathi Sangeetha Puraskaram in 2009, awards of Kendra Sangeetha Nataka Akademi and Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, Kendra Sangeetha Nataka Akademi’s Fellowship, Chembai Guruvayoorappan Puraskaram, Madras Music Academy Puraskaram, Chennai Sri Krishna Gana Sabha Award and many others. Her husband is late R Daivanayakam Iyer. Subramaniam and Mahadevan are her two sons.