The music of Bangladesh spans a wide variety of styles. Bangladesh claims some of the most renowned singers, composers and producers in Asia. Music has served the purpose of documenting the lives of the people and was widely patronized by the rulers. It comprises a long tradition of religious and regular song-writing over a period of almost a millennium.
Kattassery Joseph Yesudas is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. He is widely considered one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian music and a cultural icon of Kerala. Yesudas is estimated to have recorded more than 50,000 songs in various Indian languages, including Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Tulu, Hindi, Odia, Bengali, Marathi as well as Arabic, English, Latin, and Russian, in a career spanning six decades. He is often referred to as Gaanagandharvan. Yesudas holds the record for singing 11 songs in different languages in a single day. He has also composed a number of Malayalam film songs during the 1970s and 1980s.
Prabodh Chandra Dey, known by his stage name Manna Dey, was a renowned Indian playback singer, music director, and musician. He had a classical music background, being part of the Bhendibazaar Gharana and receiving training under Ustad Aman Ali Khan. Manna Dey is widely recognized as one of the most versatile and celebrated vocalists in the Hindi film industry, and is often acknowledged for his significant contributions to integrating Indian classical music into Hindi commercial cinema. As a musician, Dey is particularly acclaimed for incorporating Indian classical music elements into a pop musical framework, a contribution that played a pivotal role during the golden era of Hindi cinema.
Hariharan Anantha Subramani is an Indian playback, bhajan and ghazal singer who predominantly sings in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu languages. He has also sung over 15,000 notable songs in 10+ languages including Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Sinhala, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Odia, Bengali, Sanskrit, Gujarati and English. He is an established ghazal singer and one of the pioneers of Indian fusion music.
Paravoor Govindan Devarajan (1927–2006), popularly known as G. Devarajan or Devarajan master, was an Indian music composer and Carnatic singer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Indian film music. He scored music for more than three hundred Malayalam films, many dramas, and twenty Tamil and four Kannada movies. His collaborations with Vayalar Ramavarma produced the golden era of Malayalam film music and many of his compositions remain ever green classics in Malayalam. His music in the Tamil film Annai Velankanni has received many accolades. Devarajan received Kerala Government's Best Music Director award five times, among other honours. In 1999, he was honoured with the J. C. Daniel Award, Kerala government's highest honour for contributions to Malayalam cinema.
Malabar Gopalan Nair 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. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in Indian Cinema, he has sung more than 2500 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.On October 2024 he appointed as the Director of the Music Academy of the UAE Government. 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.
Pulapaka Suseela is an Indian playback singer from Andhra Pradesh associated with the South Indian cinema for over six decades and is referred to as the "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.
Suresh Ishwar Wadkar is an Indian playback singer. He performs in both Hindi and Marathi films. He has sung songs in some Bhojpuri films, Odia albums and bhajans and in Konkani films.
Naresh Iyer is an Indian playback singer. Born in Mumbai, Iyer is fluent in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and Marathi. Naresh Iyer has rendered 2000 film songs in several Indian languages and has several chart hits to his credit. His rendition of "Roobaroo" from the movie Rang De Basanti composed by A. R. Rahman topped the music charts for many weeks in 2006 and won him the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer. He won the Filmfare award in the R.D. Burman Musical Talent category.
Madhu Balakrishnan is an Indian playback singer who primarily sings in Malayalam. He has also sung songs in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada languages. He has sung over 10 thousand songs in films and several devotional albums.
Anuradha Paudwal is an Indian playback singer and politician who works predominantly in Hindi cinema. She has been described in media as one of the most prominent Bhajan singers and also as one of the most successful playback singers of 80s and 90s era of Bollywood. The recipient of several accolades including a National Film Award, four Filmfare Awards and two Odisha State Film Awards, she has been honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Shri, the country's fourth-highest civilian honour for her contribution in the field of arts. Her contribution in Indian devotional music and Bollywood Industry gained her the titles such as "Bhajan Queen", "Melody Queen".
Sonu Nigam is an Indian playback singer, music director, dubbing artist and actor. Nigam sings predominantly in Hindi and Kannada language films, he has sung over 4000 songs in various languages. One of the most pre-eminent singers of Hindi cinema, he has released a number of non-film albums and acted in some Hindi films. Nigam is recipient of several accolades, including one National Award, two Filmfare Awards and two Filmfare Awards South and four IIFA Award for the Best Playback singer. He was ranked top artist on the Billboard Uncharted charts twice in September and October 2013. Nigam was honoured with the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian award in 2022.
Anuradha Sriram is an Indian carnatic and playback singer and child actress who hails from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. She has sung more than 3500 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Sinhala, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Hindi films.
Harish Raghavendra is an Indian-American Tamil vocalist and actor from Chennai, India. He is the son of photographer P.V Raghavendran. Harish is best known for his songs like "Hey Azhagiya Theeyee" from Minnale, "Nirpadhuve Nadapadhuve" from Bharathi, "Devathayai Kanden" from Kadhal Kondein, "Sakkarai Nilave" from Youth, "Melliname Melliname" from Shahjahan and "Anbe Enn Anbe" from Dhaam Dhoom. He has also acted in a few Tamil movies. He debuted as an actor in Vikadan directed by Arun Pandiyan in which he played the lead role. He also played a brother-role for Ajith Kumar in Thirupathi, which was written and directed by Perarasu.
Sriram Parthasarathy is a Carnatic vocalist and playback singer who predominantly works in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam films.
PanditBhikari Charan Bal, better known as Bhajan Samrat to the people of Odisha, was an Odissi music guru and singer, best known for his renditions of traditional Odia bhajanas, devotional songs addressed to the deity Jagannatha.
Ramesh Vinayakam is an Indian composer, arranger, singer, songwriter, music producer, story writer and a music researcher.
Anthony Daasan is an Indian folk singer, who is currently working in the Tamil film industry. He is known for contributing a powerful voice to fusions of Tamil-folk, country, jazz, electronica and rock styles. Before this phase of playback singing, he worked as a travelling festival folk singer artist, collaborating with players of Nadaswaram, Thavil and Thappu, dancers and acrobats among others. He has performed with influential movie industry veterans such as Usha Uthup.
Franco Simon is an Indian singer and music composer from Kerala. He has sung around 150 Malayalam films songs and 1500 album songs in 5 different languages. He is the nephew of well-known Indian film composer Ouseppachan. He is a recipient of GMMA award and multiple Yuvaprathibha Puraskar for his soundtrack albums.
Harivarasanam Award is an award jointly instituted by the Government of Kerala and Travancore Devaswom Board. It is awarded for contributions towards propagation of secularism, equanimity and universal brotherhood of Sabarimala through music. It is being awarded since 2012. Each year, Harivarasanam Award is announced ahead of Makaravilakku festival in Sabarimala. The award consists of cash prize of ₹1 lakh, citations and plaque. The award was named after Harivarasanam.
