2020 in Asian music

See also: Timeline of musical events

Events

• 11 March – Ibrahim Gökçek and Helin Bölek, members of the Turkish band Grup Yorum, are taken to hospital for treatment in the course of their long-running hunger strike, but they are discharged a week later after refusing treatment. ^[1]
• Music album on ancient Tamil poetry, Sandham: Symphony Meets Classical Tamil by Composer Rajan Somasundaram featured in Amazon's Top#10 International Music albums in July 2020 - ^[2]
• 25 May – Kim Woo-seok releases his first solo single and mini-album. ^[3]
• 27 July – Mongolian band The Hu go to the top of the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart with their debut album The Gereg . ^[4]

Albums

• AGA – So Called Love Songs (September 28) ^[5]
• Sandham: Symphony Meets Classical Tamil by Composer Rajan Somasundaram and sung by Bombay Jayashri, Saindhavi, Karthik, Pragathi Guruprasad, Priyanka, William Henry Curry and others - ^[2]
• BTS – Map of the Soul: 7 (February 21) ^[6]
• Hiroko Moriguchi – Gundam Song Covers 2 (June 10) ^[7]
• Joji – Nectar (July 10) ^[8]
• Sugam Pokharel – Swyet Hanshini ^[9]
• Unique Salonga – PANGALAN: (March 27) ^[10]
• Hemant Sharma – Indra Daliye (May 21)
• Winner – Remember (April 9)
• SB19 – Get in the Zone (Album) (July 31)

Classical

• Bechara El Khoury – Unfinished Journey ^[11]
• Jasdeep Singh Degun – Arya ^[11]
• Karen Tanaka – Techno Etudes II

Opera

• Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang – M. Butterfly ^[12]

Film and TV scores

• Eishi Segawa – The Untold Tale of the Three Kingdoms ^[13]
• Gopi Sundar – Entha Manchivaadavuraa ^[14]

Musical films

• Chal Mera Putt 2 (India - Punjabi)
• Kilometers and Kilometers (India - Malayalam), with score by Sushin Shyam and songs by Sooraj S. Kurup ^[15]
• King of Prism All Stars: Prism Show Best 10 (Japan) ^{[16] [17]}
• Love Aaj Kal (India - Hindi) ^[18]
• Naan Sirithal (India - Tamil) ^[19]
• Sarileru Neekevvaru (India - Telugu) ^[20]
• Shahenshah (Bangladesh)
• Street Dancer 3D (India - Hindi) ^[21]

Deaths

• January 1 – Katsura Shinnosuke, 67, Japanese rakugoka and musician (leukaemia)
• January 4 – Junko Hirotani, 63, Japanese singer (breast cancer)
• January 19 – Sunanda Patnaik, 85, Indian classical singer ^[22]
• February 14 – Sonam Sherpa, 48, Indian guitarist (cardiac arrest) ^[23]
• February 27 – Suthep Wongkamhaeng, 85, Thai luk krung singer ^[24]
• March 17
  • Hsiao Feng Hsien  [ zh ], 79, Taiwanese operatic singer and actress. ^[25]
  • Thái Thanh, 85, Vietnamese-American singer. ^[26]
• March 29 – Paravai Muniyamma, 82, Indian folk singer and actress ^[27]
• April 2 – Nirmal Singh Khalsa, 67, Indian singer and priest (COVID-19) ^[28]
• April 3 – Helin Bölek, 28, Armenian/Turkish singer (hunger strike) ^{[29] [30]}
• April 6 – M. K. Arjunan, 84, Indian composer. ^[31]
• April 8 – Glenn Fredly, 44, Indonesian R&B singer-songwriter (meningitis) ^[32]
• April 10 – Shanti Hiranand, 87, Indian classical singer ^[33]
• May 5 – Didi Kempot, 53, Indonesian campursari singer ^[34]
• May 7 – Ibrahim Gökçek, 39/40, Turkish folk musician (hunger strike) ^[35]
• May 16 – Azad Rahman, 76, Bangladeshi composer ^[36]
• May 29 – Yogesh, 77, Indian lyricist ^[37]
• June 1 – Wajid Khan (Sajid–Wajid), 43, Indian composer (complications from kidney infection and COVID-19) ^[38]
• July 30 – Sonam Tshering Lepcha, 92, Indian folk musician and composer ^[39]
• August 9 – Alauddin Ali, 67, Bangladeshi composer (lung complications) ^[40]
• August 17 – Pandit Jasraj, 90, Indian classical vocalist ^[41]
• September 9 – Yopie Latul, 65, Indonesian singer ^[42]
• September 16 – Alien Huang, 36, Taiwanese singer, actor and television presenter (aortic dissection) ^[43]
• September 25 – S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, 74, Indian playback singer (COVID-19) ^[44]
• October 8 – Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, 80, Iranian traditional vocalist master ^[45]
• October 9 – David Refael ben Ami, 70, Israeli singer ^[46]
• November 10 – Rahayu Supanggah, 71, Indonesian composer ^[47]

By country

• 2020 in Chinese music
• 2020 in Japanese music
• 2020 in Philippine music
• 2020 in South Korean music

