The music of Kerala has a complex history. It is not the same as Malayalam poetry, although most of it is poetry driven. Kerala has a rich tradition in Carnatic music. Songs formed a major part of early Malayalam literature, which traces its origin to the 9th century CE. The significance of music in the culture of Kerala can be established just by the fact that in Malayalam language, musical poetry was developed long before prose. With the development of music in the region, different branches were formed out of it.
Pulapaka Suseela is an Indian playback singer associated with the South Indian cinema primarily from Andhra Pradesh for over six decades and is referred to as Evergreen Nightingale of Indian cinema. She is one of the greatest and best-known playback singers in India. She has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as well as by the Asia Book of Records for performing a record number of songs in different Indian languages. She is also the recipient of five National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer and numerous state awards. Susheela is widely acclaimed as a singer who defined feminism in South Indian cinema and is well known for her mellifluous vocal performances for over 50,000 film and devotional songs across South Indian languages.
Sujatha Mohan is an Indian playback singer who is popular for singing in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu movies. She has also sung for Kannada, Badaga, Hindi and Marathi and more languages movies. As of 2021, she had recorded more than 10,000 songs.
Mamta Mohandas is an Indian actress, film producer and a playback singer who predominantly works in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films. She has won several accolades including two Filmfare Awards South for Best Female Playback Singer in Telugu in 2006 and for Best Actress in Malayalam in 2010 and also won Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actress in 2010. She has launched her own film production company under the banner Mamta Mohandas Productions.
Star Singer is an Indian music reality-television competition, broadcast on Asianet and previously sponsored by Idea Cellular. The show, which selected contestants in the age group of 15–35 years determined the winner based on their skill in singing and entertainment. From Season 1 to 7, Text messages are sent by the shows' audience to vote for the best performing participant and a small weightage of this score is considered for a candidate to be shortlisted to next round. In Season 8 voting is conducted on Disney+ Hotstar, Star Network's official OTT platform. From Season 9, judges decisions are made final thus votings are cancelled but marks can be entered on Disney+ Hotstar and these have small consideration. The show also features a panel of judges who are prominent personalities in the Malayalam music industry and they offer scores and evaluations of performance to the contestants in every stage of the competition. In 2009, Star singer Junior was launched.
Rekhitha R. Kurup, better known by her stage name Bhamaa, is an Indian former actress who predominantly appeared in Malayalam and Kannada-language films. She made her cinematic debut in 2007 with the Malayalam film Nivedyam, directed by A. K. Lohithadas and had acted in over 42 films.
Javed Ali is an Indian playback singer who predominantly sings in Hindi. He has also sung in various Indian languages including Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
Pappayude Swantham Appoos is a 1992 Indian Malayalam-language film, written and directed by Fazil.It stars Mammootty and Master Badusha while Shobana, Suresh Gopi and Seena Dadi also appeared in important supporting roles. The music of the movie was composed by Ilaiyaraaja.The movie explores the relationship between a father who is depressed after the death of his wife and his neglected son. Badusha won the 1992 Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist. The film was the commercial success at the box office and was the highest grosser of 1992 and played for more than 250+ days in theatre.
Suchitra Ramadurai, known by the mononymSuchitra, is an Indian radio jockey, popular playback singer, songwriter, composer, voice artist, dubbing artist and film actress. She has sung in multiple languages including Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu.
Gimi George, better known by her stage name Miya George, is an Indian actress and model who predominantly works in Malayalam films, along with a few Tamil films. She started her career as an actress by playing supporting roles in Soap opera and served as Jury for several television shows.
K. G. Markose is an Indian playback singer from Kerala. Markose, who is popular for rendering numerous Christian devotional songs, has also sung over 100 film songs during the years 1980's to 2000's. Markose's music career was launched in 1979–1980 with the song "Kannipoomanam" in Balachandra Menon's Kelkkaatha Sabdham. After the success of his debut song, Markose became a regular singer in the "Ganamela" field. He has completed more than 3,000 stage shows in the country, as well as Europe, America, Australia, and gulf nations, among others.
Hesham Abdul Wahab is an Indian music director, Music Producer, singer and audio engineer. Best known for his compositions for the soundtrack of the 2022 Malayalam film Hridayam and the music album Qadham Badha(transl. Step Forward) produced by British singer-songwriter Sami Yusuf. Wahab is the recipient of 2021 Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director for the soundtrack of the film Hridayam.
Amutha is a 2018 Tamil-language psychological thriller film written and directed by P.S. Arjun. It features Sriya Sree, Anees Shaz and Levin Simon Joseph in lead. The film also features Ashna Sudheer, Shivakumar Raju, Baby Ileanor and Assisi Gibson in the important roles. The film was produced by Shafeeq under the banner Southern Film Factory. Featuring music composed by Arun Gopan and cinematography by Rajesh Panangat, the film began production in Jan-2018.
Renuka Arun is a classical music singer and play back singer in Malayalam and Telugu. She is the Gulf-Andhra Music Award (GAMA) winner for the best playback singer in Telugu for the year 2017.
Anne Amie is an Indian playback singer and voice artist. She marked her debut in playback singing with the solo 'Ethu Meghamaari – Reprise' for the film Kochavva Paulo Ayyappa Coelho. She received her first Filmfare Award in 2019 for the song 'Aararo' from the movie Koode.
Vivek Gopan is an Indian television actor who works in the Malayalam soap operas. He is one among the popular players of Celebrity Cricket League's team Amma Kerala strikers.
Neyyattinkara Gopante Aaraattu or simply Aaraattu, is a 2022 Indian Malayalam-language spoof film co-produced and directed by B. Unnikrishnan and written by Udaykrishna. The film stars Mohanlal with Shraddha Srinath, Ramachandra Raju, Siddique, Vijayaraghavan, Saikumar, and Nedumudi Venu in supporting roles. Rahul Raj composed the film's original songs and background score.
Hridayam (transl. Heart) is a 2022 Indian Malayalam-language coming-of-age romantic drama film written and directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan. It was produced by Visakh Subramaniam through Merryland Cinemas and co-produced by Noble Babu Thomas through Big Bang Entertainments. The film stars Pranav Mohanlal, Kalyani Priyadarshan and Darshana Rajendran. The film's songs and background score was composed by Hesham Abdul Wahab.
Arun Kurian is an Indian actor who appears on Malayalam cinema. He made his feature film debut through a lead role in the coming of age film Aanandam (2016).
Sivaangi Krishnakumar, also known as Sivaangi, is an Indian actress, playback singer and television personality. In 2019, she participated in the singing competition Super Singer 7, which was aired on Star Vijay and, in 2020, she appeared in the comedy-cooking show, Cooku With Comali, which gained her popularity. She is the daughter of Kalaimamani winners- K Krishnakumar and Binni Krishnakumar. She has acted in films such as Don (2022), Naai Sekar Returns (2022) and Kasethan Kadavulada (2023).
