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K. J. Yesudas

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K. J. Yesudas

Kattassery Joseph Yesudas (Malayalam: കാട്ടശ്ശേരി ജോസഫ് യേശുദാസ്; born 10 January 1940) is an Indian classical musician and a playback singer. He has been singing for most Indian languages except Assamese, Konkani and Kashmiri.[2][3] He also composed number of Malayalam film songs in 70's and 80's.[1]

Early life and background

K. J. Yesudas was born in Fort Kochi, Kingdom of Cochin, into a Latin Rite Catholic family, to Augustine Joseph and Alicekutty. His name Yesu is the Syriac version for Jesus, which is also used in the Malayalam language. His father, who was a well-known Malayalam classical musician and stage actor, was his first guru. Later he joined the R.L.V.Music Academy in Thrippunithura and underwent training. For a brief period, he was with Sri Vechur Hari Hara Subramania Iyer after which he took advanced training from Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, a maestro of Classical Music. Although he is a Carnatic Music expert,[4] he mastered Hindustani Music also. He has taken the words of Sree Narayana Guru, "One caste, One religion and One God for all humanity"[5] to heart.

Career

Yesudas began his career in playback singing in the Malayalam movie Kaalpadukal[6] and Kollywood movies in the early '60s (He sang for 'Bommai' first (Music : K.Balachandar), but the first released movie was 'Konjum Kumari'(Music : Veda))and by '70s he entered Bollywood. The first Hindi song was for the movie 'Jai Jawan Jai Kissan' (1971), but the first released movie was 'Chhoti Si Baat'. He has sung Hindi songs for many leading actors in Hindi cinema including Amitabh Bachchan, Amol Palekar, Jeetendra and so on. He has sung many evergreen Hindi film songs for many popular music directors including Ravindra Jain, Bappi Lahiri, Khayyam, Rajkamal and Salil Chowdhury Almost all of the Hindi movie songs that he sang are popular even today. He has bagged seven National Film Awards for the best singer in the Indian film industry which is a record no singer has equalled, let alone surpassed. In 2006, he sang 16 film songs in four South Indian languages on the same day at AVM Studio, Chennai.[7]

Yesudas has performed in many major cities around the world. In 1965, he was invited by the Soviet Union government to perform at music concerts in various cities in the USSR and also sang a Russian song over Radio Kazakhstan. In 2001 he sang for album Ahimsa in Sanskrit, Latin and English and in a mix of styles including New-Age and Carnatic.[8] In his music concerts in the Middle East he sings Arabic songs in the Carnatic style (see [9]). He frequently did the role of a cultural ambassador of India through his numerable performances abroad by promoting Indian Music.

In 1970, he was nominated to head the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy and was the youngest person ever to occupy the post. In 1971, during the Indo-Pakistani War, Yesudas traveled all around Kerala with his musical troupe to raise funds for the Indian Prime Minister's National Defense Fund. He also became Senate member of International Parliament for Safety and Peace.[10] On 14 November 1999, UNESCO presented Yesudas with an honorary award for "Outstanding Achievements in Music and Peace"[11] 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. In 2009 Yesudas began a cross-country musical campaign against terrorism in Thiruvananthapuram, with the motto 'Music For Peace'. Kavita Karkare, wife of Hemant Karkare, handed over the torch to Yesudas to mark the launch of the ' Shanthi Sangeetha Yatra'.[12].

Because of his immense talent and popularity he is often preferred by music directors/producers to render the songs which require the power factor and extreme variations in ragas mainly in the big budget movies. The song "Aadiyusha sandhya" from the movie Pazhassi Raja is an example for his voice clarity even at the age of 69.Thiruvarur Bakthavathsalam, a well known mridangam maestro, has accompanied him in many concerts.

Scholarship

  • Completed the Ganabooshanam course at R.L.V. Music Academy, Thripunithura, Cochin
  • Graduated from the Sree Swathithirunal Music Academy, Trivandrum
  • Trained under well-known musicians like K.R. Kumaraswamy (former principal of the Music College, Kochi), Kunjuvelan Aasan (a disciple of Nadaswara Vidwan Rajaratnam Pillai), Augustine Joseph, Ramakutti Bagavathar, Sivaraman Nayar, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar.

