Prof. P. Bhaskar Reddy Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati

Home , Kurnool Medical College, Madras Music Academy, Maharajapuram Santhanam, Patnam Subramania Iyer, Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar

Component-I (A) – Personal details:

Prof. P. Bhaskar Reddy Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati.

Prof. R. Thiagarajan Presidency College, Chennai.

Dr. V. Premalatha Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati.

Prof. Ritha Rajan Music Academy, Chennai.

Component-I (B) – Description of module:

Subject Name Indian Culture Paper Name Indian Aesthetics and Fine Arts Module Name/Title Musicians of south India-1 Module Id I C / IAFA / 26 Pre requisites An interest to know about the famous musicians of South Indian Classical music Objectives To know a short biographical sketch and achievements of some eminent musicians who were Vocalists of South Indian Classical Music. to enable a student to know such great personalities who were monumental in bringing the glory of the Classical Music art to the World through their performances. Keywords Parameshvara Bhagavatha, Mysore Vasudevacharya, Tiger Varadacharya, Parupalli Ramkrishnayya Pantulu, Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Maharajapuram Vishwanatha Iyer, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, Chittoor Subramania Pillai, Titte Krishna Iyengar, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, G N Balasubramaniam, Madurai Mani Iyer, Sripada Pinakapani, Ramnad Krishnan, M D Ramanathan, K V Narayanaswamy, Nedanuri Krishnamurthy, M L Vasanthakumari, D. K. Jayaraman, Voleti Venkateswarulu E-text (Quadrant-I) : Introduction In this module, let us get familiar with some of the great musicians (Vocalists) who lived in the past hundred years and had elevated the glory of Indian Classical music to the whole world. This module presents a short biographical note including the achievements of the musicians and at the end an URL is supplied which would help you to listen to the recordings of the veteran musicians. The list is perhaps not exhaustive and is presented in the chronological order.

1. Parameshvara Bhagavatar (1815- 1892)

Parameshvara Bhagavatar was born in Palghat district of Kerala in the year 1815. He was appointed as chief samasthāna vidwān by Sri Svati Tirunal Maharaja of Travancore. He held the post with great dignity throughout during the reins of four of Travancore’s kings. He has tuned (set to music) some of the compositions of Swati Tirunal. He was also proficient in playing Violin, Vīṇā and Svarabhat. He was also a performer of Harikathā. He has composed a number of kṛti-s and varṇa-s. He rendered the utsava prabandham so well, that he was given special presents and was honoured by the Maharaja. He had disciples like Coimbatore Raghava Iyer, Nurani Ayya Bhagavatar, Mukke Ganapati Bhagavatar and the like. Parameshvara Bhagavatar took sanyāsa and died in 1892 in his 77th year. http://www.swathithirunal.in/composeres/Palakkad%20Parameswara.htm

2. Mysore Vasudevacharya (1865- 1961)

Mysore Vasudevacharya was born on 28th May 1865 in Mysore. He grew under the tutelage of his maternal grandfather and later learnt from Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer for 6 years. He was the Āsthāna vidvān of the Mysore royal court. In 1953 he joined the Kalakshetra, Madras. Vasudevacharya is said to have composed more than 200 compositions. Among them, a group of 24 kṛti-s in Sanskrit are on the 24 names of the lord, Kēśava, Mādhava, Nārāyaṇa and so on, rāgamālikā-s on the musical trinity, the music he set for the Rāmāyaṇa ballet etc. are popular. He was a versatile composer having to his credit, many jatisvara-s, varṇa-s, kṛti-

s, tillānā-s, rāgamālikā and daru-s. He is said to have composed a rāgatāla-mālikā covering the 35 tāla-s.

A rāgatāla-mālikā is a kind of musical form, where different sections of the composition are set to different rāga-s and tāla-s.

