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.
Malabar Gopalan Sreekumar, better known as M.G. Sreekumar is an Indian playback singer, composer, music producer, television presenter and film producer, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema. He has sung more than 25000 songs in various Indian languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Sanskrit. He owns a music company named KMG Musics and the Saregama School of Music in Thiruvananthapuram. Sreekumar has won several awards, including two National Film Awards, three Kerala State Film Awards and 5 Filmfare Awards South. He was also honoured with the Harivarasanam Award by the Government of Kerala in 2016. His career as a singer spans over 44 years.
Thanmathra is a 2005 Indian Malayalam-language drama film written and directed by Blessy, based on Padmarajan's short story "Orma". It portrays the effects of Alzheimer's disease on the life of Ramesan Nair (Mohanlal) and his family. The film collected three times its budget at the box-office and completed 150 days run. Thanmathra won five Kerala State Film Awards, which includes the Best Film, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and a Special Mention Award for the debutant actor Arjun Lal. It also won the Best Feature Film in Malayalam Award at the 53rd National Film Awards.
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.
Vidhu Prathap is an Indian playback singer. He has sung many songs in over 600 films in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu languages.
Bharatham is a 1991 Indian Malayalam-language musical drama film written by A. K. Lohithadas and directed by Sibi Malayil. It stars Mohanlal, Urvashi, Nedumudi Venu, Lakshmi, and Murali. The film was produced by Mohanlal through his production house Pranavam Arts. The film features original songs composed by Raveendran and a background score by Johnson. Bharatham is interpreted as a modern-day adaptation of the Ramayana from Bharatha's perspective. How, in the absence of his elder brother, Gopinathan takes the responsibility of the family and hides his griefs is the core of the story.
Vijay Yesudas is an Indian playback singer and actor. He has sung over 1000 film songs. Vijay works predominantly in the South Indian film industry, mostly in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi. He is the son of acclaimed singer K. J. Yesudas.
Madhusoodanan Jayachandran Nair is an Indian composer, singer, and musician. He has won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director for a record number of nine times. In 2005, he also won the state award for best male singer. In 2015, he won the National Film Award for Best Music Direction for the film Ennu Ninte Moideen. He has composed music for 126 films.
Manjari is an Indian playback singer and Hindustani vocalist. Her first stage performance was with Shiva, the Kolkata - based rock band, when she was in class eight.
Sujith Vasudevan I, professionally credited as Sharreth, is an Indian music director and singer. He predominantly composes film scores and songs for Malayalam films, but has gone on to compose for Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films too.
Desadanam is a 1996 Indian Malayalam language feature film directed by Jayaraj. It won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam.
Pranayavarnangal is a Malayalam romantic film released in 1998. Directed by Sibi Malayil, the script was written by Jayaraman Kadambaat and Sachithanandan Puzhankara. Suresh Gopi, Manju Warrier, Divya Unni and Biju Menon appeared in leading roles.
Ravi Vallathol was an Indian actor, mainly noted for his acting in many famous serials, including the first serial in Malayalam.
Sudeep Kumar is an Indian playback singer. He sings Indian classical, devotional, and popular music. He has recorded more than 5000 songs in languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Sanskrit, during a career spanning two decades. He is the president of Malayalam playback singers' association SAMAM
K. K. Nishad is an Indian playback singer from Kozhikode, Kerala, India. He started his career in 2002 as a playback singer in the Malayalam movie Nakshathrakkannulla Rajakumaran Avanundoru Rajakumari.
T. N. Gopinathan Nair, was an Indian dramatist, novelist, poet, screenwriter and biographer of Malayalam language. One of the prolific among Malayalam playwrights, Nair published 39 plays, besides his four novels, four poetry anthologies and five biographies. He was a member of the council of Kerala Sahitya Akademi and held the char of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi. His drama, Pareeksha, received the Vikraman Nair Trophy for the best drama and the Kerala Sahitya Akademi selected his work, Sakshi, for their annual award for drama in 1979.
Arvind Venugopal is an Indian playback singer who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry. He started his singing career in the year 2011 with the song "Chirakingu Vanamingu" from the film The Train composed by popular singer/composer Srinivas. He has since sung in various Malayalam films including Natholi Oru Cheriya Meenalla, Angels, Sunday Holiday, Luca, Hridayam and others. He has worked with many critically acclaimed films, including Koode as an assistant director to acclaimed director Anjali Menon.
