Kodai Kaala Katre: A tribute to Malaysia Vasudevan
'kodai kaala katre, kulir thendral paadum paate', thus goes one of the famous songs from the movie, 'Paneer Pushpangal' sung by Malaysia Vasudevan. The phrase 'kodai kaala katre' means 'summer breeze' and that was an apt description for some of the melodies that Malaysia Vasudevan sung. Malaysia Vasudevan's voice was not the soothing kind, a 'cool' and 'gentle' voice. He did not possess the softness of Balasubramaniam nor did his voice possess an inherent melody like Jesudas. His was a rough voice, a 'manly' voice. If the other male singers like SPB and Jesudas represented spring and winter, Malaysia represented summer. His was a voice which blazed into your ears and burnt itself into your conscience. You either loved it or hated it on the first hearing. To be honest, it was the second feeling that came over many during his initial days. He sounded like a poor copy of C.S.Jayaraman or as a poor man's T.M.Soundararajan. ...