I first heard this song sung by the mridangam maestro Guruvayur Dorai. He gave a private concert in my house when we had an informal house warming some 15 years back. He sang this quite beautifully and we were all so moved. I approached him for the notation and he obliged with a copy of a book of Arutpas of Ramalinga swami set to music by his sister Guruvayur Ponnammal. The songs were beautifully tuned with tasteful use of ragams, talams and intelligent splitting and positioning of the lyric. I learnt a few and gave a full fledged Arutpa concert at the Margazhi Maha Utsavam in December. I was browsing through the Kaalachuvadu publications stall at the Madras Book Fair when a staff came up to me and said ‘Writer Perumal Murugan has written about you in the sequel to his novel Maathorupaagan.’ I looked it up and found the following words ‘இசையறிவோ நுட்பமோ கொண்டவன் அல்ல நான், எனினும் இந்நாவலை எழுதும் காலத்தில் சஞ்சய் சுப்ரமணியனின் குரலைக் கேட்டுக்கொண்டேயிருந்தேன். ஒருவகையில் என் கைப்பிடித்து அக்குரல்தான் கூட்டிச் செல்கிறதோ என மயங்கிய தருணங்கள் உண்டு. தப்பேது நான் செயினும் நீ பொறுத்தல் வேண்டும் – என உருக்கிய அந்த குரலுக்கு நன்றி’ (பெருமாள்முருகன், அர்த்தநாரி, 26-11-2014) I know I sang a full concert of Arutpas in that MMU concert, but somehow this one seems to enjoy a longer innings in my concert repertoire than some of the others.
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