On the 24th of February, when most of the newspapers in Kerala bore headlines of political news including the visits of Sonia Gandhi and the vice president, there appeared as a sidelined news (of course in the front page itself) a report on the death of noted singer C.O.Anto. It was really sad to see that Anto, who had dedicated himself and his life to music and art, was so sidelined.

C.O.Anto was one of those few singers in Malayalam who, though being immensely gifted, never perhaps got the recognition he deserved. The songs that he sung for stage plays and films are still cherished by lovers of music as some of the best and soulfully rendered songs in Malayalam. And the comic numbers he had sung had made the songs, though not the singer immensely popular among the people.

Born in 1938 as the son of Chellakkaattu Parambil Ousep in Ernakulam, Anto was noticed as a singer through the Tansen Music Club, Cochin. His entry as a stage singer was in Jeevitham Avasaanikkunilla, staged by Peoples Theatre Arts. Then on, he was known in the theatre circuits as Ernakulam Anto, he went on singing songs for many plays by reputed groups like Kalidasa Kala Kendram, Kerala Theatres and Jyothy Theatres. The song "Madhurikkum ormakale..." in the play Janani Janmabhoomi made him a hit.

He also sung other popular songs like "Enthinu paazhshruthi meettuvathiniyum.." , " Maanaththe mazhavillinezhu niram..." etc. With the song "Veedinu ponmani vilakkuni..." in Kudumbini, Anto made his entry into the world of film songs. (Of course he had earlier sung for Oru Njettil Iru Pookkal and Kamuki, but these films were never released. ) And then onwards he went on singing songs for over 150 Malayalam films.

His most remembered songs are "Bhoogolam thiriyunnu..."(PaadunnaPuzha), "Kunnaththorukaavundu...."(Asuraviththu),"Panamoruballaaththa pandaarakkaalan..."(Lakshaprabhu) etc. Of course he was popularly known to most of the people as a crooner who had sung popular comic numbers like "Paappi appachcha..."(Mayilaadumkunnu), "Ayyadi maname..." (Priyamulla Sophia) etc.

He also appeared on the screen in a song sequence in K.S.Sethumadhavan's Kuttavaali in which he appeared singing the song "Janichcu poyi manushyanaayi..." (sung by K.J.Yesudas). In his eventful career as a playback singer, he had the chance to associate with the best of composers like Devarajan, K.Raghavan, Babu Raj, and Salil Chowdhury etc.

Anyhow, with the trend getting changed in the realm of film songs, Anto found himself out of the scene. The last time the film lovers of Kerala got a chance to hear his voice was in Aniyaththipraavau in which he crooned a couple of lines in the song "Vennila Kadappuraththu...". In the meantime he found himself another avenue- stage shows. With the troupe 'Old is Gold' , he went to different places singing old-time songs and entertaining audiences. Of course the audience always expected only comic numbers out of him and he had to satisfy them .

And lately, this extremely gifted singer was reduced to a member of the chorus group of noted music director Illaiyaraja. Just about a year ago, he was diagnosed to have intestinal cancer and his health was adversely affected and he had to remain in bed.

And on the 24th of February, when this man who had made immense contribution as an artist to Cinema and the stage breathed his last at the age of 63 at Chennai, where he had been living, genuine lovers of his songs did consider it as an irreparable loss. And many did comment that even in his death this man, who should rightly have got a lot more recognition than he got, went rather unrecognized.