Madhu Balakrishnan
Encyclopedia
Madhu Balakrishnan is an India
n playback singer
, who sings in Malayalam, Telugu
, Tamil
and Kannada languages.
in India
. A Graded artist in All India Radio
and Doordarshan
, he has performed with all major playback singers in Kerala such as K.J. Yesudas, Jayachandran
, M. G. Sreekumar
, K. S. Chitra, Sujatha Mohan
, Madhuri and P. Susheela
. He is a life member of the MACTA (Malayalam Cine Technicians Association). He performs regularly in the "Swaralaya Dance & Music Festival" held in Palakkad and the "Chembai
Sangeethootsavam" in Guruvayur
and also appears in popular T.V programs on south Indian Television channels such as Doordarshan
, Kairali TV
, Asianet
and Amrita TV
frequently. He has also performed overseas in countries such as UAE, Oman
, Bahrain
, Kuwait
, Qatar
, Malaysia and Singapore
. He started training in carnatic music from his childhood under Sreedevi and Chandramana Narayanan Namboothiri, and later had the able guidance of stalwarts such as T. V. Gopalakrishnan
, Manikrishna Swami and Vedavalli of Chennai.
Some of Madhu's hits include "Kuttanadan Kaayalile" from "Kazhcha" in Malayalam, "Konjaneram Konjaneram" a duet with Asha Bhosle
from "Chandramukhi
", the Rajnikanth
starrer, "Kanakandenadi Sharade" from "Aptamitra" in Kannada and "Kannaa kandeinadee" from the Tamil film "Parthiban Kanavu". His hit song "Pichai Pathiram", written and set to music by Ilaiyaraaja
for the movie "Naan Kadavul" won him the Mirchi Music award in 2010.Madhu has also lent his voice for the much acclaimed Ilaiyaraaja
album, Thiruvasagam.
Recently Madhu sang the title song for the Malayalam Serial "Swamy Ayyappan", which has become a great hit in almost all Hindu households. The song "Sabarimaamala vazhum Ayyappa" is one of the best devotional songs on Lord Ayyappa released recently. In 2010 Madhu, heading a team of amateur singers, won the inaugural Sun TV
music competition, "Sangeetha Maha Yuttham", against five other teams, each helmed by a professional singer.
In October 2010, Madhu and his pals, S36 the band, released their self-titled debut album of experimental songs. The band is helmed by cricketer Sreesanth, who is also Madhu's brother-in-law. The album is a compilation of songs that the group had informally released on the Internet earlier. These include "Jaago India", an inspirational song intended for the World Twenty20 Championship in 2007, and a song intended as an unofficial theme for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Website Madhu Balakrishnan Website
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:...
, who sings in Malayalam, Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
, Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
and Kannada languages.
Biography
Madhu Balakrishnan is from Tripunithura, Cochin, KeralaKerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
in 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...
. A Graded artist in All India Radio
All India Radio
All India Radio , officially known since 1956 as Akashvani , is the radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati. Established in 1936, it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster. All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks...
and Doordarshan
DoorDarshan
Doordarshan is an Indian public service broadcaster, a division of Prasar Bharati. It is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in India in terms of the infrastructure of studios and transmitters. Recently, it has also started Digital Terrestrial Transmitters. On September 15, 2009,...
, he has performed with all major playback singers in Kerala such as K.J. Yesudas, Jayachandran
Jayachandran
Paliyath Jayachandran, popularly known as P. Jayachandran is an Indian playback singer. He has won one National Award, four Kerala State Awards and four Tamil Nadu State Awards. He has recorded songs in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi languages...
, M. G. Sreekumar
M. G. Sreekumar
M. G. Sreekumar is a two-time National Award-winning Indian playback singer and music director who works in Malayalam cinema. With a career of over 25 years, he is one of the prominent male singers in the Malayalam film industry. He is known for matching voice with Malayalam actor Mohanlal. He has...
, K. S. Chitra, Sujatha Mohan
Sujatha Mohan
Sujatha Mohan , usually credited as Sujatha, is an award-winning Indian playback singer who is popular for singing in Malayalam and Tamil movies. She has also sung for Telugu, Kannada and Hindi movies. She is widely popular for her evergreen melodies and her sweet voice is considered to be her...
