Sooraj Santhosh

Sooraj Santhosh, also known as Suraj Santhosh is an Indian playback singer who sings mainly in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam languages. He has also sung in Hindi, Kannada and Badaga. He is a member of the popular band Masala Coffee

Early and personal life

Sooraj, who hails from Thiruvananthapuram, was born on September 19, 1987 in Kollam. He did his schooling at Government Model Boys Higher Secondary School, Thiruvananthapuram. He pursued his B.Com in MG College and then went on to do his M.Com in Mar ivanious College. Sooraj's father, Santhosh Kumar, a senior administrative assistant in the forest department, his mother, Jayakumari, a teacher and younger brother Dheeraj, who is an engineer working in IBM. Sooraj married Anjali Panicker on September 6th, 2016.

Musical career

He had won the 2004 School Youth Festival and 2004–2005 Kerala State Higher Secondary Youth Festival.^[1] He represented Kerala University in the South Zone Inter-University Youth Festival and was declared the winner three years in a row – 2009, 2010 and 2011. He has participated in the National Inter University Youth Festival. In 2009 he shifted his base from Trivandrum to Chennai.^[2] He was under the tutelage of flutist Kudamaloor Janardanan. He says that if it was not for his guru, Kudamaloor Janardanan, a professional flutist and Carnatic musician, he wouldn't have understood music in this depth.^[3] Sooraj had accompanied Kudamaloor Janardhanan for a fusion ensemble at the Kovalam Lit Fest (2010) (he was the only singer in the group).^[4] Sooraj is a vocalist with Ashram Oriental Rock, a seven-member Indo-Austrian band and had been on a European tour with the band in 2011.^[5]

Masala Coffee

Sooraj Santhosh is also the co-founder and lead vocalist of Masala Coffee, the band, which made its debut on Kappa TV’s Music Mojo^[6][7][8]

• The band has entered the field of music composition for a Tamil movie, 'Uriyadi', produced by Nalan Kumarasamy^[9][10]
• The band, who has composed the title track for the Malayalam movie, Hello Namasthe, also features in an exclusive promo video for the same.^[11]
• Masala Coffee was one of the bands that performed in the RAAG 'N' ROCK Indie Music Festival which took place at the Al Nasr Leisureland, Dubai, on September 11, 2015.^[12]
• They have released their first music video titled 'Aalayaal Tharam Venam^[13]', in 2016, which has gained wide popularity among the masses.

Playback singing career

His first song ′Inka Etho′ composed by G.V Prakash for a Telugu thriller Darling won him the Mirchi Music Awards South conducted by Radio Mirchi for the Best Upcoming Singer in Telugu (2010). "A Special Program on the Mirchi Music Awards hosted To felicitate all the Singers And musicians of South India"^[14] Sooraj made his debut in Malayalam with the song ′Ee Ramayanakkootil′ in the film Second Show. Music was composed by Nikhil Rajan starring Dulquar Salman. He sang the song ′Iniyum Nin Mounamenthe′ for the film KQ for the music composition of Stephen Devassy. He has also recorded for music director Ratheesh Vegha for the movies Lokpal, Ladies & Gentleman and Uthup Kizhakkemala.^[15]

Sooraj made his entry into the Tamil film industry by singing ′Uyirin Suvaril′ and ′Vegam vegam′ in the movie Sridhar(2012)for which music was composed by Rahul Raj. He got his break with a duet song ′Yamma Yamma′in All in All Azhagu Raja(2013) with Shreya Ghoshal, music composed by S. Thaman. ′Othakadai othakadai′ and ′Yaelley Yaelley′ from the film Pandiya Naadu(2013)^[16] composed by D. Imman are the other chart busters in the Tamil film industry. His recent song ′Madai Thirandhathu′ is for music director M M Sreelekha in the film Kaadhal Solla Aasai.

