Krishnan Raghavan (2 December 1913 – 19 October 2013), also fondly called Raghavan Master, was an Indian music composer who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema and also a carnatic vocalist. Along with G. Devarajan, V. Dakshinamoorthy and Baburaj, Raghavan is often credited for the renaissance of Malayalam film music. He is regarded as the pioneer in contributing Malayalam film songs with its own tunes and styles. Till then, Malayalam film songs were in the tunes of popular Hindi and Tamil film songs and old classical kritis. Raghavan gave a new direction and identity to Malayalam film music. He composed around 400 songs in Malayalam cinema and was active in the Malayalam film industry for nearly four decades.[1] In 1997, he was honoured with the J. C. Daniel Award, Kerala government's highest honour for contributions to Malayalam cinema.
Early life
K. Raghavan was born in Tellicherry near Kannur in the erstwhile Madras Presidency (present-day Kerala) to folk singer M. Krishnan and Narayani on 2 December 1913.[2] He started studying classical music from his childhood and was also a good football player. His professional career was started as a tambura player in All India Radio, Madras. In 1950 he got transferred to Calicut and there he got involved with film artists.[3]
Career
Raghavan set a new trend in Malayalam film music with the release of the 1954 movie Neelakuyil. Renowned lyricist and Raghavan's
friend P. Bhaskaran had penned the songs in Neelakkuyil. Raghavan himself has rendered his voice for one of the songs in Neelakkuyil. The song
Kayalarikathu valayerinjappol went on to become an instant hit.[4]
Raghavan was married to Yashoda and had five children, including three daughters and two sons. He died at the age of 99 on 19 October 2013 in Thalassery.[6] He had a younger brother named Lakshmanan, who predeceased him.
