Komban).
A few decades ago, popular film singers like S P Balasubrahmanyam, Yesudas and Malaysia Vasudevan were roped in for the numbers. Velmurugan says composers are now scouting for “singers who are from villages and can pull off such songs. This lends more authenticity to the flavour of the song.” Velmurugan singles out Ilaiyaraaja’s
Thara Thappatai (2016) as a recent benchmark.
Dhanush in ‘Karnan’
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Musicians like Velmurugan, Chinnaponnu, Anthony Dasan and Senthil Ganesh-Rajalakshmi are among the folk singers who are making a mark in Tamil cinema. Kidakuzhi Mariyammal’s successful ‘
Kanda Vara Sollunga’ in Dhanush-starrer
Karnan is another recent instance of Tamil cinema pushing the bar further with folk music. “It is heartening to see that folk music is being recognised in so many recent Tamil films, thus increasing patronage for several talented rural musicians,” he adds.