In recognition to his merit, he was honored with many titles and awards like Saṅgīta Kalānidhi in 1935, Saṅgīta Śāstra Viśārada and Padmabhushan in 1959. http://mio.to/artist/Mysore+Vasudevachar

3. Tiger Varadacharya (1876- 1950)

Tiger Varadacharya was born on August 1st, 1876 at Kolathur. From the age of 14, Varadacharya was under the tutelage of Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer for three years. He worked in the Survey Department in Calicut, due to family constraints. But the survey of land did not deter the youth’s pursuit for Music. When he was at Mysore, he attracted the attention of Krishnaraja Wodeyar who honoured him with the title ‘Tiger’ and presented him with a ‘thoda’. He was a treasure house of varied musical gems of rare brilliance. He has composed Varṇam, Gītam, Kṛti-s etc. He was awarded the Saṅgīta Kalānidhi in the year 1932 by the Madras Music Academy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QgS5tHvVXI

4. Parupalli Ramakrishnayya Pantulu (1883- 1951)

Parupalli Ramakrishnayya Pantulu was born in Guntur district in 1883. His guru was Susarla Dakshinamurthy, who was a direct disciple of Manambuchavadi Venkatasubbayya, the cousin and disciple of the great Composer, Sri Tyagaraja. Though Pantulu was a performer, he was more interested in teaching. The famous present day musician, M. Balamurali Krishna was one of his disciples. He was a master in gurukula system. He was on the expert committee of the Madras Music Academy, Madras and was also on the Tiruvayyaru Tyagabrahma Mahotsava committee. He was given the title Gāyaka Sārvabhauma by Andhra Saraswath Parishad in 1931. He was not only a vocalist but also a celebrated Vīṇā player and violinist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE-aEBkrr1Y

5. Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar (1890- 1967)

Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar popularly known as ‘Ariyakudi’ was born on 18th May 1890 in a town named Ariyakudi in the Karaikkudi district of Tamil Nadu. He learnt music under Pudukkottai Malayappa Iyer and Namakkal Narasimha Iyengar in his early years and then under Ramnadapuram Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar for about 10 years. He made his debut at the Tyagaraja Aradhana in 1918. Ariyakudi developed his own unique style of singing that came to be known as the Ariyakudi tradition and is followed by his students. He established the modern concert tradition in Karnāṭaka Music. He was very closely associated with the Mṛdaṅgam maestro Palghat Mani Iyer and formed a formidable partnership on the concert platform and a remarkable friendship was born out of mutual respect. He was awarded the Saṅgīta Kalānidhi in 1938, Saṅgīta Kalā Śikhāmaṇi in 1947, Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 1952, Sangeet Natak Academy Fellowship in 1954, Gayaka Śikhāmaṇi, Padma Bhushan in 1958 and Isai Pērarigñar in 1960. He passed away on 23rd January 1967 at the age of 77. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMxm1vuHGwQ

6. Maharajapuram Vishwanatha Iyer (1896-1970)

Vishwanatha Iyer was born in Maharajapuram town of Tamil Nadu in the year 1896. He was trained initially by Umayalpuram Swaminatha Iyer. He had his debut performance when he was 15 years of age. He was also a Mṛdaṅga player. Like other artists he had his own preferences in the selection of rāga and kṛti-s. He learnt and mastered almost all compositions of Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshita, Syama Sastri, Patnam Subramania Iyer and Gopala Krishna Bharati. He took special pains to master some of the tougher and more taxing of the Tyagaraja kṛti-s. At one stage it was said that he was the only musician fully and correctly rendering the five Pañcaratna Kṛti-s of Tyagaraja. He trained many musicians, including Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, his own son, Maharajapuram Santhanam and Mannargudi Sambasiva Iyer. All of them were promising artists and had made him proud. He won several awards including Saṅgīta Kalānidhi and Saṅgīta bhūpati. He died in 1970 when he was 74. http://archiveofindianmusic.org/sound_clips/268/MAHARAJAPURAM%20VISHWANATHA% 20IYER%20

7. Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar (1896- 1974)

Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar was born on September 14th 1896 at Palghat, Kerala. He had his music training initially from his own father Anantha Bhagavathar. Between 1913 and 1927, Chembai performed at many different music festivals and sabhas notably including Madras Music Academy. By 1945 Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar shifted to Madras. He

lost his voice twice during his life but with his deep devotion on Lord Krishna (of Guruvayur) he regained his voice.

