WOMAD

Manickam Yogaswaren & Friends

From Sri Lanka, United Kingdom

Manickam Yogeswaran is a Sri Lankan, Tamil musician and teacher who is now based in England. His contribution to Tamil music has been outstanding. Since starting his career as a singer in 1978, he has sung Tamil and Carnatic music in devotional and concert settings as a soloist and in such ensembles as the Tamil Classics Band. His recordings include Tamil Classics (1997) on the Exil Musik label, and he has featured as a vocalist in a variety of multi-cultural music ensembles, including the trail blazing German global fusionists Dissidenten and UK’s predominantly western classical ‘big voice band’ The Shout. Manickam may be heard on Dissidenten’s Instinctive Traveller (1997) and Live in Europe (1998), Jocelyn Pook’s Deluge (1998) and Tall Stories (1999) and Deep Blue (2003) by The Shout. As featured vocalist with Dissidenten since 1994, he has appeared at major European music gatherings such as the Montreaux Jazz festival, Jazzopen Stuttgart, the Tanz&Folkfest Rudolstadt and Glastonbury. Manickam also happens to be the first ever Tamil voice to be heard on a Hollywood movie soundtrack, courtesy of music director Jocelyn Pook who included him in her work on the late great Stanley Kubrick’s last ever film, Eyes Wide Shut. His latest album is called Peace for Paradise and it is dedicated to the cause of peace in Sri Lanka.