Eminent Indian Classical musician and a leading play back singer, Yesudas has 40,000 songs to his credit. Winner of numerous National and International Awards, he visited several countries as Cultural Ambassador of India.
Born to classical singer and stage actor father Augustine Yoseph and mother Elizabeth, Yesudas had his early music training by his father and then by eminent singer Chembai Vaidanatha Bhagavathar. He is at ease in both Carnatic and Hindustani classical music.
Yesudas began his career as playback singer in early 1960s and sung mostly for south Indian films. But he also sang in almost all Indian regional languages except Assamese and Kashmiri. He sang in Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Oriya, Marathi, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tulu, Russian, Arabic, Latin and English.
In 1965, he was invited by the erstwhile USSR Government to perform there and he sang Russian songs, which were broadcast over Radio Kazakhstan. Later in the Middle East, he rendered Arabic songs in Carnatic style.
Some of his memorable film songs are ‘ Gori tera Gaon Bada Pyara (Hindi), ‘ Manushi Mathangale’, ‘Rama Kadha Gaana Lay’, Padmatheerthame Unaru’ (all Malayalam) and ‘Aakasa Desana Unnikale’ (Telugu).
Yesudas won National Award for seven times, a feat unparallel in the music history of India. He got the awards in 1972 for singing in a Malayalam film Achanum Bappayum, in 1973 for another Malayalam film Gaayathri, in 1976 for a Hindi film Chitchor, in 1982, for a Telugu film Megha Sandesam, in 1987, 1991 and 1993 for three Malayalam films Unnikale Oru Kadha Parayam, Bharatham and Sopanam respectively.
Yesudas won Kerala film award for twenty times, Tamil Nadu film Awards for eight times, Karnataka Film Awards for five times, Andhra Prasesh Film Award for three times West Bengal Film Awards for one time. The Madhya Pradesh Government gave him the prestigious Lata Mngeshkar Award in 1992. He is the Official Singer for Kerala.
The President of India conferred him Padma Shri in 1973 and Padma Bhushan in 2002. The UNESCO also awarded him for ‘Outstanding Achievements in Music and Peace’ in 1999. He is also a Senate Member of the International Parliament for Safety and Peace.
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