The world of Carnatic music sank into deep grief with the loss of a great musician, Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, who passed away on December 8 in Vishakhapatnam. He was 87.
‘Nedunuri’, as he was popularly known, was born in 1927. He underwent rigorous training in Carnatic music, both vocal music and instrumental violin under Dwaram Narasinga Rao Naidu in the early 1940s and later with Sripada Pinakapani. He was both a performer and an academician.
Besides, he has made significant contribution to set to tune a number of compositions of Annamacharya winning the reverence of both his generation as well as the next generation of musicians and music lovers. The awards and accolades that he received included the prestigious Sangita Kalanidhi by Music Academy, Chennai. Amongst his disciples are the well known vocalists Malladi Brothers.
In a quick and thoughtful gesture, All India Radio paid a tribute to the veteran musician by a special broadcast of the vocal concert recordings of late Krishnamurthy in its National Programme recently. The recordings done initially in 1991 were retrieved from the central archives of AIR. The captivating and bhava-laden recordings of eight songs rendered by the veteran vocalist were for about an hour and half. AIR’s gesture in timely broadcasting of the recordings is laudable.
Nedunuri began his recital with Muthuswami Dikshidar’s “Gajananayutam” in raga Chakravakam. The Kalpanaswaras towards the end, though very brief, were delightful. Tyagaraja’s “Nannu brova” in Abhogi is preceded with a scintillating alapana of the raga and again with mellifluous kalpanaswaras flowing effortlessly towards the end of the song.
While singing yet another Tyagaraja’s composition, “Chalamelara”, in raga Margahindolam and the Tamil composition of Papanasam Sivan, “Karpagambike” in raga Bilahari, Nedunuri brings out the emotive contents in these songs. Even in a brief alapana of the latter raga, he brings out its nuances with ease.
Nedunuri’s rendering of Bhadrachala Ramadas’ composition, “Emayya rama” in Kambhoji was another treat to the listeners. He then renders aesthetically and in a detailed manner Mysore Vasudevachar’s “Ninne nammithi” in raga Simhendramadhyamam and Subbaraya Sastri’s “Emanine” in Mukhari. A fine delineation of both the ragas was a hallmark there.
The recordings concludes with a composition of Annamacharya “Adidevaparamatma” in raga Sindhubhairavi in a befitting manner. Whether it was a song composed in Sanskrit, Telugu or Tamil, Nedunuri’s diction was another noteworthy feature. Komanduri Krishnamacharya on the violin and Trichur C. Narendran on the mridangam accompanied the veteran in the recordings.
One recalls Late Nedunuri Krishnamurthy’s performance atthe Capital in the late ’90s. It was at Mayur Vihar’s Sri Subha Siddhi Vinayakar Mandir. Known for handling even the complex ragas efficiently, while he was about to take up the central piece of his recital, he asked for the preference of the audience for a very popular raga and Huseni, a raga not taken up by many. Without second thoughts, music lovers unanimously grabbed the opportunity to listen to the veteran’s Huseni and enjoyed every moment of the raga alapana and the subsequent rendering of a song in the raga.
