Sanjaya Malakar; A Second Look

The staff at Idolwire.com is taking a second look at some of our favorites thus far. First up is 17 year-old student Sanjaya Malakar who wowed us with “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” by his inspiration Stevie Wonder. The first note is perfect and we knew we were in for a treat the rest of the song. It was beautifully sung with such a beautiful tone. Prior to starting his song Malakar was asked if he was a better singer than his sister Shyamali Malakar and he said “I don’t think so.” Immediately after his song was finished Simon Cowell said “A lot better than your sister…I think you’ve got the better voice.” Randy Jackson agreed “Yeah, I thought so too. Wow. Crazy.” Check out Sanjaya Malakar’s audition and see for yourself. It also appears that his Myspace page has been updated: Sanjaya Malakar’s Myspace Page.

There has been a lot of media buzz about Sanjaya Malakar and his sister Shyamali Malakar as they are the first Desis to advance in American Idol. What is a Desi you might ask? A quick trip to wikipedia.org tells us it “literally means local or indigenous” when referring to people of South Asian origin. Of course the net is filled with rumors but one that keeps cropping up is that Sanjaya Malakar makes the top 24. Sadly those rumors don’t hold true for Shyamali Malakar. Personally, I think Sanjaya can sing the pants off of Shyamali – although we wouldn’t want him too. The Hollywood rounds start on February 13 and we’ll get to hear more from this 17 year-old Washington resident