TR Mahalingam

[Oldposts]

i have heard about an incident involving trm. it might be apocryphal.

a famous md wanted to have a song with trm, tms, pbs, seerkazhi and s varalakshmi. at that point of time, the balance used to be achieved by distance from the mike (i hear it was only one mike), the md started to place people. initially he had pbs closest to the mike and took a test and asked trm to move behind. during the next take he asked tms to come forward and trm to go behind. the next had s varalakshmi coming to the front and trm going back further. the next test saw seerkazhi coming slightly further up at the expense of trm.

when they were ready for the take, the md and the other singers noticed that trm was stuck to the wall like a palli because he was asked to go back and back. whether true or not, this episode tells tales of his ability to reach impossible heights, sustain and even produce sangathis that one cannot even imagine. such a fine voice