Many music festivals like Chembai Sangeetotsavam organised by the Guruvayur Devaswom Board and the Chembai Ekadasi Music Festival are being conducted every year in Kerala. He passed away on 16th October 1974 in his 78th year of age, just after a concert at Ottappalam. This was the place where he did his araṅgēṭram (debut performance). Chembai received several awards and titles during his career. Some of them are Padma Bhushan in 1973, Saṅgīta Kalānidhi in 1951, Gāyana Gandharva in 1940, Sangeet Natak Academy award in 1958, Saṅgīta Kalashikhamani in 1964. The department of posts released a special issue stamp to commemorate Chembai’s birth centenary year, 1996. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVSrqUjIHWs

8. Chittoor Subramania Pillai (1898-1975)

Chittoor Subramania Pillai was born in a village near Punganur town, Chittoor. He had his first lessons on music from his own father Perayya and mother Mogilamma. Later he became the disciple of the legend Sri Naina Pillai of Kanchipuram. He started performing at the age of 5. After his training he started his major performances when he was 20. He had a rich voice and his command on laya was outstanding. He proved himself as an exponent in rendering RTP (rāgam - tānam - pallavi). He was noted for singing very rare compositions of Tyagaraja, Muttusvami Dikshita and other composers. He composed music for a number of kīrtana-s of Annamacharya like “Ithaḍokaḍē”, “Nārāyaṇatē” etc. some of the awards he received were Saṅgīta Kalānidhi in 1954, Sangeet Natak Academy award in 1964, Saṅgīta Kalā Śikhāmaṇi in 1964, Gāna Kalā Prapūrṇa, Swara Chakravarthi, Laya Brahma, Isai Pērarigñar, Saptagiri Saṅgīta Vidwamaṇi and so on. http://archiveofindianmusic.org/sound_clips/83/CHITTOOR%20SUBRAMANIA%20PILLAI%20

9. Titte Krishna Iyengar (1902- 1997)

Titte Krishna Iyengar was born in 1902 in Mysore. He learned Carnatic Music from his father Titte Narayana Iyengar and Veena from the famous Veena Sheshanna and Bidaram Krishnappa. He belongs to the śisya parampara of Tyāgarāja. He had a long career as a practicing musician. He is known for his extremely rich repertoire of rare compositions of Karnataka composers especially his guru Veena Sheshanna. He has published a book called Saṅgīta lakṣya lakṣaṇa paddhati. He has performed hundreds of concerts and has received many awards like the prestigious Kanaka Purandara Prasasti and the Saṅgīta kala acharya. He passed away in the year 1997.

10. Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer (1908- 2003)

Semmangudi Radhakrishna Srinivasa Iyer was born in Tirukkodikkaval, Thanjavur district on 25th July 1908. At the age of 8, he started learning music from his cousin Semmangudi Narayanaswamy Iyer. This was followed by some rigorous training under Thiruvadaimarudur Sakharama Rao, a famous exponent on Gōṭṭuvādya. In 1926, he performed his first music recital. He was also involved along with Muttayya Bhagavathar in popularising the compositions of Maharaja Swati Tirunal. After attending one of his concerts, Maharani Sethu Parvathi Bhai of Travancore Royal family was so impressed that she invited him over to Thiruvananthapuram to edit and popularize the compositions of Swati Tirunal.

He succeeded Muttayya Bhagavathar as the Principal of Swati Tirunal College of Music, Thiruvananthapuram, a post he held for 23 years and at the age of 55, he handed over his responsibilities to the Carnatic legend G N Balasubramaniam. He became the chief producer of the All India Radio, Madras from 1957-1960. He gave public performances even at a ripe old age of 90. He was considered as the ‘Pitāmaha’ of Karnāṭaka Music. He was the youngest recipient of Saṅgīta Kalānidhi awarded by the Music Academy and received many awards including Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan, Sangeet Natak Academy Award, Isai Pērarigñar from Govt. of Tamil Nadu and Kālidās Samman from Govt. of Madhya Pradesh. He was conferred with an honorary Doctorate from the University of Kerala in 1979. He passed away on 25th July 2003 at the age of 95. The Karnāṭaka music that we hear today has been greatly influenced by his music and his style. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1_Rmu7uHL8

