Manickam Yogeswaran

Maanikkam Yogeswaran is a Sri Lankan Tamil musician and exponent of Carnatic music.

Manickam Yogeswaran, also known as "Yoga" was born 1959 in Meesalai, northern Sri Lanka. He studied at the Jaffna Hindu College before moving to London.

As a classical singer in the South Indian (Carnatic) tradition, he trained under S. Balasingam and P. Muthukkumaraswamy. He also contributed to film scores as well as the repertoire of dance and theatre companies in and outside the UK.

Besides being a member of the London-based "vocal big band" The Shout, he has performed with the German world music band Dissidenten.

As part of the AIUME educational project, he has brought Indian music to new audiences. The 2008 world conference of ISME in Bologna familiarized educators from many cultures with this innovative hands-on approach.

He has sung on the soundtrack to Stanley Kubrick's film Eyes Wide Shut (in a piece composed by Jocelyn Pook), thus becoming the first Tamil singer whose work has been featured in a Hollywood movie. He was also "featured vocalist" throughout the widely acclaimed "masterpiece" original symphonic orchestral score in Spike Lee's epic "25th Hour" in 2002, produced by Tobey Maguire and featuring Ed Norton, Misha Barton, Barry Peppers and the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman. He has also recorded the 133 chapters of the classic Tamil literary work the Thirukkural in 133 different ragas.

Yoga dedicated his 2005 album Peace for Paradise to human rights, peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.