Yesudas

Introduction

Kattassery Joseph Yesudas is a leading playback vocalist and classically trained musician from India, also known as Jesudas. His voice is a good fit for popular, religious, and traditional Indian music. Throughout his lengthy career, he has recorded more than 40,000 songs in a variety of languages, including English, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati, Oriya, Marathi, Punjabi, Sanskrit, and Tulu. Other than Assamese and Kashmiri, he has been singing in most Indian languages. He was referred to in his prime as the South Indian Jim Reeves. His voice is described as "divine" by fans.

Awards and Achievements

Yesudas holds the record for singing 11 songs in various languages in a single day. In the 1970s and 1980s, he also wrote many Malayalam film songs.

Along with winning the Filmfare Awards South five times, the State Award for the Best Playback Singer forty-three times, and the National Award for the Best Male Playback Singer an unprecedented eight times, Yesudas also received honors from the state governments of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, as well as West Bengal.

For his services to the arts, he received the Padma Shri in 1975, the Padma Bhushan in 2002, and the Padma Vibhushan (second-highest civilian honour) in 2017. He received the J. C. Daniel Award, Kerala's highest honour for services to Malayalam film, in 2005. Yesudas received the CNN-IBN Outstanding Achievement Award in 2011 for his services to the music industry. At AVM Studio in Chennai, he sang 16 film songs in four South Indian languages on the same day in 2006.

Early life

K. J. Yesudas was born into a Latin Catholic Christian household in Kochi, Kerala, to Augustine Joseph and Elizabeth Joseph. His father was a renowned stage performer and Malayalam classical musician. After an older sister named Pushpa and four younger brothers named Antony (Antappan), Babu, Mani, and Justin, and a younger sister named Jayamma, Yesudas was the second of seven children. Pushpa and Babu, two of these siblings, passed away early from fevers, while Justin, the youngest, passed away in February 2020 at 62 under unexplained circumstances. The first guru of Augustine Joseph was musician Kunjan Velu Bhagavathar, who was also his closest friend. Yesudas began his formal music education at the R. L. V. Music Academy in Thrippunithura, where he also finished the Ganabooshanam course.

Later, he pursued studies at the Swathi Thirunal College of Music in Thiruvananthapuram, where K. R. Kumaraswamy Iyer, a master of Carnatic music, and Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer taught him. However, he needed help to complete his studies due to financial difficulties. He also briefly studied music with Vechoor Harihara Subramania Iyer before continuing his studies with Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar.

Personal Details

• On February 1, 1970, K. J. Yesudas got married to Prabha Yesudas, a staunch Malankara Orthodox Christian from Mallapally.
• Kattassery Joseph Yesudas was born in Fort Kochi, Kingdom of Cochin (modern-day Kerala, India) on January 10
• Other names- Ganagandharvan and Dasettan
• Studied at Swathi Thirunal College of Music, Thiruvananthapuram
• Profession- Musician, songwriter, and producer
• Awards - Padma Bhushan (2002), Padma Shri (1975), Padma Vibhushan(2017)
• Musical career- Indian classical music, playback singer
• Instrument(s)- vocals
• Label- naringin, HMV
• Wife - Prabha
• Children- 3

Career

Early in the 1960s, Yesudas started a career in playback singing in Kollywood. By the middle of the 1970s, he had moved on to Bollywood. In the Indian film business, he has won seven National Film Awards in the best singer category. At AVM Studio in Chennai, he sang 16 film songs in four South Indian languages, all on the same day in 2006. Yesudas has given performances in a variety of international metropolises. He performs Arabic songs in the Carnatic style at Middle Eastern music events. Through his numerous concerts overseas, he regularly assumes the position of an ambassador for Indian culture, promoting Indian music.

Only he has been accorded the title Asthana Gayakan (official vocalist) in the state of Kerala.

He received the Padma Sri in 1973 and the Padma Bhushan in 2002. He received an invitation from the government of the Soviet Union in 1965 to sing at music festivals in several towns around the USSR. He also sang a Russian song on Radio Kazakhstan. He was the youngest to hold the position when he was nominated to lead the Sangeetha Nataka Academy of Kerala in 1970.

To generate money for the National Defense Fund of the Indian Prime Minister during the Indo-Pakistan War, Yesudas and his musical group toured the whole state of Kerala in 1971. Additionally, he was elected to the International Parliament for Safety and Peace's Senate. He has internalized Sree Narayana Guru's teaching of "One Religion, One Caste for all humans" At the "Music for Peace" concert, which was held in Paris on November 14, 1999, and which featured performers like Lionel Richie, Ray Charles, Montserrat Caballé, and Zubin Mehta, Yesudas was given an honorary award by the UNESCO for "Outstanding Achievements in Music and Peace."

He is among the most versatile vocalists India has ever seen, thanks to his unmatched record of winning state awards for best singer in five regional languages and national honors for best singer seven times in three languages.

Role Model

Young Yesudas was affected by Shree Narayana Guru's powerful teaching that there should be "One caste, One religion, and one God for all Humans" in his interactions with other people. He also had musical idols of his own. He was most in awe of Mohammed Rafi, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, and Balamurali Krishna.

Personal Life

Prabha and Yesudas have been together for almost 30 years. Three boys, Vinod, Vijay, and Vishal, were born to them. Vijay Yesudas, the second son, is a rising musician. Currently, the family is situated in Kerala and Chennai. He also owns properties in Flower Mound, Texas, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in the United States for personal and professional purposes.

Scholarship

At the RLV Music Academy in Thripunithura, Cochin, he finished the Ganabooshanam program. He also received his diploma from Trivandrum's Sree Swathithirunal Music Academy. Yesudas studied music under renowned artists such as KR Kumaraswamy, a former principal of the Music College in Kochi, Kunjuvelan Aasan, Augustine Joseph, Ramakutti Bagavathar, Sivaraman Nayar, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, and Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar. From day one, the audience favoured him.

Controversies

At a public event celebrating Gandhi Jayanti on October 2, 2014, Yesudas stirred a controversy by saying, "Women should not wear clothing that disturbs others. You should behave like a woman and wear modest clothing. Women's rights & political organizations expressed outrage over this and urged him to change his statement.

Musical Company

Yesudas founded the Tharangni Studio in Trivandrum in 1980. The firm was established in the US in 1998 after moving its headquarters and studio there in 1992. In Kerala, Tharangni Studio & Tharangni Records established themselves as a recording facility that released stereo audio cassettes of Malayalam cinema songs for the first time. The record label also operated Studio27, a voice-mixing studio, in Chennai. The studio still produces and presents Yesudas-related events for movies and concerts of Indian classical music across the globe.