11. G N Balasubramaniam (1910-1965)

G N Balasubramaniam popularly addressed as GNB, is a renowned musician, composer of great caliber, fame and name. He was born in June 1910 in Gudalur in Thanjavur district. He took his B.A. honor’s degree from the Madras Presidency College. He had initial training in music under Madurai Subramania Iyer who taught him the fundamentals of Music. GNB used to listen to the concerts of many eminent musicians and adopted the good aspects from them. Thus he formulated his own style, which became popular as “GNB bāṇi”. He innovated the art by reducing the gamaka-s and other sophistications in his music and this made even lay-man understand the art. Besides rendering music concerts, he also acted in dramas and films. He has to his credit many outstanding compositions marked by literary beauty and musical excellences. He was an ardent devoted teacher, great musician and an uttama vaggeyakara, who taught his disciples with utmost care and sincerity. He served in the courts of Maharaja Krishna Rajendra Wodayar and Ettayapuram Zamindar and was appointed as the Āsthāna Vidwān in

the Travancore court. On account of his musical scholarship and genius, he was awarded with many titles and honors among which Saṅgīta Kalānidhi and Presidential award are the important ones. After serving as Programme producer in All India Radio, he was posted as teacher in the Sree Swati Tirunāļ Academy, Trivandrum in 1964. He became the Principal of the college and passed away in May 1965. http://archiveofindianmusic.org/sound_clips/116/G%20N%20balasubramaniam

12. Madurai Mani Iyer (1912- 1968)

Madurai Mani Iyer was born in Madurai, in the year 1912. His started learning music at the age of nine. His first guru was Sri Rajam Bhagavathar who was the disciple of Ettayapuram Ramachandra Bhagavathar. Through Rajam Bhagavathar, he came in close contact with the great musician and composer, Harikeshanallur Muthaiah Bhagavathar. He was famous for his unique style of vocal rendering. He was one of the most highly celebrated Karnāṭaka music vocalists during the first half of the 20th century. He was renowned for his adept skills in singing Kalpanā svara-s, Niraval and Rāga Ālāpana. His music continues to be highly regarded today. He was awarded with many prestigious awards like the Gānakalādhar in 1944, Saṅgīta Kalānidhi in 1959, President’s award in 1960, Isai pērarigñar in 1962 and so on. http://archiveofindianmusic.org/sound_clips/262/madurai%20mani%20iyer%20

13. Sripada Pinakapani (1913- 2013)

Sripada Pinakapani was born on 3rd August 1913 at Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh. He was a Medical Doctor, Administrator and a Musician. He learnt music from the violin maestro Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu for three months. He worked as Assistant Professor at Madras Medical College, Kurnool Medical College and Andhra Medical College. He had a successful music career also. He used to perform at major festivals and concerts. He has written books on Music namely Sangita saurabhamu, in Four volumes, which contains the notations and texts of compositions. He was awarded with Saṅgīta Kalānidhi, Saṅgīta Kalāśikhāmaṇi in 1970, Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 1977, Padmabhushan in 1984, Gyana Vidyā Varidhi in 2012 and so on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1ATf9V-kSU

14. M S Subbulakshmi (1916- 2004)

M S Subbulakshmi is popularly known as ‘MS’ in the Karnāṭaka music circle. She was born in Madurai on 16th September, 1916. She started learning Music at an early age from her mother Shanmukhavadivu. Later she also had training from the great musician, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and in Hindustani music from Pandit Naryana Rao Vyas. She started her stage performance at the age of 11. She performed in the prestigious Madras Music Academy for the first time when she was 13 in 1929. Soon after her debut performance, she became the leading Karnāṭaka Music Vocalist. She has a prominent role in popularizing the Annamayya Kīrtana-s. MS also acted in a few Tamil films in her youth such as Sēvāsadanam, Savitri and Mīrā. Her title role in the film, Mīrā, gave her national prominence. She travelled to London, New york, Canada and other places as India’s cultural ambassador. In 1966, she performed at the UN General Assembly, the first Indian woman musician to get such an invitation. She has to her credit plenty of recordings on devotional hymns and classical songs. After the death of her husband in 1997, she stopped all public performances. She passed away on December 11th, 2004 when she was 88. She was the first musician to be awarded the Bharata Ratna in 1998, India’s highest civilian honor and the Ramon Magsaysay award in 1974. She was also

awarded with Padma Bhushan in 1954, Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 1956, Saṅgīta Kalānidhi in 1968, Saṅgīta Kalāśikhāmaṇi in 1975, Kalidas Samman in 1988. She was honored as the resident artist of TTD. Tirupati Urban Development Authority had installed a bronze statue of MS in the temple town. The commemorative postage stamp on her was issued on 18 December 2005.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8slUawzmPc

