Nanjiyamma is a national award winner female playback singer who hails from a tribal community in

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. She garnered public attention after singing playback in the

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

film '' Ayyappanum Koshiyum'' in 2020. The film's title song "Kalakkatha" written by herself in

Irula language Irula is a Dravidian language spoken by the Irulas who inhabit the area of the Nilgiri mountains, in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka, India. It is closely related to Tamil. It is written in the Tamil script. Origins The la ...

and composed by Jakes Bejoy attained popularity after its release on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. The song received more than 10 million views in a month.

Early life and career

She hails from an Irula community in Nakkupathi, a tribal village in

Attappadi Attappadi (, HQ:Agali) is a one and only tribal taluk in Kerala state covering an area of . It was carved out of Mannarkkad taluk in Palakkad district in February 2021. Attappadi Reserve Forest is a Protected areas of Kerala, protected area comp ...

in Palakkad district,

, India. Nanjiyamma is a folksinger of the ''Azad Kala Samithi'', led by Pazhani Swami, a

tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

artist in

. Later in 2020, she was introduced into

playback singing A playback singer, as they are usually known in South Asian cinema, or ghost singer in Western cinema, is a singer whose performance is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and the performers lip-sync th ...

through the film '' Ayyappanum Koshiyum''. She has also played the role of mother-in-law to the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

Biju Menon in the film. She finds a livelihood by farming and feeding cattle. She sings mostly folk songs that went past through generations. She first sung for a

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

for Mathrumozhi titled ''Aggedu Nayaga'' directed by Sindhu Sajan. Nanjiyamma sung the promotional song for

Government of Kerala The Government of Kerala (abbreviated as GoK), also known as the Kerala Government, is the administrative body responsible for governing the Indian States and territories of India, state of Kerala. The government is led by a chief minister, who ...

's housing programme Life Mission and it was the first time

was used for a public relations program in

. Nanjiyamma was awarded the

National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer The National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India since 1968 to a female playback singer for the best renditions of songs from films within the Cinema of India, Indian fi ...

in the

68th National Film Awards The 68th National Film Awards ceremony was an event during which the Directorate of Film Festivals presented its annual National Film Awards to honour the best films of 2020 in Indian cinema. The awards ceremony was originally slated to be hel ...

of India for the song "Kalakkatha" song from the movie '' Ayyappanum Koshiyum''. She received special Jury Award of

Kerala State Film Award The Kerala State Film Awards are the film awards for a cinema of kerala, motion picture made in Kerala. The awards started in 1969 by the Department of Cultural Affairs (Kerala), Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala and sin ...

in 2020.

Discography

Filmography

Television

References

{{Commons category Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Singers from Kerala Malayalam playback singers Indian women playback singers Best Female Playback Singer National Film Award winners Scheduled Tribes of Kerala Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses in Malayalam television Artists from Kerala