K. J. Yesudas | |
|---|---|
 Yesudas in June 2011 | |
| Born | Kattassery Joseph Yesudas (1940-01-10)10 January 1940 (age 85) |
| Other names | Ganagandharvan |
| Alma mater | Swathi Thirunal College of Music,Thiruvananthapuram |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1961–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3, includingVijay Yesudas |
| Awards | Full list |
| Honours |
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| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Labels | |
Musical artist | |
| Signature | |
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Kattassery Joseph Yesudas (/jeːʃud̪aːs/; born 10 January 1940) is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs.[1] He is widely considered one of the greatest singers in the history ofIndian music[2][3] and a cultural icon ofKerala.[4][5] In a career spanning six decades, Yesudas is estimated to have recorded more than 50,000 songs[6] in variousIndian languages, includingMalayalam,Tamil,Kannada,Telugu,Tulu,Hindi,Odia,[7]Bengali,Marathi as well as inArabic, English,Latin, and Russian.[8][9] He is referred to by the epithetGaanagandharvan (transl. The Celestial Singer) in reverence for his sweet, ethereal voice.[10][11] Yesudas holds the world record for singing and recording 16 new songs in different languages in a single day.[12] He has also composed a number of Malayalam film songs during the 1970s and 1980s.
Yesudas won theNational Award for theBest Male Playback Singer a record eight times,[13] theFilmfare Awards South five times, and the State Award for the Best Playback Singer 36 times, including awards given by the state governments ofKerala, Tamil Nadu,Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka andWest Bengal.[2] He was awarded thePadma Shri[14] in 1975, thePadma Bhushan in 2002, and thePadma Vibhushan (second-highestcivilian award) in 2017 by theGovernment of India for his contributions towards the arts.[15] In 2005, he was honoured with theJ. C. Daniel Award,Kerala government's highest honour for contributions to Malayalam cinema. In 2011 Yesudas was honoured with theCNN-IBN outstanding achievement award for his contributions in the music field. In 2006, he sang 16 film songs in fourSouth Indian languages on the same day atAVM Studio,Chennai.[16]
K. J. Yesudas was born inKochi, inKerala, toAugustine Joseph and Elizabeth Joseph. His father was a well-knownMalayalam classical musician and stage actor.[10] Yesudas was the second of seven children, preceded by an elder sister named Pushpa, and followed by four younger brothers – Antony (Antappan), Babu, Mani, Justin and a younger sister, Jayamma.[17] Among these siblings, Pushpa and Babu died of fever at a young age, and Justin, the youngest brother, died under mysterious circumstances in February 2020, aged 62.
Augustine Joseph's dearest friend, Musician Kunjan Velu Bhagavathar was the first guru of him. Kunjan Velu was the disciple of Nadaswara ChakravarthiT. N. Rajarathnam Pillai. Yesudas started his academic music training atR. L. V. Music Academy,Thrippunithura and completed theGanabooshanam course. Later he studied atSwathi Thirunal College of Music,Thiruvananthapuram under the tutelage of thecarnatic music maestro K. R. Kumaraswamy Iyer andSemmangudi Srinivasa Iyer but could not complete his studies due to financial constraints. For a brief period, he also studied music under Vechoor Harihara Subramania Iyer, after which he took advanced training fromChembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar.[18]
K. J. Yesudas married Prabha Yesudas on 1 February 1970 inMallapally.[19]
In 2021, Yesudas completed 60 years as a playback singer.[20]
Yesudas recorded his first popular songJaathi Bhedam Matha Dwesham (music:M. B. Sreenivasan) on 14 November 1961. The singer considers those four lines he got to sing to start his career in films as a huge blessing as it was written by none other than Sree Narayana Guru, the most respected saint-poet-social reformer of Kerala. The film wasKalpadukal (1962), based on social reform during the life and times ofSree Narayana Guru. He associated with popular singers of those times likeP. Leela,Santha P. Nair,K. P. Udayabhanu,S. Janaki etc. and lyricists likeP. Bhaskaran and Nambiyath. He sang the lines of poetKumaran Asan for this film. After the initial years he became the most sought after by established music directors of that time,M. B. Sreenivasan,G. Devarajan,V. Dakshinamoorthy,Br Lakshmanan,M. S. Baburaj and many others. Thus began his career inplayback singing which included the Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada movies thereafter.[3]
He got the first major break with the hit Malayalam film namedBharya ( music byG. Devarajan and lyrics byVayalar Ramavarma). In 1967, he sang hit songs in the composition of M.S.Baburaj for the filmUdhyogastha directed byP.Venu. He also sang inTamil forBommai first (music:S. Balachander), but the first released movie wasKonjum Kumari (music: Veda). In 1965, he was invited by the Soviet Union government to perform at music concerts in various cities in theUSSR and also sang a Russian song over Radio Kazakhstan.[21] The trio of Salil, Yesudas andPrem Nazir entered the Malayalam Cinema Industry of the 1970s.
