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Chembai was a well renowned musician in Carnatic style. He was very
religious and an ardent devotee of Lord Sree Guruvayurappan. From the age
of 20, he never missed Lord Guruvayurappan's darshan every Ekadasi day.
In 1931, on the Ekadasi day, a musical concert was organised at Calicut
under the auspices of Zamorin Rajah. When he entered for appearance on
the platform he found that his vocal chord had snapped and he could not
perform. The performance was postponed, he rushed to Guruvayur and on
that Ekadasi day he poured
his heart before Lord Guruvayurappan.
A non descript Namboodiri
whom he met there administered some medicine. He regained his voice
immediately and gave the performance in Calicut out of schedule. That
day he found a new voice and vigor and his performance was rated high by
one and all.
Since then he made it
a point to conduct Udayasthamana
pooja and musical concert
on the Ekadasi day. After his death on 16th October 1974, his
disciples and Guruvayur Devaswom decided to commemorate Chembai's name
by conducting Chembai Sangeetholsavam every year during Ekadasi. It was
initially a four day festival, but is now for ten days due to the
increase in the number of participants in the events.
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