Role models

Sree Narayana Guru’s great message, "One caste, One religion and One God for all humanity", influenced young Yesudas in his dealings with his fellow men. He had his own heroes among the musicians too. Mohammed Rafi, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar and Balamurali Krishna are the ones he admires the most.[13]

Personal life

Yesudas is married to Prabha for more than 30 years. They have three sons, Vinod, Vijay and Vishal. The second son Vijay Yesudas is a budding musician who won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer in 2007. The family is currently settled in Chennai and Trivandrum. He also owns estates in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA and Flower Mound, TX, USA for personal and business reasons.

Admirers

Sketch of K. J. Yesudas.
  • Oscar winner A.R. Rahman has publicly quoted as saying that Yesudas is his favourite singer and the most beautiful voice in the world is that of Yesudas.[14]
  • Multi National Award winner Kamal Hasan has said recently I'm probably one of the earliest fans of Dr KJ Yesudas. When he was staying in Chennai, around the time he had just sung his first Tamil song for the film 'Bommai' in 1963. I used to visit him and his group of friends. I sang songs and played the guitar with them. I would go back to my friends and tell them I am friends with Mr Yesudas - I was a small boy then, I still am a small boy in front of his talent. He is one of the greatest artist India has produced, his body might be 70 years old, but his voice and mind-set is somewhere in the 20's. He has been a hero for me for more than one reason.
  • Veteran blind music composer Ravindra Jain bestowed Yesudas the title 'Voice of India'[15] and Yesudas' face was the first he wanted to see if he ever received his vision.[16]
  • Late Music composer Raveendran master and close friend, whose 95% of male compositions tunes was sang by Yesudas once said Yesudas has the voice of God, I am a devotee of his voice.
  • Playback singer P. Susheela was quoted as saying Yesudas is an ocean of Music, he looks like a saint in his appearance and behaviour, but when he sings its like thunderstorm.
  • Playback singer S. Janaki on being asked to comment on Yesudas replied,how high is the sky, Yesudas is beyond that.
  • Playback singing National Award record holder K.S. Chitra has publicly quoted saying that to sing along with Yesudas sir is still the biggest challenge of my life, even after working with him for such a long time. To sing on a stage where there is presence of Yesudas sir, either as a performer or among the audience, makes me nervous because I am always aware of the fact that I am singing in front of the living God of Music.
  • Notable carnatic and playback singer P. Unnikrishnan has said that Yesudas is the first example of a person who can sing both light and classical music with equal ease. Further, most people in the music industry do other thing's in their spare time, Yesudas is always immersed in music - a true role model for us all.
  • Actor Mammootty has said I am not a fan of Yesudas, I am a devotee. He lives and breathes music. I am not conceited enough to say that Yesudas has sung 95% of my song's in films, but rather, I have been lucky that 95% of the song's I sung in film's were sung by him.
  • Renowned Indian film maker Adoor Gopalakrishnan said of Yesudas, beyond his music, which no-one can deny, through blessed musical abilities, through dedicated hard-work and practice, through simplistic/humble way of life and his feel for the common man, he is a man who stand's alone on a pedestal.
  • Renowned Malayalam poet Jnanpithaward winner O. N. V. Kurup commented, his god given pure, sweet voice is what make's Yesudas special. Further, his hard-work ethic along with practice and dedication and with the grounded knowledge that he is fated to sing on this earth the way only he can.
  • Ghazal and playback singer Hariharan once said that Yesudasji is a part of the life of people in Kerala. From early morning devotionals to late night lullaby, from FM radios to televisions, any street, any house, any hotel or restaurant, even in the buses you go, you will hear his voice being played. He connects Kerala from north to south.

Notable facts

  • Yesudas after winning The Kerala State Award for Best Playback singer on numerous occasions, he asked that he be ruled out of contention so that to give his peer's and newcomer's a chance of winning. But despite his request, he was still awarded this award multiple times during the following years.
  • Playback singer Unni Menon, who was singing track songs for other prominent singers, got a break when Yesudas, after hearing the track songs Unni Menon had sung for the Malayalam film 'Kadathu', asked the music director Shyam (composer) to record and release the songs as it was. Yesudas was of the opinion that the song's did not need to be rendered by him, as Unni Menon had already done it well and there was no need for improvement.

Awards and honours

Main Article: List of titles, honours and major awards received by Yesudas

Endowed with a "divine" voice and a penchant for hard work, it was a triumphant journey for him, becoming one of the most recorded artists ever. After recording over 40,000 songs and winning scores of accolades including the coveted Padma Shri(1975), Padma Bhushan(2002)[17] honours and seven national awards for the best playback singer, he is still enchanting music lovers the world over. He is the only singer who has been accorded the title Asthana Gayakan (Official singer) of Kerala State.