In 1970 he was nominated to head theKerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy and was the youngest person ever to occupy the post.[21]
After a decade of singing in South Indian movies, Yesudas got a break inBollywood in the early 1970s. The first Hindi song he sang was for the movieJai Jawan Jai Kissan (1971), but the first released movie wasChhoti Si Baat, which resulted in his becoming popular for singings songs like "Jaaneman Jaaneman". He has sung Hindi songs for many leading actors in Hindi cinema includingAmitabh Bachchan,Amol Palekar andJeetendra. He has sung many evergreen Hindi film songs for music directors includingRavindra Jain,Bappi Lahiri,Khayyam,Raj Kamal andSalil Chowdhury.
Yesudas' most popular Hindi songs are in the 1976 movieChitchor, with music given byRavindra Jain.
On 14 November 1999, Yesudas was presented with an honorary award byUNESCO 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 asLionel Richie,Ray Charles,Montserrat Caballé, andZubin Mehta.[22]
In 2001 he sang for albumAhimsa inSanskrit,Latin and English and in a mix of styles includingnew-age and Carnatic.[23] In his music concerts in the Middle East he singsArabic songs in theCarnatic style.[24] He frequently serves as a cultural ambassador for India through his performances abroad, promoting Indian music.
In 2009 Yesudas began a cross-country musical campaign against terrorism in Thiruvananthapuram, with the motto 'Music For Peace'.[25] Kavita Karkare, wife ofHemant Karkare, handed over the torch to Yesudas to mark the launch of the 'Shanthi Sangeetha Yatra'.[26] Yesudas has performed for 36 times in the 36-year-old Soorya Music festival organised by Soorya Krishnamoorthy.[27]
Yesudas is married to Prabha since 1 February 1970. They have three sons, Vinod (b. 1977),Vijay (b. 1979) and Vishal (b. 1981). Their second son, Vijay, is a musician who won theKerala State Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer in 2007, 2012 and 2018.[28]
_for_the_film_VISWASAPOORVAM_MANSOOR_(Malayalam)%2c_at_the_65th_National_Film_Awards_Function%2c_in_New_Delhi.JPG)
Sree Narayana Guru's message, "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 andBalamurali Krishna are the ones he admires the most.[29]Yesudas has been visitingKollur Mookambika temple,Kollur, Karnataka on his birthday to sing keerthans ofSaraswati devi, the Goddess of knowledge, music and the arts. The music festival started on his 60th birthday in 2000. The nine-day music festival begins every January at Kollur Mookambika Temple.
