RMIM Archive Article "206".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
#
# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Yesudas
#
# Posted by: Jeyashree Chidambaram (jac@cs.umanitoba.ca)
# Source: India Currents Calendar Magazine.
# The article belongs to India Currents magazine, check the site:
# http://www.indiacur.com/indiacur/
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In the world of music, K.J. Yesudas is truly exceptional - his
success in the dual spheres of popular music as well as classical
music is unparalleled.
Yesudas was initiated into Karnatik music at a very young age by
his father Augustine Joseph. He made his stage debut at age 12,
and graduated from the Trivandrum Music Academy in 1958.
Yesudas's success in the world of popular music has been
phenomenal. His first playback song was in the movie Kalpadukal
in 1961. Besides Malayalam, he sang in all other South Indian
languages. In 1976, he started singing for Hindi movies, and
films in other North Indian languages. Today he is the only
Indian musician to have recorded songs in all Indian languages
except Kashmiri and Assamiya.
He received the Padmashri from the President of India in 1977. He
received the first National Award in 1977 for singing in the film
Achanum Bappayum, his second National Award for the film
Gayathri, the third National Award in 1978 for film Chitchor, the
fourth National Award for the Telugu film Megasandesham, his
fifth National Award for the flm Unnikale Oru Katha Parayaam, and
his sixth in 1992 for the film Bharatham.(Hey Ramesh, isn't that
impressive that he scored the National Awards for songs in three
languages?)
The film Chitchor also won him a Filmfare Special Award. Alaap
got him the Sur Singar Samsad Award and Dada the Filmfare award
in 1980. In 1991, he received an honorary doctorate degree from
the Annamalai University in recognition for his contributions to
music and art. He received the Lata Mangeshkar Award in 1991.
Besides these national awards, Yesudas is the recipient of 16
Kerala State Awards, eight State Awards from TamilNadu, 5 state
Awards from Karnataka, four State Awards from Andra Pradesh and
one State Award from Bengal.(Any idea which is the movie?)In 1992
he received the distinguished honor of "Star of Cochin" from the
citizens of Cochin. The government of Kerala has named Yesudas
"Asthana Gayakan".
In 1971, Yesudas with his musical troop traveled from one end of
Kerala to the other end to raise funds for the Prime Miniater's
National DefenseFund during the India-Pakistan war. Yesudas is
the chairman of the Kerala Academy. He launched a recording
studio Tharangini in Trivandrum in 1980, where he records and
reproduces the music cassettes. He also started his Tharanga-
Nisan music school in Trivandrum. Yesudas became a Senate member
in the International Parliament for Safety and Peace, an
organization incorporated in the U.S.
Today, Yesudas has sung more than 20,000 songs in different
languages. he has conducted more stageconcerts than any other
performer in India. In spite of all his success in popular
music, he enjoys classical Karnatik music more than any other. He
is one of the few singers in the world who sings in the classical
idiom as well as he does in the popular. Yesudas lives in Madras
with his wife Prabha, sons Vinod, Vishal and Vijay.
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From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian