Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Yesudas Complets his 50th year as a Singer



Singing legend KJ Yesudas will celebrate his golden jubilee as a singer on November 14, 2011 as it was on this day half-a-century ago that he recorded his first song which marked his arrival in the film industry.

In 50 years, he has sung over 35,000 songs in 14 languages. Some of his popular Hindi numbers are Surmayee Ankhiyon Mein, Dil Ke Tukde Tukde Karke and Jaaneman Tere Do Nayan. Down south, he gave hits in movies like Vadakkum Nathan, Madhuchandralekhaand Pattanathil Sundaran.

State Minister for Culture KC Joseph said that the Kerala government will honor him in the most befitting manner.

"Even though a request did come up to give the status of 'State Singer' to Yesudas, the constitution does not permit state governments to confer titles on individuals, but we will certainly give him a Lifetime Achievement award. The details of this are being worked out," said Joseph.



Journey so far
The 71-year-old veteran was born in Fort Kochi to Augustine Joseph and Alicekutty. His father, who was a well-known Malayalam classical musician and stage actor, was his first guru.

Later he joined the RLV Music Academy in Trippunithura near Kochi and then studied at the Sree Swati Thirunal Music College, in the capital city under the training of Late Semmangudy Sreenivasa Iyer. But he had to leave his studies midway due to financial crunch.

For a brief period, he was with Sri Vechur Hari Hara Subramania Iyer, after which he took advanced training from Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar.


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