Kochi: Fifty years since a teenage boy from Kerala’s Kochi wrote and composed a devotional song, his emotions have reached a crescendo with the piece of music he created finding its way to a holy mass conducted at St Peter's Basilica, Vatican, during the mourning of Pope Francis.

About to touch 70 this August, Mariadas Vattamackal, a seasoned violinist, was overwhelmed with memories and emotions as the Malayalam song ‘Natha njangal kai koopidunnoo’ was sung as an offertory hymn during the holy mass offered by the oriental churches on May 2, the seventh day of the official nine-day mourning for the pope. The holy mass was presided over by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, former Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, while a choir of priests and nuns from Kerala performed the song.

Over the years, the hymn has often become a part of the holy mass in Catholic churches, but Mariadas had no clue that its notes would one day reverberate inside St Peter's Basilica, the sublime seat of Catholic faith. Mariadas learned about it only after the song's video during the holy mass was streamed by faith-related YouTube channels, hailing it as a proud moment for Kerala churches.

“I can say that it’s only a part of God’s plan. I’m delighted that the song passed through ears and reached the highest place,” Mariadas told Onmanorama from his house at Chittur Road, Ernakulam.

The choir boy’s hymn
Mariadas’ tryst with music started when he joined the Carmel Divine Voice, a choir group formed as part of Carmel Holy Family Church at Chittur Road in the early seventies, when he had finished Class 10. He started with vocals there and slowly picked up a violin with a broken string, knowing little that it would shape the rest of his life.

“I wrote and composed the song ‘Natha...’ in 1975 for our choir. First, I composed it in the 7/8 beat, but later I changed the tune to the 3/4 time signature as I felt the first tune was a bit complicated for ordinary singers. I also arranged the orchestra for the song with an intro on the saxophone and a harmony on the violin. For the background score, I used the style of the saxophone master Rodrigues, a Goan settled in Thevara at that time,” Mariadas remembered.

The church choir performed the song in 1975. Since then, it has gone from choir to choir and has become a popular piece in competitions. Mariadas said the song attained the popularity it enjoys now after the Cochin Arts and Communications (CAC) under the Archdiocese of Verapoly made it a part of its playlist. “Singers Gagul Joseph and Kester have trained people from many parishes in the song,” he said. He said that CAC replaced the word ‘Devaa’ in the original song with ‘Nathaa’.

Though Mariadas had tried to record the song, he could not do so due to financial constraints at the time. Another hymn, ‘Kaazhchavayppinte ee nimisham,’ which is part of an album titled Varadayika, is among his other popular compositions.

Mariadas never had an opportunity to be trained in classical music, though he has been performing as part of several troupes for decades now in stage programmes and TV shows. He has composed the background score for a Biblical film directed by Joshy Illath, which is yet to be released. He has also assisted popular Malayalam composers Berny-Ignatius and Alex Paul in a few films. He was also part of A R Rahman’s orchestra and performed with Keeravani.