Sundar Narayana Rao (born: 30 January) is an Indian singer. He mainly sings in the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

and

Telugu language Telugu (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken by Telugu people predominantly living in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is also the official language. It is the most widely spoken member of the Dravidian language fami ...

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

"...written by Arivumathi and sung by Sundar Narayana Rao is pleasing."

Early life

Sundar Narayana Rao was born and brought up in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. He was initiated into

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

at a very young age and was exposed to many forms of

. His learning and exploration took a drastic turn when he was exposed to

Amir Khan (singer) Ustad Amir Khan (; 15 August 1912 – 13 February 1974) was one of the greatest and most influential Indian vocalists in the Hindustani classical tradition. He was the founder of the Indore gharana. Early life and background Amir Khan was born ...

’s cassette during his engineering days. It was at this time, he strongly felt he was more inclined towards the system of

Hindustani classical music Hindustani classical music is the classical music of northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It may also be called North Indian classical music or, in Hindustani, ''shastriya sangeet'' (). It is played in instruments like the violin, sita ...

and started to deepen his learning harder. He learnt from several people initially before becoming the disciple of Pandit Madhav Bhatki of

Gwalior Gharana The Gwalior Gharana (Gwalior school of classical music) is one of the oldest Khyal Gharana in Indian classical music. The rise of the Gwalior Gharana started with the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar (1542–1605). The favourite singers of t ...

, with whom he learnt for many years in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Seeing his ardent potential, Pandit Madhav Bhatki developed his vigorous tayyari exclusively for many years and put him to practice for 10 to 12 hrs a day. His quest for learning all forms of music expanded his horizon towards Pakistani classical music, Afghani classical music, Punjabi classical music, Sufiana and multiple semi classical forms of Indian subgenres from the respective exponents of each systems during his many years of USA tenure...

Career

During his long stay in USA, he was associated with many North-American composers to do many non-film sound tracks and film sound tracks in multiple languages. Around early 2006, He relocated to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

to pursue

North Indian classical music Hindustani classical music is the classical music of northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It may also be called North Indian classical music or, in Hindustani, ''shastriya sangeet'' (). It is played in instruments like the violin, sit ...

in a mainstream capacity and with some of his friends making connections with film composers, he was forayed into film music. His diversified musical profile drew attention on

Ghibran Ghibran (often credited as M. Ghibran) is an Indian composer. He has composed music for Indian films, advertising films and television commercial jingles in different languages. Early life Ghibran was born and raised in Coimbatore. When he w ...

, who then launched him with Kuru Kuru and Kanna Kanna from the same movie, "

vathikuchi ''Vathikuchi'' () is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by newcomer Kinslin and produced by A. R. Murugadoss in association with Fox Star Studios. The film stars Dileepan, the younger brother of Murugadoss, in ...

As playback singer

Notable Tamil songs

Discography

* ''Vathikuchi''—"Kuru Kuru" is the song that first gave him fame and even in the same movie he sang another song "Kanna Kanna". These two songs bring him accolades from all music lovers.

References

Sources

Sundar in Raaga

Sundar - SpicyOnion

Vathikuchi Music Review in Milliblog

Sundar Interview in Outlook India
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Sundar Narayana Indian male playback singers Living people Singers from Chennai Tamil musicians Tamil playback singers Year of birth missing (living people)