Swathi Thirunal College of Music
Swathi Thirunal College of Music is a music college in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. It was founded in 1939. It was first named as "The Music Academy". The name was renamed as Swathi Thirunal College of Music in 1962. The founder of this institution was the last reigning King of Travancore, Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma in 1939. The administration of the institution was under the control of the Travancore Royal Family earlier. Eminent musicians like Muthiah Bhagavathar who was the first Principal, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, etc. have served as Principals of this college.
Front view of the college
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.
Yesudas in June 2011
Yesudas with poet and lyricist O. N. V. Kurup
Ram Nath Kovind presenting the Rajat Kamal Award to Yesudas
The President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee presenting the Padma Vibhushan Award to Dr. K.J. Yesudas, at the Civil Investiture Ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on 13 April 2017