Sirkazhi Govindarajan

Sirkazhi Govindarajan, the Carnatic Vocalist cum movie playback singer, was born on 19th January 1933 in Sirkazhi. Sirkazhi is the birthplace of Thirugnanasambandar, one of the 63 Nayanmars, who developed Saivism. Govindarajan’s parents are Siva Chidambaram and Avayambal Ammal. He is a prodigy infant, who started performing vocals at the age of eight at Tirupurasundari Temple when the Gnana Paal Festival was celebrated.  At the age of 16, he got his Music Graduation, Isaimani from The Tamil Isai College. He had also graduated Sangeetha Vidwan degree. Thiruppampuram Swaminatha Pillai, a Professor at the Central College of Carnatic Music was Govindarajan’s mentor. Swaminatha Pillai trained Sirkazhi Govindarajan in classical Carnatic music. Sirkazhi Govindarajan won three gold medals in a row at Sangeetha Vidwat Sabha and also won the first place in Thiagaraja Swamigal’s Apoorva Krithis, Ragam Thaanam Pallavi and Tamil Classical Songs. Besides singing the Carnatic, Tamil Classical Songs, he had sung the film songs in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada. He was honored with a doctorate by Madras University in 1983.

Sirkazhi Govindarajan had also played in a few films in cameo roles. His Nakkeerar role in Kandhan Karunai and Agathiyar role in the movie Agathiyar are very popular. He had also played a devotee in Thirumalai Thenkumari, a cop in Vaa Raja Vaa, Nambiyandar Nambi in Rajaraja Chozhan, Naradhar in Dasavatharam that released in 1976 and Agathiyar in Meenakshi Thiruvilayadal. He had appeared in a couple of films as himself and in one of the films named Deivam, he had crooned a song along with TM Soundararajan and it was a hit devotional song. Sirkazhi Govindarajan was honored with the Padma Shri award from the Indian Government for his services to the music world. The Tamilnadu Government honored him with the Best Male Singer award for the film Thirumalai Thenkumari.