In the mid-1980s, Manacaud Gopan was taking his first steps in the ‘ganamela’ circuit when one of the instrumentalists in his troupe took him aside and told him to concentrate more on Tamil and Hindi songs since his voice texture was similar to that of S.P. Balasubrahmanyam (SPB). Since that day, for much of the past three decades and more, Gopan has been singing SPB’s songs on stages across the State and outside.
If one were to listen to one of his performances, without looking at the video, one could not be mistaken for assuming the voice to be that of SPB. More than mimicking his voice, he manages to capture the feeling of the original song, be it one of the moving tracks like Kaadhalin Deepam or the racy ones like Ilamai Idho Idho, which is his staple song to ring in the New Year during the annual midnight performances.
“I used to sing for amateur events or for friends’ groups from around 1985. Three years later, I met music director Devarajan master, who took me in to be part of his music troupe. It was he who gave me the stage name of Manacaud Gopan. Though I began singing Malayalam songs, before long I was singing mostly SPB’s Tamil songs. I became known for it and event organisers sought me out for SPB ‘musical nites’, and numerous such events have been organised over the past few decades,” says Gopan.
Meeting the legend
In addition to his ‘ganamela’ work, he has been recording devotional albums, songs for television serials, and albums of his SPB covers. In 1998, he met SPB for the first time, when he handed over a cassette of his own recordings of SPB songs to the singer. In 2003, he had the good fortune of singing for an SPB tribute event for a television channel, when the legend himself listened to the vocalist who sings like him.
“We became more familiar when he came to receive the Kamukara Foundation award. For the past ten years, I have been part of the SPB Fans Charitable Foundation through which he provides help to a lot of struggling musicians and others in need,” says Gopan.
For Gopan, the news of his idol’s passing is yet to sink in, even as he gets into the daily morning routine of listening to SPB songs. “We had plans to bring him here. I did not expect him to go so suddenly,” says Gopan.