15. Ramnad Krishnan (1918- 1973)

Ramnad Krishnan was born on 14th September 1918 at Allepey district, Kerala. He learnt music from late Sri. Ramnad Sankara Sivan. Later he migrated to Madras and took up music as his profession. He had a very extensive repertoire of compositions, He had high regards for contemporary performers like Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Madurai Mani Iyer and G. N. Balasubramaniam. He also served as the faculty of the Government College of Carnatic Music at Madras for a few years. He was also the visiting Professor at the Wesleyan University, USA for some time. He died on 29th January 1973. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-_MV5d0c_A

16. D. K. PATTAMMAL (1919-2009)

Damal Krishnaswamy Pattammal was a prominent Karnāṭaka musician born on 28th March 1919. She was a child prodigy and received no formal gurukula training. At the age of 8, she

won the first prize in a competition conducted by C. Subramanya Pillai whom Pattammal admired deeply. At the age of 10, she performed at Madras Corporation Radio and 3 years later gave her first concert at Madras Rasika Sabha. She was an authority in the compositions of Muttusvāmi Dīkṣita, which she learnt from Ambi Dīkṣita, a descendent of Muttusvāmi Dīkṣita and Justice T L Venkatrama Iyer. Pattammal also learnt many compositions of Papanasam Sivan from the composer himself. She has sung many play back songs for films. Her voice was so deep and strong that it added patriotic fervor. She plays a great role in popularizing the RTP singing by women musicians on stage. Her music is said to have great depth and her diction was crystal-clear. D K Pattammal has received many awards and titles. Some of them are Sangeet Natak academy award in 1961, Saṅgīta Kalānidhi in 1970, Padmabhushan in 1971, Saṅgīta Kalāśikhāmaṇi in 1978, Padma Vibhushan (India’s second highest civilian honour) in 1998 etc. She died on the 16th of July, 2009 at the ripe age of 95. She has left behind a rich tradition and a set of descendants and disciples keep it alive even today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54yIqReUGl4

17. M D Ramanathan (1923-1984)

M D Ramanthan was born on 20th May 1923 in the Palghat district of Kerala. He was born in a family of musicians and had his early training in music from his father Sri. Devesa bhagavathar. He obtained his BSc degree in Physics from Victoria College, Palghat. Though he took a degree in Physics he was always into music. He was the first student and acquired the degree of Saṅgīta Siromani under the tutelage of Tiger Varadacharya from Kalakshetra. The gurukula system was prominent during that time and the relationship between Tiger Varadacharya and M D Ramanathan bears witness to the close bond between the guru and siśya. After acquiring the degree, he became the Professor and Principal of Kalakshetra. He has composed almost 300 kritis in Sanskrit, Telugu and Tamil. He used the mudra, “Varadadāsa” for remembering his Guru always.

“Mudra” is a word or phrase that occurs in the texts of musical compositions, which indicates the identity of the author or the composer.

He received titles like Padmashree and Saṅgīta Kalāśikhāmaṇi. He passed away on 27th April 1984 at the age of 60. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGfBfFdUo9k

18. K V Narayanaswamy (1923- 2002)

KVN, as he is dearly called, was born on 15th November 1923 at Palghat, Kerala. Narayanaswamy was born into a family of illustrious musicians and artists. KVN learned basic lessons of music from his father and grandfather. KVN first began extensive training under Mṛdaṅgam maestro, Palghat Mani Iyer. He was under the tutelage of Saṅgītakalacharya C. S. Krishna Iyer. KVN was in Gurukulavāsa with Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar in 1942 and remained an ardent disciple until the latter’s death in 1967. His first performance was in the Madras Music Academy. He traveled to many places across the world for performance. He was made the Professor at Wesleyan University, Connecticut from 1965-67. He joined the Music College, Madras as a lecturer in 1962 when Musiri Subramanya Iyer was its Principal, and retired as a Professor of Music in 1982. In 1984, he was awarded the Fulbright Scholarship and went to San Diego State University. He taught at the University also giving performances all over North America. He was awarded with Padma Shri by the President of India in 1976, Sangeet Natak Academy award in 1976, Saṅgīta Kalānidhi in 1986, Saṅgīta Kalāśikhāmaṇi in 1989 and so on. He passed away on April 1st, 2002 at the age of 78. http://archiveofindianmusic.org/sound_clips/201/k%20v%20Narayanaswamy%20