, Madhuri and P. Susheela
P. Susheela
Pulapaka Susheela is an Indian playback singer. In a career spanning more than four decades, she has recorded songs in many Indian languages including Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi, Bengali, Oriya, Sanskrit, Tulu, Badaga and Sinhalese.-Personal life:She is the daughter of Pulapaka...
. He is a life member of the MACTA (Malayalam Cine Technicians Association). He performs regularly in the "Swaralaya Dance & Music Festival" held in Palakkad and the "Chembai
Chembai
Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar was a Carnatic music singer from Palakkad . Known by his village name Chembai, or simply as Bhagavatar, he was born to Anantha Bhagavatar and Parvati Ammal in 1896, at Kottayi near Palakkad on Janmashtami day, with Bharani star in the month of Chingam...
Sangeethootsavam" in Guruvayur
Guruvayur
Guruvayur is a municipal town in Thrissur District, of Kerala State in India. It houses the famous Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple, the fourth biggest temple in India in terms of the number of devotees per day.-History:Guruvayur, according to the legends may be 5,000 years old as the Guruvayur...
and also appears in popular T.V programs on south Indian Television channels such as Doordarshan
DoorDarshan
Doordarshan is an Indian public service broadcaster, a division of Prasar Bharati. It is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in India in terms of the infrastructure of studios and transmitters. Recently, it has also started Digital Terrestrial Transmitters. On September 15, 2009,...
, Kairali TV
Kairali TV
Kairali TV is an Indian television channel broadcasting in the Malayalam language catering to the Malayalam speaking population in Kerala as well as abroad . The channel, headquartered in Trivandrum, has studio facilities in Trivandrum as well as Kochi. Malayalam Communications Limited is the...
, Asianet
Asianet
Asianet Communications Limited is an Indian media conglomerate jointly owned by STAR TV and Jupiter Entertainment. Formed in 1991 and headquartered in the city of Thiruvananthapuram in the south Indian state of Kerala, the company owns several television channels including Asianet, the first...
and Amrita TV
Amrita TV
Amrita TV, launched in 2005, as a 24-hour Malayalam, general entertainment & news satellite channel with a global footprint, has been honoured with 54 State Awards for Excellence in Television—the only channel in India to be bestowed with such a recognition in just two years since inception...
frequently. He has also performed overseas in countries such as UAE, Oman
Oman
Oman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...
, Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
, Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
, Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
, Malaysia and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
Education and Training
Madhu Balakrishnan holds a degree in music from the "Academy of Indian Music and Arts", ChennaiChennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
. He started training in carnatic music from his childhood under Sreedevi and Chandramana Narayanan Namboothiri, and later had the able guidance of stalwarts such as 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...
, Manikrishna Swami and Vedavalli of Chennai.
Singing career
Madhu shot to fame with the song "Amme Amme" from the film "Vaalkannadi" in 2002, which got him a Kerala Government State Award. After that he has not turned back, and has sung around 150 Malayalam film songs, 65 Kannada film songs, 45 Telugu film songs, & 80 Tamil film songs. He has sung almost 10,000 songs in devotional and other non-film albums.Some of Madhu's hits include "Kuttanadan Kaayalile" from "Kazhcha" in Malayalam, "Konjaneram Konjaneram" a duet with Asha Bhosle
Asha Bhosle
Asha Bhosle is an Indian singer. She is one of the best-known and most highly-regarded Hindi playback singers in India, although she has a wider repertoire. Bhosle's career started in 1943 and has spanned over six decades. She has done playback singing for over a thousand Bollywood movies...
from "Chandramukhi
Chandramukhi
Chandramukhi is a 2005 Indian horror, comedy and drama film directed by P. Vasu and produced by Ramkumar Ganesan. With a few deviations, it is a remake of Vasu's 2004 Kannada film Apthamitra, which was in-turn a remake of the 1993 Malayalam film Manichithrathazhu...
