Chinmaya Mission Boston is hosting a Valentine Day concert on Feb. 14 at 6:30 pm by South Indian playback singer Senthildass Velayutham of Dharamadurai, Laka Matikicha and Sandaikozhi 2 fame. He talked to Lokvani about his path from being a farm boy to a playback singer working with Illayaraja, A.R.Rehman and others. For more information go to chinmayaboston.org or call Meera Subramanian at (908) 240-5990 or send an email to msiyer08@gmail.com.

The interview is in Tamil. Here is a recap in English by Meera Subramanian. 

Background – Senthildass Velayutham comes from Neduvasal,  a village in Pudukottai district and his schooling and college was completed in  Neduvasal in Pudukottai.  .....He had no formal training in music and had a passion for music.   When he was growing up, he would sing in his village and singing became his way of life. During his college years he was in a light music band and moved to Chennai and joined the music college.   His dreams were to join the film industry and sing in movies.  

He interviewed with various music directors and Srikant Deva gave him a break for the movie uslampatti santhaiyale which was a popular folk song.   He has performed over 5000 concerts and has been singing playback in Tamil and Telegu films.  His most popular songs are from Dharma Durai and Sandakozli2.   

 

Connecting with Isai Gnani Illayaraja Sir -   His dream was to sing with Raja Sir and he never missed  a day when he would wake up in the early hours walk miles to get the bus and then reach the studios ready and prepared hoping that Raja Sir would call him to his studios.    He had to plan it such that he would be at the studios by 7:00 AM just to see Raja Sir.   He was given the initial opportunity and then after that there was no turning back.   Ever since that he accompanied Raja Sir in more than 1500 road shows.   Raja Sir gave him several opportunities to be the lead singer in many of his shows.   

 

Working with Raja Sir - He is a very hard worker and works from 7 AM to 7 PM.   He is very organized and gets annoyed if people are not organized.   Raja Sir according to Senthildass is very polite and not at all a difficult person to work with as many say.   Raja Sir has taught him to work hard and prepare well ahead of time.    He had the heart of a baby and has learnt a lot and is still learning from him.

 

The big break that he got was by Yuvan Shankar Raja.    He was picked up by Yuvan  Shankar Raja who use to accompany his father regularly to the studios.   And saw the talent and offered him to sing in his movie Dharma Durai which became a big hit.    This is the story of Senthildass who came with no connections and made it big in the industry.

 

Working with SPB – He met SPB when he was in one of the travel shows with Raja Sir.  SPB sir according to Sentildass is a very nice person and is very detail oriented and supports all artists and encourages each and every artist by praising them in front of the audience.   SPB Sir asked him to sing one his own song and praised him after.   He is very caring and would offer personal and professional advice. 

   

SPB’s Sir death left a void in him and he gets nostalgic every time he sings SPB Sir’s song.  He remembers and still feels the hug that SPB Sir gave him.   He spent many days with SPB Sir’s family after his death as he was a good and close friend of Charan and helped him through the hard days by being there for him.

  

Senthildass Sir’s says he owes his career to the mentoring of  Raja Sir and SPB Sir and remains indebted to this day. 

 

What COVID has impacted him now –Musicians who performed as playback singers were less impacted while musicians who made a livelihood by public performances were impacted heavy.   His career was also impacted however Senthil looked to necessity as the mother of invention and discovered a new career path through online music including YouTube and Facebook.   He has been performing every weekend on Facebook and colleting donations.   He has used that money to buy rice and provision for 500+ families to help them through the COVID pandemic.

 

What would you request from your listeners – to give him donations to continue helping the people in need.   By contributing you will help all the band members and the crew associated with the production.   He finished the interview by singing samplers for the concert in Tamil/Telegu and Hindi.    He is very excited to looks forward to providing an entertaining evening of music on Feb. 14th.   He is also looking forward to taking requests at the show