Sooraj has sung two songs ′Sawariya′ and ′Har Har Mahadev′, composed by Sreejith-Sachin in the upcoming movie Kamasutra 3D. Five songs from the multilingual film Kamasutra 3D are among the 75 numbers in contention for nominations in the Original Song category for the 86th Oscars.^[17]

He has been nominated in the category of Best Upcoming Vocalist (Male)in Malayalam (2013) by Music Mirchi Awards, for his rendition of the song 'Iniyum Nin Mounam' for the movie KQ.^[18]

Discography

Malayalam

Tamil

Telugu

Hindi

Kannada

International concerts

• US-Canada tour with Music director Devi Sri Prasad for a series of performances in cities across USA and Canada (July–August 2014)^[25] - 'Team for US Tour'

• Sooraj performed with the band Masala Coffee in Dubai on 17 October 2014 at the inaugural ceremony of KPL Dubai Season 3.^[26]
• Sooraj and his band, Masala Coffee will be performing live for Raag 'N' Rock - The Indie Music Festival, on 11 September 2015 in Dubai^[27][28]

• Sooraj is the Soloist Tenor who will be accompanying the Chennai-based composer Mr. Ganesh B. Kumar and team to premiere the Shanmuga Kavacham with the European Choir Group. It is the world’s first Choral composition from India, to adorn the Western Classical Choral repertoire. This composition titled “Shanmuga Kavacham” ^[29] is a spiritual masterpiece in Tamil, written by the Saint / Poet Srimath Pamban Swamigal, in 1891. The World Premiere of “Shanmuga Kavacham”, along with other selected mantras would be performed in Choral a cappella style in Germany on the 20th of September 2015 at Kurhaus Weisbaden / Friedrich-von-Thiersch-Saal, Germany. This auspicious event is titled “Mantra Meets Classic” and will be conducted by Mr. Nicol Matt, one of Germany’s few new generation conductors enjoying international reputation.^[30][31]

• Sooraj has accompanied Gopi Sunder to perform in Melbourne at 1330, Ferntree Gully Rd, Scoresby, VIC 3179 for the audio launch of the movie 'Team 5' on the 1st of October, 2016.^[32]
• Sooraj will be performing with Masala Coffee on the 22nd of October, 2016, at the Malaysian Independent Live Fusion Festival which will be held at the StarXpo Centre, Kuala Lumpur.<ref>

Mojo Projects (2016-09-11), Mojo Projects presents MILFF 2016, retrieved 2016-10-02 

References

External links

• Soman, Deepa (3 November 2013). "Sooraj Santhosh is now a rising star". The Times of India. Retrieved 27 December 2013. 
• – An article in The Hindu dated 26 October 2013
• – Pandianadu songs review.
• – music review of Pandianadu.
• – music review of Kadhal Solla Aasai
• – "Feature on the audio launch of the movie Kadhal Solla Aasai".
• – 'Parayathe' album description – Devathe en Nenjile song by Sooraj Santhosh.
• - 'Devi Sri Prasad gears up for concerts in US, Canada' - Suraj Santhosh in the team with Devi Sri Prasad
• - Suraj, singer, mollywood in Varthaprabhatham - Interview of Sooraj Santhosh on Asianet TV.
• - Kadavul Paathi Mirugam Paathi – Music Review (Tamil Movie Soundtrack)
• - Power Telugu Movie Audio Launch - Part 8 - Live performance of Sooraj Santhosh and Malavika (Power - Telugu movie audio launch)
• - Snehithane - Masala Coffee - Music Mojo - Promo - Kappa TV
• - New music album - London Love - Song - Azhake Ninave
• - New music album - Namma Ooru Song - Kaatrey Maasai
• - Mojo Rising music fest, organised by Kappa TV in Kochi (20th Feb, 2015)
• - An article in The Deccan Chronicle dated 31 May 2015.
• - Live performance of Rama Rama song at Srimanthudu audio release function - Shilpa Kala Vedhika, Hyderabad on July 18, 2015.
• - Mantra meets Classic - "Shanmuga Kavacham" - Sooraj Santhosh - Male Solo Tenor from India.
• - Translated (German to English) Article about the Mantra meets Classic concert in Germany dt Sept 22, 2015.