When the frail-looking folk singer in dhoti, with a few accompaniments, sat in front of the microphone kept on the dais erected for celebrating Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers’ Association’s ‘Kalai Iravu’ at MDT Hindu College Higher Secondary School in Tirunelveli in 1993, none expected such a riveting voice from him.
As the very first song from him, ‘Thamizhaa nee pesuvathu thamizhaa?’, reverberated at high pitch, the roaring crowd asked him to go on, and he became the hero of the night. The journey never stopped and he became so close to the hearts of thousands of Tirunelveli residents over the years.
Thiruvudaiyan was first identified as a singer by his father Palanisamy, a poor ‘pet maistry’ (saree border designer), as he would ask his son to sing while he was working in his loom at Sankarankovil to ward off tiredness. And his peculiar voice took him to the temple where the middle school dropout was asked to sing devotional songs with his own accompaniment, a stainless steel plate.
After M.S. Mathiyazhagan of ‘Thamirabharani Nadaka Kuzhu’ was mesmerised by the young talent’s gifted voice, he took him to the stages of Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers’ Association during the events organised by the group. On the stages of the Association events, the stainless steel plate got replaced by Thiruvudaiyan’s tabla. Whenever he sang poet Ekadasi’s ‘Aaththa un sela…’, which is available in YouTube, it moved those silently listening to him with moist eyes. Auto and van drivers at Jawahar Grounds in Palayamkottai, who are great fans of this song, would ask Thiruvudaiyan to sing this number immediately after ‘Thamizhaa nee pesuvathu Thamizhaa…’.
The folk artiste attracted even Maestro Ilaiyaraaja’s attention, and he utilised his talent in ‘Virumaandi’ (Karumathur kaattukkulle…) and ‘Mayilu’ (Kalyanamam kalyanam…).
“Though he was reportedly asked by Ilaiyaraaja to stay back in Chennai as it would give him more chances in the cine music world, Thiruvudaiyan wanted to be only at Sankarankovil. It could have given him better opportunities,” recalls Narumpoonathan of Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers’ Association, which plans to mobilise funds to help the singer’s poor family, with two girls studying Plus Two and a son doing his Bachelor of Engineering.
