Aalaap Raju is an India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n playback singer

Playback singer

A playback singer is a singer whose singing is prerecorded for use in movies. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras, while the actual singer does not appear on screen.-South Asia:...

 and a bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 player from Chennai, India. Been working with music directors like Harris Jayaraj

Harris Jayaraj

Harris Jayaraj is an Indian film composer. He has written scores and soundtracks for Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films.- Early life :Harris Jayaraj hails from a pious Christian Nadar family and was born and brought up in Chennai. Harris studied at Krishnaswamy Matric School, Nungambakam. His father,...

, Ilaiyaraja, Thaman.S, Imman, Deepak Dev

Deepak Dev

Deepak Devraj, better known as Deepak Dev is an Indian music composer, best known for his compositions in Malayalam cinema, with films such as Chronic Bachelor, Symphony, Udayananu Tharam, Naran, and Puthiya Mukham.-Early years:...

 and Devan Ekambaram

Devan Ekambaram

Devan Ekambaram or Devan is an Indian playback singer, actor and a Film composer. He began his career as a playback singer in Tamil films and later branched out to many other south Indian languages as well like Telugu, Kannada and has so far sung over 150 songs.-Education:Devan pursued his higher...

, his hits include "Engeyum Kaadhal" from Engeyum Kaadhal, "Ennamo Yedho" from Ko

Ko (film)

Ko is a 2011 Indian Tamil political thriller film directed by K. V. Anand starring Jeeva, Ajmal Ameer, newcomer Karthika Nair and Piaa Bajpai. The film was released on 22 April 2011 to mostly positive reviews, and was dubbed into Telugu as Rangam as well. The film's plot outline is inspired by the...

, "Anjana anjana" from Vanthaan Vendraan etc.

Early life

Aalaap hails from a musical family. His father, J.M. Raju, is a singer/music composer while his mother, Latha Raju is a playback singer as was his late grandmother, Shantha P. Nair.

He has also been playing the electric bass for several commercial bands and recording sessions in Chennai and other parts, playing various genres of music ranging from carnatic

Carnatic music

Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...

 fusion to smooth jazz. Raju plays the electric bass and guitar for movies, jingles and live concerts. As a bass player he has performed over 200 concerts all over India and abroad. As a bassist, Raju has worked on various films with Harris Jayaraj, Ilayaraja, Mani Sharma

Mani Sharma

Mani Sharma Yanamandra is a music director known for his works in Tollywood. He has composed music for over 140 films. He is popularly known as "Swara Brahma" for his contributions to music in Tollywood. Mani Sharma started his career as a music director in 1998. Before that Sharma used to work...

, G.V. Prakash, Thaman, Devan Ekambaram, Deepak Dev

Deepak Dev

Deepak Devraj, better known as Deepak Dev is an Indian music composer, best known for his compositions in Malayalam cinema, with films such as Chronic Bachelor, Symphony, Udayananu Tharam, Naran, and Puthiya Mukham.-Early years:...

 etc. He has also played live with Ilayaraja, L. Subramaniam

L. Subramaniam

Dr. Lakshminarayana Subramaniam is an acclaimed Indian violinist, composer and conductor, trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition and Western classical music, and renowned for his virtuoso playing techniques and compositions in orchestral fusion.-Early years:Subramaniam was born to V...

, Frank Dubier, Roxygen, T. V. Gopalakrishnan

T. V. Gopalakrishnan

Tirupanithurai Viswanatha Gopalakrishnan is a Carnatic and Hindustani musician from Chennai.Gopalakrishnan hails from a family of musicians, spanning over two centuries; his father was a court musician for the Cochin Royal Family. He is a vocalist, plays the violin and is also an exponent of the...

 to name a few.

He has formed a duo multi-genre band called Rahlaap along with playback singer Rahul Nambiar

Rahul Nambiar

Rahul Nambiar is an Indian playback singer and live performer. A MBA and M.Com-graduate, he won the Swapthaswarangal show in 2001 and began singing live...

. Rahlaap is out with their maiden self-titled multi-genre Hindi album. Available in his website www.rahlaap.com and other music portals like iTunes, Amazon, Hummaa etc. He has also sung for several Christian and Hindu albums.

Career

Aalaap Raju has sung for music directors such as Harris Jayaraj

Harris Jayaraj

Harris Jayaraj is an Indian film composer. He has written scores and soundtracks for Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films.- Early life :Harris Jayaraj hails from a pious Christian Nadar family and was born and brought up in Chennai. Harris studied at Krishnaswamy Matric School, Nungambakam. His father,...

, Ilaiyaraja, Thaman

Thaman

Thaman is an Indian music composer who works for Telugu and Tamil films. Despite debuting his film career as an actor in Shankar's Boys, he has since established himself as a prominent music director in the South Indian film industries....

, Imman, and Devan Ekambaram

Devan Ekambaram

Devan Ekambaram or Devan is an Indian playback singer, actor and a Film composer. He began his career as a playback singer in Tamil films and later branched out to many other south Indian languages as well like Telugu, Kannada and has so far sung over 150 songs.-Education:Devan pursued his higher...

. His playback singing hits include "Engeyum Kaadhal" from Engeyum Kaadhal, "Enamo Aedho

Enamo Aedho

Enamo Aedho is a song from the 2011 Tamil feature film Ko, composed by Harris Jayaraj and performed by Aalap Raju. The song, with lyrics predominatly by Madhan Karky, was released as part of the soundtrack album of the film on 19 January 2011...

" from Ko

Ko (film)

Ko is a 2011 Indian Tamil political thriller film directed by K. V. Anand starring Jeeva, Ajmal Ameer, newcomer Karthika Nair and Piaa Bajpai. The film was released on 22 April 2011 to mostly positive reviews, and was dubbed into Telugu as Rangam as well. The film's plot outline is inspired by the...

, and "Kuthu Kuthu" from Ayyanar

Ayyanar (film)

Film score and the soundtrack are composed by Thaman. "Aathadi Aathadi" received a high response from audience....

etc.

External links