Roots of A.R. Rahman

Kattassery Joseph Yesudas is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. He is widely considered one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian music and is the most famous cultural and entertainment industry icon of Kerala from the modern era. In a career spanning six decades, Yesudas is estimated to have recorded more than 50,000 songs in various Indian languages, including Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Tulu, Hindi, Odia, Bengali, Marathi as well as Arabic, English, Latin, and Russian. He is referred to by the epithet Gaanagandharvan in reverence for his sweet, ethereal voice. Yesudas holds the world record for singing and recording 16 new songs in different languages in a single day. He has also composed a number of Malayalam film songs during the 1970s and 1980s.

Alka Yagnik is an Indian playback singer who worked predominantly in Hindi cinema from 1980s to mid 2010s. One of the most prominent singers of 1990s era Bollywood, she has received several accolades including two National Film Awards, two Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards and seven Filmfare Awards for Best Female Playback Singer from thirty-seven nominations. She was honoured with Padma Bhushan by the Government of India for her contribution to Indian music and playback singing in 2026. Alka is cited as 'Voice Of A Generation' and is known as 'Melody Queen' of Indian cinema. Yagnik has sung maximum female solo songs in her Bollywood career along with Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. Several of her soundtracks were included in the BBC "Top 40 Bollywood soundtracks of all time".