Philip V Francis
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| Philip V Francis (1964-2008) | |
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 Philip V Francis
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Philip |
| Born | November 5, 1964  Thrissur |
| Died | 04.03.2008 |
| Genre(s) | Instrumentalist, hindustani music, western music |
| Occupation(s) | Ghazal Singer,Composer,Tabla Player |
| Instrument(s) | Tabla, Guitar, Vocalist |
| Years active | 1980 to 2008 |
Philip V Francis (born November 5th 1964 at Thrissur, Kerala), was a gifted and accomplished Tabla Player, Composer and Ghazal Singer, from Kerala, India. He died at the very young age of 43 in a terrible bike accident on March 4th 2008. He is survived by his wife and a son.
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[edit] Early Music Teacher's
Philip started off as a Congo drum player in the local orchestra group Neelambari, and under the able guidance of "Joeboy" a renowned player of drums, learnt the nuances of rhythm. He then migrated to Delhi to learn Tabla under the maestro Ustad Fiyaz Khan of the Delhi gharana. There after he emerged as a Tabla player of national repute. He also learnt carnatic music and mrudangam for brief stints under "Komattil Shanta Kumari" and "Purushothama Sharma" of Thrisssur.
[edit] Evolution into a complete Musician
Philip was never satisfied with what he learnt and later on studied western classical music and mastered the Guitar and Piano too. He also started composing and conducting Choir in Churches in and around Thrissur. His love for Ghazals saw him doing Ghazal programs and becoming popular as a Ghazal singer too in his short life span. He also worked with the late music Director Raveendran as an assistant in some films.
[edit] Awards and achievements
Philip was the representative of the Delhi gharana School of music in Thrissur, Kerala and he had numerous disciples who were learning Tabla under him.
He has performed in All India Radio, Doordarshan, Kairali, Asianet etc. as an accompanist on the Tabla for many leading singers like S. Janaki, P. Jayachandran, Gayatri Asokan, Pradip Somasundaran and performed as a Ghazal singer in many of the Television channels
He was a graded Artist of All India Radio both as a Tabla player and as a composer and his compositions used to be regularly broadcast in the All India Radio.
The Govt. of India recognised his talents and in 2003 he was deputed to Guyana, West Indies as a cultural ambassador by I.C.C.R . He was back to Kerala after his contract was over in 2007. He was one among the 50 eminent people of Thrissur, honoured by the Corporation of Thrissur in 2007 for his contributions towards music. His last work as a music director was for the film "Oridathoru Puzhayundu" directed by "Kalavoor Ravikumar".
He was a major influence on many of the music directors and musicians of the younger generation like Alphons Joseph and Gayatri Asokan.
He has several albums to his credit for which he gave music. Some of them were
[edit] Albums
1)Kanneer
2)Thoovana
3)Kabir
4)ABHERI & BHIMPLAS(2008)- Manorama Music
[edit] Film(Background Score)
1) Oridathoru Puzhayundu
[edit] Tributes
As a glowing tribute to this versatile musician, music lovers of Thrissur have formed "Piano", an organisation in his memory which aims to promote music and harmony. The organisation plans to hold an yearly music festival at Thrissur, and institute an endowment in his name on an academic level. "Piano" was formally inaugurated by the Nightingale of South India, "S. Janaki" on 3.05.08. Ustad Fiyaz Khan the Tabla Maestro and Philip's Guru was present on the occasion.
