Parai artist Velau Asana, located in Alanganalur near Madurai, Photo Credit: Murthy ji

R Velmurugan stood with the audience at the annual Muniyandi Temple Festival in Alanganallur, when his uncle Sevugan and Troope were playing the fairy. Velmurugan, who is now known as Velu Asana (‘Asana’ in Tamil), was ten years old. “I don’t know what came on me,” recalls a 55 -year -old phone from Metmalai village near Sattur in Virudhunagar district. “My body spontaneously started moving towards beats.” His uncle then offered a collision to Velu. “This was the first time I kept Parai,” recalls Velu, who won the Padma Shri this year for his contribution to the Tamil folk-art form.

He has won the Padma Shri 2025 for his contribution as ancient Tamil folk art. , Photo Credit: Murthy ji

Velu has taught hundreds of men and women to play alien. Their students spread in Tamil Nadu have replaced the trainers to start their congregation. He started his congregation summer in 2010, and in addition to India, is played in China, America, Dubai, Sri Lanka and Singapore. “Summer means war,” Velu says. This is to indicate the spirit of rebellion for which the means stands.

For a long time, Parai was seen with the same hatred, which was reserved for the people of the oppressed communities playing it. These people were often not treated with the honor of artists forced to perform for a long time for a longer salary. Artists like Velu have changed the tide in Tamil Nadu. He took Parai on the world stage and the film industry breathed a new life in its beats and foot movements, attracting young men and women as art. Today, he teaches in schools and colleges across the state, besides performing on events and preparing the equipment himself.

Now the angel is popular among young and old people in Tamil Nadu. Photo Credit: Periassamy M

His journey was not easy. “My father and uncles played the role of alien; But still, many relatives including my mother did not like to see me playing, ”Velu says. They say that their relatives would say them after playing it after playing anywhere near their homes because the instrument is associated with the funeral. But alien and its rhythm was so surrounded by his psyche that nothing could shake his resolve.

“In my short years, my hands will keep tapping on every flat surface,” they say. Bamboo baskets, telephone posts, his head, his stomach, water tank, hospital stretcher … “My father Ramayya will take me to teach me from songs in films,” he remembers. “He used to tap his thighs after beats from the screen, and I used to repeat it after that.”

Velu picked up various techniques Vathiyar He came forward. He learned the movements of the legs from the kattapas from Natham, absorbing the skills of performing with a large circle in a tight place with mariapapan and rasmani. Despite his love as art, life forced him to stay out of its contact for about eight years. During this time, Velu did many strange things: he was a load man, lift operator, ward boy of the hospital. “I finally decided to hug Parai: I realized that I was not doing anything wrong,” Velu says.

When Velu first launched his own circle, his main purpose was to ensure that his people were paid well. “When he saw this, more and more artists wanted to be part of our set,” he says. He named his congregation summer in the office of music director Ilaiyaraja in Chennai when he went there to play for a Tamil film. Para has taken Vealu places – she has played for many Tamil films Kumki, KayalAnd from extremely popular ‘Madura Kulunga’ Subramaniapuram,

Velu says that mercury is within him, life itself. “It can be played to celebrate every happy event in life, such as birth, age of a child, weddings and even at the funeral,” he says. The instrument expresses every possible feeling, and keeps it fascinated with its nuances. It can be echoed with pleasure with a moment, and can exclude sadness or even sadness, with a minor flicker of the stick. Velu says, “Parai is the air I breathe, my vitality,” Velu says.

Despite all these years of performance and popularizing the instrument, Velu still does not earn much. However, it does not stop him. “I want to continue to take means for more people,” they say, “recently the award is just the beginning. I have more work to do more work now.”