See also

• 2020 in music

References

1. "Member of banned Turkish folk group dies after hunger strike". The Guardian. 3 April 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
2. "A Major event in the world of music- The Hindu Music Review".
3. "김우석 측 "5월 25일 솔로 데뷔 확정..현재 앨범 작업 중"[공식]". entertain.naver.com (in Korean). Retrieved 2020-05-03.
4. "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40: 17 July 2020 - 23 July 2020". Official Charts Company . Retrieved 17 July 2020.
5. "AGA's Interview about new album "So Called Love Songs"". KKBOX HK. 15 October 2020.
6. DeVille, Chris (February 24, 2020). "BTS Are K-Pop's Beatles. Map Of The Soul: 7 Is Their White Album". Stereogum . Archived from the original on February 25, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
7. "森口博子 、６月10日に「GUNDAM SONG COVERS 2」のリリース決定" [Hiroko Moriguchi to release "GUNDAM SONG COVERS 2" on June 10]. MusicVoice. 2020-03-08. Archived from the original on 2020-03-08. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
8. Mamo, Heran (April 16, 2020). "Joji announces 'Nectar' album & shares intergalactic 'Gimme Love' video". Billboard. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
9. "Sugam Pokharel: The ideal Nepali pop culture Idol". theannapurnaexpress.com. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
10. "Unique Salonga unveils sophomore album Pangalan – listen". www.bandwagon.asia. 26 March 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
11. Melissa Bradshaw (3 February 2020). "Premieres: February's new music". Rhinegold Publishing. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
12. "The Latest: Gender-bending opera 'M. Butterfly' set for 2020". AP. May 8, 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
13. "The Untold Tale of the Three Kingdoms". Nippon TV. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
14. "Entha Manchivaadavuraa". India Glitz. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
15. "'Kilometers And Kilometers': Release date of the Tovino Thomas starrer gets postponed amid coronavirus threat - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2021-03-30.
16. "KING OF PRISM ALL STARS プリズムショー☆ベストテン". Eiga (in Japanese). Retrieved October 15, 2019.
17. "キンプリ新作はプリズムショー総集編！ファン投票でベスト10決定、シンの新ショーも". Natalie. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
18. Ushnota Paul (19 February 2019). "Imtiaz Ali on his films, inspirations and romance". Telegraph India. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
19. "Hiphop Tamizha's tweet for trailer & release date of Naan Sirithal". Twitter/HiphopTamizha. Retrieved 2020-01-04.
20. "Mahesh Babu apprehensive over 'Sarileru Neekevvaru'... budget". The New Indian Express. 28 December 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
21. "Muqabla: Prabhudeva, Varun Dhawan bring back AR Rahman's iconic song after 25 years". Hindustan Times. 21 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
22. "Eminent classical singer Sunanda Patnaik dies at 85". Prameya News. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
23. Parikrama lead guitarist Sonam Sherpa passes away at 48 ^{[ permanent dead link ]}
24. "Crooner Suthep Wongkamhaeng dies at 86". Bangkok Post. 27 February 2020.
25. Taiwanese opera performer Hsiao Feng Hsien dies at 79
26. "Danh ca Thái Thanh qua đời - VnExpress Giải Trí". vnexpress.net (in Vietnamese). Retrieved March 18, 2020.
27. "Popular folk singer and actress Paravai Muniyamma has passed away". 2020-03-29. Retrieved 2020-03-29.
28. Former Hazoori Ragi Nirmal Singh Khalsa dead due to COVID-19 The Tribune. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
29. "Member of banned Turkish folk group dies after hunger strike". The Guardian. Associated Press. April 3, 2020. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
30. Kamer, Hatice (April 3, 2020). "288 gündür ölüm orucunda olan Grup Yorum üyesi Helin Bölek hayatını kaybetti". BBC News Türkçe (in Turkish). Retrieved April 5, 2020.
31. Veteran Malayalam music director MK Arjunan Master passes away
32. "Glenn Fredly Meninggal karena Sakit Meningitis". Kumparan.com (in Indonesian). 8 April 2020.
33. "Hindustani classical singer and Padma Shri awardee, Shanti Hiranand, passes away at 87". The Economic Times. 11 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
34. "Didi Kempot Tiba di IGD dalam Keadaan Henti Jantung". CNN Indonesia (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2020-05-05.
35. "Grup Yorum member İbrahim Gökçek dies two days after ending death fast". www.duvarenglish.com. Retrieved 2020-05-07.
36. Azad Rahaman passes away
37. Lyricist Yogesh Gaur passes away
38. "Bollywood music composer Wajid Khan passes away". The New Indian Express. 31 May 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.^{[ dead link ]}
39. "Sikkim: Famous music composer Sonam Ts".^{[ permanent dead link ]}
40. Music composer Alauddin Ali passes away
41. Padma Vibhushan Pandit Jasraj dies at 90 in US
42. Indonesian singer Yopie Latul of Poco Poco fame dead at 65 after testing positive for COVID-19
43. Taiwanese singer-host Alien Huang dies at 36 in suspected freak accident at home
44. Abishek Jerold. "SP Balasubramahmanyam dies at age 74" . Retrieved 25 September 2020.
45. "Legendary Iranian singer Shajarian passes away". Mehr News Agency. 8 October 2020.
46. ברוך דיין האמת: הזמר המיתולוגי החסיד ברסלב ר’ דוד רפאל פיינשיל (בן עמי) ז”ל (in Hebrew)
47. "Komposer Rahayu Supanggah Meninggal Dunia". detiknews. 10 November 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2020.