On Sunday, 10 January 2010, he celebrated his 70th birthday (Sapthathi) at Kollur Sri Mookambika Temple with 'Sangeetharchana' (classical devotional songs), along with 70 singers before goddess Mookambika. The Sangeetharchana included "Pancharatna Gayana" of Thyagaraja's poems. He also took part in the Vidyarambha function.All India Radio broadcast the special Sangeetharchana all over Kerala. Yesudas also has many songs devoted to Lord Ayyappa including the hit song "Harivarasanam".[30][31][2][32] In 2002, duringMarad massacre, he visited the place along with the veteran poetSugathakumari, and conducted classes against violence.Harivarasanam, a devotional song musical version composed byG. Devarajan, recited before closing the temple atSabarimala was sung by Yesudas. Though there have been many different renditions of this song by many different renowned singers,Sabarimala officially uses Yesudas' voice forHarivarasanam every day.[2]
In 1980 Yesudas established theTharangini Studio atThiruvananthapuram. In 1992 the office and studio were moved toChennai 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 ofMalayalam 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 andIndian classical music concerts throughout the world.[33]
Yesudas founded Tharanganisari School of Music in 1975 to train students in various branches of music. The school is recognized byGovernment of Kerala. It is managed by a society which is registered under theTravancore-Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Act 12 of 1955. It is situated at Edappazhanji, Thiruvananthapuram.[34] Amusic appreciation class will be held on the second Saturday of every month at the school. The class is free for all and is open to public of all ages.[35] ComposerPerumbavoor G. Raveendranath worked as a music teacher in 1976.[36] Some of the notable alumni of the school are composersMohan Sithara,[37] Murali Sithara[38] and guitarist John Antony.[39]
Yesudas has recorded over 50,000 songs and has won scores of accolades including the covetedPadma Shri (1975),[40]Padma Bhushan (2002),[41]Padma Vibhushan (2017)[42] and eight National Awards for Best Playback Singer.
In his acceptance speech of winning the Swaralaya Kairali Yesudas Award (2006),AR Rahman said "I'm greatly honoured by Swaralaya's gesture, and getting this award from my most favourite singer Mr Yesudas. He is one of my most favourite voices' ever in the world." On another occasion during an interview he said of Yesudas, "his voice is unmatched, his voice is god given and I've been hearing his songs since I was 3 years old."
Ravindra Jain, in an interview wherein the blind music director confessed that if ever he happened to regain vision, the first person he would like to see would be Yesudas.
In 2003, billionaire and businessmanB. R. Shetty gifted him his 1992 modelRolls-Royce Silver Spirit after listening his concert held atThe Indian High School, Dubai. Shetty said: "I was not only touched by his concert but by the man himself who talked about God's kindness to mankind".[52]
Bappi Lahiri said in an interview withFilmfare in 2012: "'Yesudas' voice is touched by God. After Kishore Da(Kishore Kumar), he was another singer who brought out the best in me. He is a yogi, a mystic who lives for music. He takes your tunes to another level. And his note is perfect, you can rely on him to deliver it right the first time. Working with him made me touch base with my melodious side. He is vastly under-utilised in Hindi films. I wish Hindi film composers of today realise his genius and offer him assignments."[53]
Several books were published about Yesudas – his autobiography, biography, music journeys, studies on his songs, photos, interviews, memoirs etc. Some includes:
On 2 October 2014, Yesudas sparked a row while speaking at a public function on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, where he stated that "Women should not wear dress that trouble others. You should dress modestly and do not behave like men". This resulted in a number of protests from Women's Rights and political organisations, who asked him to withdraw the comment.[68]
| Year | Film | Role | Language |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | Kavyamela | as himself | Malayalam |
| 1966 | Kayamkulam Kochunni | as Khader | |
| 1966 | Anarkali[69] | as Tansen | |
| 1973 | Achaani | as singer | |
| 1976 | Adhirshtam Azhaikkirathu | Tamil | |
| 1977 | Nirakudam | Malayalam | |
| 1977 | Harshabashpam | ||
| 1980 | Saranam Ayyappa | Tamil | |
| 1981 | Pathira Sooryan | as saint | Malayalam |
| 2002 | Nandanam | as himself | |
| 2005 | Boyy Friend | ||
| 2012 | Theruvu Nakshatrangal | ||
| 2018 | Kinar / Keni | as singer | Malayalam / Tamil |
| Institutions | |
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| Traditional Instruments | |
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| Classical Musicians |
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| Traditional Musicians | |
| Film Music | |
| Popular Music | |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
