The veteran Nedunuri Krishnamurthy passed away around 2 a.m. in Vishakhapatnam on December 8. The 87-year-old Carnatic vocalist and tunesmith was undergoing treatment for lung cancer for a few months.
Born on October 10, 1927, Nedunuri, as he was popularly known, trained in Carnatic music (vocal and violin) with Dwaram Narasinga Rao Naidu in the early 1940s and later with Dr. Sripada Pinakapani. He was Principal of the Government Music & Dance Colleges in Vijayawada, Secunderabad and Vishakhapatnam.
Nedunuri’s style was the epitome of elegance with emphasis on aesthetics and subtle embellishments. His was a smooth and delicate voice that handled nuances with ease belying the practice and rigour that was behind it. His repertoire was extensive and covered not only the Trinity, but also composers such as Annamacharya and Bhadrachala Ramdas.
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Nedunuri was considered an artist of substance by his peers and seniors, and highly revered by the younger artists. He was a popular musician and had a large following across the globe. Chennai welcomed him over the past decades with open arms and his electrifying performances were attended by fellow musicians, connoisseurs and music lovers. His concerts with greats such as Lalgudi G. Jayaraman, M.S. Gopalakrishnan, Umayalpuram Sivaraman and Tiruchi Sankaran made the listening experience superlative.
Among Nedunuri's contributions to music, some notable ones include setting to tune of 108 compositions of Annamacharya. An academician till the end, he strove to blend the art and science of music and present Carnatic music to the present generation with all its classical values intact. His students include known names such as the Malladi Brothers, Shobha Raju and Garimella Balakrishna Prasad. He was conferred the Sangita Kalanidhi by the Music Academy, Madras, in 1991.