Anthony Daasan

Anthony Daasan is an Indian traditional Tamil folk musician recently discovered by Kollywood, the Tamil India Film industry. As of 2015, the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDb) listed a prolific set of 24 songs sung by "Andony Dasan" for Kollywood movies, starting in 2013. Many of these were the hit songs of those movies. He is known for contributing a powerful voice to fusions of Tamil-folk, country, jazz, electronica and rock styles. Before this phase of Playback singing, "Antony Dasan" worked as a traveling festival folk singer artist, collaborating with players of Nadaswaram, Thavil and Thappu, dancers and acrobats among others. He has performed with influential movie industry veterans such as Usha Uthup.

Alternate spellings of his name include Andony Dasan, Antony, Antoni; Daas, Das, Dasaan and Dassan among others.

Apart from his musical performances, he has also made cameo appearances in Tamil films, particularly in songs sung by himself, notable of which is an extended cameo as a gangster in the Karthik Subbaraj directorial, Jigarthanda.^[1] Earlier he also featured in The Dewarists,^[2] a musical television series in India, which is partly a music documentary and partly a travelogue.

Bands

Anthony Travels & Performs with his Band - "Anthonyin party", an electronic folk-fusion band.^[3] He was also associated with La Pongal, another folk-fusion band, organized by Darbuka Siva, which also had yet another notable singer/musician Pradeep. The band gained popularity among festival circuits.^[4][5][6] Eventually Anthony Daasan, along with the band, performed "Vandiyila Nellu Varum", one of their most popular compositions, in MTV Coke Studio India 2012, alongside veteran singer Usha Uthup.^[7]

Awards

In September 2014, Anthony was presented with the "Hope of Tamil Cinema Award," including recognition as "symbol of folk". The award ceremony was filmed at Pradharshini 2014 South-India cultural festival.

Discography

Biography

Originally from Reddypalayam, a small town in Tanjore,^[3] he has a traditional musician-family background without formal training except daily practice supporting his family with his singing, following processions since he was a child. His father was a disabled Nadaswaram musician. Daasan, developed a style able to meet the volume of the famously-loud Nadaswaram horn. Although Hindu, Anthony had early experience with village church singing. During 2013, is style of band-leading, singing, lyrics, composition, dance, acrobatics and urumee playing came together, reflecting an entire life lived as an entertainer.

Fresh talents playing with Daasan have included Santhosh Narayanan, Sean Roldan, Vishal Chandrasekar, Hiphop Tamizha, and Siddharth Vipin.

References

External links

• Anthony Daasan on IMDb