Neyyattinkara Vasudevan

Neyyattinkara Vasudevan was a South Indian classical singer. He was given in music and voice in many Malayalam movies and was a renowned personality in South Indian Carnatic folk. He was born in 1940, in the village of Neyyattinkara in Travancore, Kerala.

Vasudevan recorded his music under banners such as CBS, AVM, Manorama Music and HMV; he also sang for a dozen Malayalam movies. Neyyattinkara Vasudevan won Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award, for excellence in Music in the year 2004. He was born in the southern state of India, i.e., Kerala and belonged to a Dalit family. Since childhood he was drifted classical music.

After completing high school, Vasudevan wanted to pursue Carnatic music as his career, so he joined the Swati Tirunal Music College, Thiruvananthapuram. In 1960, he passed Ganabushanam, a 4 -year music degree from his college and in 1962 cleared the Sangeet Vidhan. While Vasudevan was studying music in his college, he got the golden opportunity to train under established musicians like Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, a male singer born on J >> Read More... and Ramnad Krishnan. Vasudevan was their disciple and completed advanced studies under Ramnad Krishnan in Chennai.

In 1964, Neyyattinkara Vasudevan joined the RLV College of Music as an assistant professor where he worked for almost a decade. In 1968, he recorded a song for the movie Enipadikal and in 1972 was awarded as the Best Sub-junior Vocalist at the Music Academy. In the year 1974, he moved to the All India Radio to work as an A-grade Staff vocalist, and this was a turning point in Vasudevan’s music career; praises of his work were making headlines in the newspapers.

He received an award for the Best Vocalist from the Music Academy in the years 1972, 1978, 1982 and 1988. In 1993, Vasudev was honored with the best raga rendition award. Vasudevan in his music career toured countries like Muscat, Canada, USA and Dubai where he held concerts and workshops. He had many awards to his name, Asthana Vidwan of Sri Venkateswara Temple Trust, Pittsburgh, U.S.A. (1984), Padma Shri (2004) and Swati Puraskaram (2007). In the year 2000, Vasudevan took retirement from his successful musical career. He was ranked with All India Radio’s highest honor to a classical musician.

(A Top) Vasudevan passed away in the year 2013 in his residence at Thiruvanantpuram aged 68. He in his four-decade career gained many awards and disciples; he took Carnatic music to an international level, and his legacy is still carried on in India. In 2016, Krishnamoorthy wrote a biography of Neyyattinkara Vasudevan title as ‘Chittaswarangal.’ The book not only notes his musical career but also dives into his personal life and experiences.