By Najiya O, TwoCircles.us
Renowned Mappilappattu singer Eranjoli Moosa passed away yesterday at his residence at Gopalpeta in Thalassery . The 79-year old has been undergoing treatment for respiratory illness for quite some time, and was at his house in Thalasseri at the time of death. He is survived by wife Kunjami and six children.
He was serving as the vice-president of the Kerala Folklore Academy.
Born as the son of Valiyakath Assiya and Abdu at Eranjoli near Thalasseri on 18 March 1940, he was known earlier as Valiyakath Moosa. He began by singing songs at wedding functions under the petromax light in earlier times. His career took a positive turn when he began to sing in the Akashavani (radio) with famous musician Raghavan Master. He has also sung for several plays, which were very popular in Kerala.
The king of Mappilappattu had been trained under Sarathchadra Marathe for two years. He has performed on nearly 1000 stages in the country and abroad, with more than 300 of them being in the Gulf. Moosa has also acted in an important role in the Dileep-starrer Malayalam film ‘Gramaphone’. He sang the famous song ‘Manikya malaraya poovi’ years ago (though another person named Thalasseri K Rafeeq also claims to have recorded that song first). The song was included in a Malayalam film in the recent years which made it even more popular. Other famous songs sung by him are ‘Mi’raj raavile kaattee’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TAqBO6DkiY
‘kettukal moonnum ketti’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1GDE0pBbxA and ‘mailanjiyarachallo’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmWfRyGbQCg
His autobiography ‘Jeevitham Paadunn: a Gramaphone’ was published by the DC Books.
There have been rumours about his death last January which went viral on the social media. At last, the singer himself had to upload his video saying he was alive, and asked to bring those behind the false news to justice.