Legendary singer K J Yesudas turns 84

Thiruvananthapuram: Legendary Carnatic music vocalist, playback singer and cultural icon of Kerala, K J Yesudas, turned 84 on Wednesday.

Known as 'ganagandharvan' (celestial singer) to millions of his admirers across the world, Yesudas was flooded with birthday wishes from many including Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, actors, singers, composers and common people. Even social media was filled with wishes for 'Dasettan', as he is fondly called by his fans, on his special day.

While newspapers brought out special pages with feature stories on Yesudas and picture albums of him as a mark of tribute, television channels aired special programmes and interviews featuring his fellow singers and music directors who reminisced about their experiences with him.

In a Facebook post, Vijayan described Yesudas's music and songs as pure magic. He said that the eminent singer had played a remarkable role in bringing classical music, which was once confined to the streets of "agraharas' (housing colonies of Brahmins) and the courts of scholars, to the common people. He has always made interventions for the creation of a secular society, the chief minister recalled.

Superstar Mohanlal and well-known playback singer K S Chitra put out video messages on their social media pages to wish the veteran on his birthday. In a Malayalam channel, eminent singer Shreya Ghoshal was seen recollecting her memories of sharing a stage with Yesudas and said that she is his hardcore fan.

Sources close to Yesudas said that he would not be able to offer prayers at the Kollur Mookambika temple in Karnataka as he is currently in the USA with his family members. It has been a practice for many years for the singer to visit the temple on his birthday and pay musical tribute.

After the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, his visits to India have become rare, the sources added.

Meanwhile, Yesudas participated virtually in a special event organised in Kochi in which several prominent personalities including actors, directors and music composers took part.

The singer, who was spotted donning his trademark white kurta in the live video, thanked everyone for their birthday wishes. He said people remaining united regardless of caste and creed was for him "sweeter than a birthday cake". During the function, his son and singer Vijay Yesudas cut the birthday cake on his father's behalf.

Yesudas has recorded over 25,000 film songs, Carnatic music bhajans and other devotional songs. Besides Indian languages like Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada, Bengali and Odiya, he has also sung in Arabic, English, Latin and even Russian during an over-six-decade-long career.

He has been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan in 2017 and is a recipient of eight national awards, 25 Kerala state awards, five state awards of Tamil Nadu and four of Andhra Pradesh.

Recognised as one of the greatest playback singers in the country, Yesudas began his music career in tinsel town with the Malayalam song "Jathi bhedam matha dwesham" in 1961 and sang mainly in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films, apart from songs in other languages as well.

Some of his well-known Hindi songs, which went on to become hits, include 'Jab Deep Jale Aana' and 'Gori Tera'.