19. Nedanuri Krishnamurthy (1927- 2014)

Nedanuri Krishnamurthy was born in 1927 in the Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. He joined the Maharaja’s Music College at Vizianagaram in the 1940 and received training in Violin and vocal from Dwaram Narasinga Rao Naidu. He was under the tutelage of Sripada Pinakapani from 1949 onwards. He worked as the Principal of SV College of Music and Dance, Tirupati; M R Government College of Music and Dance, Vizianagaram; Government College of Music and Dance, Secunderabad and retired as the Principal of GVR Govt. College of Music and Dance, Vijayawada in 1985. He was appointed as the Āsthāna Vidwān of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, Tirupati and Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. He was awarded with so many titles and honors. Some of them are Saṅgīta Choodamani in 1976, Saṅgīta Kalāsāgara in 1980, Gāyaka Choodamani in 1982, Sangeeet Natak Academy award in 1986, Saṅgīta Kalānidhi in 1991, Annammacharya Vidwanmani in 1995, Saṅgīta Kalāśikhāmaṇi in 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaPfzGeMx-Y

20. M L Vasanthakumari (1928- 1990)

Madras Lalithangi Vasanthakumari (popularly known as MLV) was born on 3rd July 1928. MLV had her initial training in Karnāṭaka Music from her mother and used to give vocal support to her as a teenager, during performances. Her debut performance was with her mother when she was 12 years old. She later learnt from G. N. Balasubramaniam, one of the

great experts in the field. She was GNB’s first disciple. By the year 1950 she had a significant role in the musical world of India.

MLV imbibed some of GNB’s style in her renditions. MLV popularized the devarnama-s of Purandara Dasa. She was an expert in Ragam Tanam Pallavi too. By 1946 she was also a playback singer. She died at the age of 63 on 31st October 1990. Many music organisations all over the globe had honored MLV with title and awards. In 1976 MLV was honoured with a doctorate from Mysore University for her work regarding the compositions of Purandara Dasa. She received the third highest civilian honor Padma Bhushan at the age of 49. She had received the Saṅgīta Kalānidhi and Saṅgīta Kalāśikhāmaṇi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMkR5EY6yoc

21. D. K. Jayaraman (1928- 1991)

D K Jayaraman popularly called as DKJ was born as the brother of D K Pattammal on 29th July 1928. He learnt music initially from his sister and gave concerts along with her till he was in his forties. He then mastered the art and skills under many great masters in the field, like Muttayya Bhagavatar and Papanasam Sivan. Like his sister, Jayaraman was known for his moving and emotional renditions of compositions. He is known to be an authority of Papnasam Sivan’s compositions, since he learnt from the composer directly for a long time. He was able to establish individuality as a musician when he started giving solo concerts. He popularized compositions of many modern composers such as Papanasam Sivan, Periya sami Thooran, Tanjavur Sankara Iyer, Surajananda, Neela Ramamurthy, Srivatsa and others. He was awarded with Saṅgīta Kalānidhi. He died in 1991. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L-rP5-Ro1c

22. Voleti Venkateswarulu (1928- 1989)

Voleti Venkateswarlu was born in 1928 in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh. He had training in music from C. Achutharamaiah, Munuganti Venkatarao Pantulu and Dr. Sripada Pinakapani. He graduated in Music from the Andhra University. He worked at the All India Radio, Vijayawada as Programme Producer and introduced innovative programs on music like Bhakti mañjari and Saṅgīta śikṣaṇa. Some of the noted disciples of Voleti are M V Ramanamurthy, N C V Jagannathacharyulu, Malladi Suri Babu and Sri Rangam Gopalaratnam. He was a very simple man and never cared for honors and awards. He performed at many places. He died in the year 1989. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK1xN40QwoA

Summary This module has helped you to learn some of the great musicians of South Indian Classical Music. The link to the online sites would help you to listen to the great masters’ voice and enjoy their scintillating music. The list of musicians dealt here is not exhaustive and there lived several others, who have done great service to Karnāṭaka music.