Dr.K.J.Yesudas
When it comes to Malayalam film songs,it is no exaggeration to state that there is Yesudas - and then there are all the others! He took singing to a different level and set standards impossible for his successors to come even close.
Born in Fort Kochi as the son of Augustine Joseph-himself a well known Malayalam classical musician and stage actor- Kattassery Joseph Yesudas has weaved magic, with his inimitable voice, over generations. He joined the Music Academy in Thrippunithura and won a gold medal for music at a local competition in Fort Kochi at age seven! He was trained by Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar,one of the senior most performers of the time in Classical Music.This training, abruptly cut short by the guru's demise in 1974, was really the rock on which this illustrious career was built. He did not wish to tie himself down to Carnatic music and combined Hindustani and Carnatic music styles in all their enchanting varieties.
His first song as playback singer was for the Malayalam filom 'Kalpadukal'. From there, this 'voice from the heavens' proceeded to conquer everything before it, with hit songs after hit songs stirring the very soul of Keralites. The 60's and 70's were the golden period for Malayalam film songs, when people in Kerala were priveleged enough to experience the magic of Yesudas, composers Vayalar and P.Bhaskaran and music maestros Baburaj, Devarajan, Dakshinamoorthy and Salil Chowdhury at their peak. The combination of the accomplished actor Prem Nazir and Yesudas took the Malayalam cinema industry of the seventies by storm and has passed into the legends.
In the 80's, Yesudas paired with Raveendran, M.G.Radhakrishnan, Jerry Amaldev and Johnson to keep producing memorable songs. Simultaneously, he delivered effortless hits in Tamil too, with music directors like Ilayaraja, A.R.Rahman and Gangai Amaran. He has won the Tamil Nadu state award for the best playback singer eight times! Add to these his lilting Hindi numbers and numerous devotional songs and bhajans in various languages,one can begin to know what the name K.J.Yesudas means to the average Malayali!
His soul stirring voice lends itself effortlessly to all genres - be it classical, devotional or popular songs.Yesudas has recorded more than 40,000 songs in almost all Indian languages, Russian, Arabic, Latin and English. National award winner for the best playback singer an awesome seven times, he is also the recepient of the Padmashree(1973) and Padmabhushan (2002).
He has sung in almost all Indian language films except Assamese and Kashmiri, and
performed in almost all the major cities of the world. In his music concerts at Middle East he performs Arabic songs in Carnatic style. He also dons the role of cultural ambassador of India through his numerable performances abroad, promoting Indian Music. He is the only one singer who has the title 'Asthana Gayakan' (Official singer) of Kerala State.
In 1965, he was invited by the Soviet Union government to perform at music concerts in various cities in the U.S.S.R and sang a Russian song over Radio Kazakhstan! In 1970 he was nominated to head the Sangeetha Nataka Academy of Kerala, the youngest person ever to occupy the office. In 1971, Yesudas with his musical troupe travelled around Kerala to raise funds for the Indian Prime Minister's National Defence Fund during the Indo-Pakistani War. He also became Senate member in the International Parliament for Safety and Peace, an organization incorporated in the USA. On November 14, 1999, Yesudas was presented an honorary award by UNESCO for "Outstanding Achievements in Music and Peace" at the "Music for Peace" event in Paris, a concert held to mark the dawn of the new millennium and whose attendees included artistes such as Lionel Richie, Ray Charles, Montserrat Caballé and Zubin Mehta.
Even today, his voice-especially his songs of the golden era- bonds Keralites, spread the world over, to their home land, awakening in their hearts a yearning for home which is not easy to describe.
Labels: Famous children
posted by Vicky @ 3:56 PM
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