September 22, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): Veteran playback singer and Indian classical musician KJ Yesudas has been chosen for the prestigious Sree Chithira Thirunal Award for 2010. The fifth edition of this award will be given to this legendary singer for his extraordinary contribution to the Malayalam music world.

The jury members, who chose Yesudas for this award, included names like Chalachithra Academy chairman K R Mohanan, K Jaykumar IAS, Rani Nair, P Satheesh Kumar and R Ravindran Thambi.

The Sri Chithira Thirunal Trust instituted this award in memory of the former King of Travancore and it carries Rs. 1 lakh cash and a citation. The date of conferring the award will be announced soon and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to hand it over.

Earlier, the award was conferred upon former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair, agriculturist MS Swaminathan, former National Security Advisor MK Narayanan and Malayalam superstar Mohanlal.

Yesudas has already won the National Award for the best male playback singer for seven times. He also bagged the State Award for the best playback singer for 45 times by the Government of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.

The veteran sings Indian classical music, popular songs and devotional songs. He is definitely the most deserving candidate to receive the award.

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-- Sampurn Wire