Religious harmony: K G Markose enthralls crowds, sings ‘Israelin Nathanayi’ at Chittumala temple fest

A video of Malayalis beloved singer K G Markose singing the superhit devotional song 'Israelin Nathanayi' at Chittumala Temple in Kallada has gone viral on social media. Many shared the video with the post: 'This is Kerala for you' and 'This is the real Malayali' etc. Markose himself admits that he was taken aback by the overwhelming response and narrated the experience in a chat with Manorama Online.

“Thousands had gathered for the concert. When the programme entered its last leg, they kept asking me to sing ‘Israelin Nathanayi’. But I hesitated since temple festival organisers usually hand over circulars with instructions reminding us to wind up the programme on time and also avoid provocative or politically charged songs.

“I joked that I couldn’t afford to keep visiting police stations at this age,” he laughs. “But the crowd assured me that Kallada was different and people of all religions lived in religious harmony. There’s a famous Christian church nearby, which is named after Kallada Muthappan. In fact, even the flag-lowering of the annual festival at Chittumala Temple is linked to a legend involving Muthappan. That’s the spirit of this place-- only unity and not conflict. The crowd kept asking me to sing 'Israelin Nathanayi' and I finally sang the song by 9:30 p.m," he said.

Markose was especially touched by the audience’s patience. “They had written down requests for three songs --‘Israelin Nathanayi,’ ‘Ramsanile Chandrikayo,’ and ‘Amme Akasharoopini.’ I promised to sing them all. I saved ‘Israelin’ for the end, but to my surprise, nobody left. Usually, you’d expect people to start trickling out. But no one left.  This crowd waited, till the very end.”

He added that the audience had a clear preference for nostalgic melodies. “I ended up singing 10 to 18 songs non-stop. At one point, I told them people might get bored if I just keep going like that and I too would get a bit tired! But the fact that they waited so long with such interest truly moved me.”

A memorable experience
"Performing at the Chittumala Temple was a truly motivating experience. I had never sung there before. I ended up singing for nearly 2 hours and 45 minutes, and what amazed me most was that not a single person left during the entire performance," he said

Honestly, I expected some people to drift away. There was no smoke, no flashy lights, or no dancing as you can see these days. But the crowd stayed rooted, fully immersed in the songs. What surprised me even more was the kind of songs they asked for. They even requested for tracks I used to perform way back in the '80s. One such request was for ‘Naalumani Poove’, and another for ‘Akkare Akkare Akkare’," he said. He added that the ganamela was truly a huge experience he would always carry with him.