In films

Year Film Stars Director Role
1965 Kavyamela Prem Nazir M. Krishnan Nair as Himself
1966 Kayamkulam Kochunni Sathyan P.A. Thomas as a Suruma Seller
2002 Nandanam Prithviraj Ranjith as Himself
2005 Boyy Friennd Manikuttan Vinayan as Himself

Music festival

For the past 30 years Yesudas has been visiting Kollur Mookambika temple, Udupi, Karnataka on his birthday to sing keerthans of Saraswati devi, the Goddess of knowledge, music and the arts. Music festival was started from his 60th birth day. The nine-day music festival begins every January at Kollur Mookambika Temple. In 2010 January 10 he celebrated his 70th birthday(Sapthathi) at Kollur Sri Mookambika Temple with ‘Sangeetharchana’ (classical devotional songs), along with 70 singers before goddess Mookambika on Sunday.The Sangeetharchana included ‘Pancharatna gayana’ of Thyagaraja’s poems.He also took part in the Vidyarambha function.All India Radio broadcasted the special sangeetharchana all over Kerala.[18] [19] [20] [21]

Music award

Swaralaya Yesudas award is a prestigious award for music artists in recognition to their outstanding performance. The award is instituted jointly by Swaralaya, an organization that promotes music and Kairali Channel, based at Trivandrum, Kerala. Awards have been given annually since 2000. Yesudas presents the awards at a Gandharva Sandhya every January.[22][23][24]

Music company

In 1980 Yesudas established the Tharangni Studio at Trivandrum. In 1992 the office and studio were moved to Chennai, Tamil Nadu and the company was incorporated in the US in 1998. Tharangni Studio and Tharangni Records became a recording center in Kerala which, for the first time, brought out audio cassettes of Malayalam film songs in stereo. The record company also had a voice mixing studio in Studio27, Chennai. The studio continues to produce and present events of Yesudas both for film and Indian classical music concerts throughout the world.[25]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Malayalam Songs Composer - KJ Yesudas". Malayalasangeetham.info. 2010-04-24. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  2. ^ "Those magical moments..." The Hindu. 2002-09-03. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
  3. ^ "Life devoted to music". The Hindu. 2001-02-01. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
  4. ^ Yesudas.com
  5. ^ Yesudas.com
  6. ^ "'I don't sing trendy music'". Rediff. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
  7. ^ "One for the records". The Hindu. 2006-12-01. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  8. ^ Ahimsa Album
  9. ^ Vineet Pillai (2003-11-15). "Exclusive - Interview with Yesudas on 15th November 2003". Indien-netzwerk.de. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  10. ^ webindia123-Indian personalities-Musicians- singer- Dr. K.J. YESUDAS
  11. ^ Unesco award for musician K.J. Yesudas
  12. ^ "Tributes paid to Hemant Karkare". The Hindu. 2009-01-12. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  13. ^ "'I do not sing trendy music': Yesudas". Rediff.com. 2001-05-07. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  14. ^ "Yesudas award presented". The Hindu. 2007-02-13. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  15. ^ "`There's a chord that binds us'". Hinduonnet.com. 2007-04-14. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  16. ^ "Ravindra Jain". Indyarocks.com. 1944-02-28. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  17. ^ "Padma Awards". Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. Retrieved 2009-06-20.
  18. ^ "Gandharva of songs : K.J Yesudas celebrates 70th birthday". Non Resident Kerala Associations. Retrieved 2010-05-01. [dead link]
  19. ^ "Yesudas celebrated Birthday at Kollur". Oneindia Entertainment. 2009-01-19. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  20. ^ PTI (2010-01-10). "Music legend Yesudas turns 70". The Hindu. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  21. ^ "Yesudas celebrates 70th birthday in Kollur". Expressbuzz.com. 2010-01-11. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  22. ^ "Swaralaya awards presented". The Hindu. 20 January 2003. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
  23. ^ "Swaralaya award for Shankar Mahadevan". The Hindu. 16 December 2007. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
  24. ^ "Tributes paid to Hemant Karkare". The Hindu. 12 January 2009. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
  25. ^ "Dr. K. J. Yesudas". keralatourism.org. Retrieved 18 March 2010.

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