", the Rajnikanth
Rajnikanth
Rajinikanth is an Indian film actor, media personality, and cultural icon. He made his debut as an actor in the National Film Award-winning motion picture Apoorva Raagangal , directed by K. Balachander, whom the actor considers his mentor....
starrer, "Kanakandenadi Sharade" from "Aptamitra" in Kannada and "Kannaa kandeinadee" from the Tamil film "Parthiban Kanavu". His hit song "Pichai Pathiram", written and set to music by Ilaiyaraaja
Ilaiyaraaja
Ilaiyaraaja is an Indian film composer, singer, and lyricist mainly in the Tamil film Industry. He is regarded as one of the finest music composers in India. Ilaiyaraaja is also an instrumentalist, conductor, and a songwriter...
for the movie "Naan Kadavul" won him the Mirchi Music award in 2010.Madhu has also lent his voice for the much acclaimed Ilaiyaraaja
Ilaiyaraaja
Ilaiyaraaja is an Indian film composer, singer, and lyricist mainly in the Tamil film Industry. He is regarded as one of the finest music composers in India. Ilaiyaraaja is also an instrumentalist, conductor, and a songwriter...
album, Thiruvasagam.
Recently Madhu sang the title song for the Malayalam Serial "Swamy Ayyappan", which has become a great hit in almost all Hindu households. The song "Sabarimaamala vazhum Ayyappa" is one of the best devotional songs on Lord Ayyappa released recently. In 2010 Madhu, heading a team of amateur singers, won the inaugural Sun TV
Sun TV (India)
Sun TV is a regional Indian cable television station. It is the flagship channel of the Chennai-based Sun Network. It was founded and currently owned by Kalanidhi Maran. It was the first fully privately owned television channel in India when it emerged in 1992...
music competition, "Sangeetha Maha Yuttham", against five other teams, each helmed by a professional singer.
In October 2010, Madhu and his pals, S36 the band, released their self-titled debut album of experimental songs. The band is helmed by cricketer Sreesanth, who is also Madhu's brother-in-law. The album is a compilation of songs that the group had informally released on the Internet earlier. These include "Jaago India", an inspirational song intended for the World Twenty20 Championship in 2007, and a song intended as an unofficial theme for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Online Music Retailing
Madhu, along with M Jayachandran and M G Sreekumar recorded songs for the Acethetik initiative. His contribution includes light music and Hindu devotional songs for the website.Awards
- 2000 - Soma Award for Best Male Playback singer
- 2001 - Drisya Award for Best Male Playback singer (Television)
- 2002 - Kerala State Film Award for Best SingerKerala State Film Award for Best SingerThe Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer winners:-Best Classical Music Singer:-References:**Specific...
for the song "Amme Amme" from the film "Vaalkannadi" - 2002 - Mahatma Gandhi Educational Foundation Award
- 2002 - Solar Award
- 2002 - Junior Chamber Award
- 2003 - Kerala Film Critics Award
- 2004 - Kerala Film Critics Award
- 2004 - LPR Award
- 2004 - Best Melody Singer(Virtuoso Award–Tamil Films)
- 2006 - Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer
- 2007 - Ujala Asianet Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the movie Rock N RollRock & Roll (film)Rock n' Roll is a 2007 Malayalam musical film written and directed by Ranjith, starring Mohanlal, Mukesh, Rahman, Lal, Siddique, Lakshmi Rai, Harisree Ashokan, Jagathy Sreekumar, and Shweta Menon in the main roles...
- 2007 - Kalaimamani award for excellence in music, dance, cinema and art conferred by the Tamil NaduTamil NaduTamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
state government. - 2009 - Kerala Film Critics Award ("Pathaam Nilayile" from the film "Theevandi")
- 2010 - Mirchi Music Award for Best Male Singer for "Pichai Pathiram" from the movie "Naan Kadavul"
Family
Madhu is married to Viditha ("Divya"), sister of the Indian cricketer Sreesanth. They have two sons, Madhav (b. 2002) and Mahaadev (b. 2009).See also
- Playback singerPlayback singerA 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:...
Website Madhu Balakrishnan Website