Folk flavours to the festival

Velmurugan reminisces about Pongal celebrations during his childhood years and his musical journey

Velmurugan. Photo: M. Moorthy

Singer Velmurugan is busy this Pongal — he has a dozen TV shows to participate in and, of course, has to celebrate the festival at home.

But things were different when he was growing up in Mudanai village near Vridhachalam. Everyone would be out on the streets celebrating the four days — Bhogi, Surya Pongal, Maatu Pongal and Kaanum Pongal — with so much fervour.

“It used to be fun,” he says, dreamily. “As most of us come from agricultural backgrounds, the sun is very important to us. So is the cow. This is that time of the year when we pay our respects to them. We make separate pots for the festival and decorate it, before inviting the elders to cook. In the evening, of course, there’s a lot of song and dance.”

Singing at such festivals and hearing

naatupura padalgal were his only connection to music back then. “My ooru makkal and the Rs. 10 cassettes they sold then made me interested in songs. I still remember how when I was in class VIII, I sang one of those folk songs in a competition and won the first prize. Everyone appreciated my style of singing.”

That was the beginning for a voice that has now been heard in more than a hundred Tamil films and several stage shows in the country and abroad. His latest song for Harris Jayaraj features in Ajith’s Yennai Arindhaal and he has atleast half a dozen songs waiting for release. “In the villages of Tamil Nadu, music is a part of everyday life; both life and death have musical elements in them,” he says.

But that’s not enough to make it big, he knew. To do that, he came to Chennai, the land of opportunities for many who hail from interior villages in the State. He enrolled himself in a music college, where, for three years, he learnt every aspect of music. “I’d be free in the evenings and would frequent all the auditoriums in Chennai to listen to music performances. I’d yearn to take photographs with leading singers then and send them to my folks at the village who’d be thrilled.”

He was desperate to make it big at that time and, thanks to a TV show appearance, he got his first chance to sing for films under the baton of James Vasanthan. The song — the foot-tapping ‘Madera Kulunga Kulunga’ from Subramaniapuram — was a runaway hit and marked his arrival in K-Town. Since then, there has been no looking back.

According to him, films and folk artists go hand-in-hand these days, something that is beneficial to both. “People these days are interested in folk songs, and that’s quite heartening for singers like us,” he says, “And, with many films featuring such numbers, the reach of this genre is increasing.”