Charan Raj is an Indian composer and singer known for his work in

Kannada cinema Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. The 1934 film ''Sati Sulochana'' directed ...

. For his work in ''

Jeerjimbe ''Jeerjimbe'' ( kn, ಜೀರ್ಜಿಂಬೆ) is a 2017 Indian Kannada-language film directed by Karthik Saragur and produced by Beehive Productions in collaboration with Pushkara Mallikarjunaiah. The music was composed by Charan Raj. The f ...

'' (2016), he was awarded the

Karnataka State Film Award for Best Music Director Karnataka State Film Award for Best Music Director is a state film award of the Indian state of Karnataka given during the annual Karnataka State Film Awards. The award honours Kannada language films. Superlative winners Winners The following ...

Early life

Raj trained in

Carnatic music Carnatic music, known as or in the Dravidian languages, South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, an ...

with

Perumbavoor G. Raveendranath Perumbavoor G. Raveendranath () is an Indian musician from Kerala. He is well known as a carnatic musician as well as a composer. He lives in Thiruvananthapuram now, though hails from Perumbavoor, Ernakulam. His works always have the deep-roote ...

and in

Classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

with Neecia Majolly. He also holds a grade eight certificate in piano from the London School of Music.

Career

Raj's first major success came when ''Winds of Samsara'', an album of

Ricky Kej Ricky Kej (born 5 August 1981 - Dhaka, Bangladesh) is a multi-Grammy Award-winning Indian music composer and environmentalist. He has performed at venues in over 30 countries including at the United Nations headquarters in New York and Geneva. ...

and

Wouter Kellerman Wouter Kellerman (born 20 September 1961) is a GRAMMY® Award-winning South African flautist, producer and composer who has won eight South African Music Awards. Using his classical training as a foundation, Kellerman has focused his attention ...

won the

Grammy Award for Best New Age Album The Grammy Award for Best New Age Album is presented to recording artists for quality albums in the new-age music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several ca ...

in 2015. The album also featured vocals by Raj. During the time, he also worked as an

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

for composers such as

Prashant Pillai Prashant Pillai (born 8 September 1981) is a music producer and composer from India. Early career After completing his Sound engineering in Chennai, he went on to work with A.R.Rahman. After a short stint with him, he moved on and settled in ...

. Raj's first work in Kannada films came in '' Harivu'' in 2014. He received acclaim for his work in ''

Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu ''Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu'' () is a 2016 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Hemanth Rao, making his debut, and produced by Pushkara Mallikarjun under Pushkar Films. The film stars Anant Nag and Rakshit Shetty in the lead ro ...

''. He scored for ''

Pushpaka Vimana Vimāna are mythological flying palaces or chariots described in Hindu texts and Sanskrit epics. The "Pushpaka Vimana" of Ravana (who took it from Kubera; Rama returned it to Kubera) is the most quoted example of a vimana. Vimanas are also mentio ...

''. For his work in ''

'' (2016), he was awarded the

. Raj received praise for his music in the 2018 film ''

Tagaru ''Tagaru'' () is a 2018 Indian Kannada-language action thriller film directed by Duniya Soori and produced by K. P. Srikanth. It features Shiva Rajkumar, Bhavana and Manvitha in the lead roles along with Dhananjay, Vasishta N. Simha and Dev ...

''. The soundtrack included tracks with blend of " electronic score" and "traditional sounds". It was composed with each track based on a different "human emotion" "such as love, anger and fear" rather than situation-based nature of tracks. In its review of the film, ''

the New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naid ...

'' wrote, "Charan Raj's music raises the tempo of the narrative with good songs, and lets it flow seamlessly with the right background score."

Discography

Awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Raj, Charan Living people 21st-century classical composers Indian film score composers Indian male playback singers Film musicians from Karnataka Kannada film score composers Kannada playback singers Indian male film score composers 21st-century Indian male singers 21st-century Indian singers 1985 births