I vaturi Vijayeswara Rao (IVR) was a vocal and violin teacher, who passed away on October 18. In this tribute, three of his disciples, who are now famous musicians, share their memories of the man. Today (Nov 21), a commemorative function is also being held in Chennai.
A. Kanyakumari
It all started very strangely. When I was a little girl, my father, a Police Officer moved the family to Vizianagaram. There, my two older sisters became students of Ivaturi Vijayeswara Rao, whom we called, “Master garu.” One day, when I was playing at home, my mother, a vainika herself, casually told Master garu that I could not sing at all - even lullabies. Master garu said that he would teach me violin and make me a good performer on the instrument.
After a few months, he started a music school named after his guru, the Dwaram Narasinga Rao Naidu Memorial Music School. I was admitted as its first student and that was where I learnt valuable violin lessons under his tutelage. Not only was he a good violinist, he was strong in the theoretical aspects of music and he used to teach both violin and theory. The credit goes to him that I, as a teenager, passed the Diploma in Carnatic violin from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, with distinction. Every weekend he would invite his disciples home, where he would give a violin recital teaching us how a concert should be presented. He would make us play the violin along with him.
He conducted Tyagaraja aradhana annually at his school, in which concerts of vidwans were featured. He advised us to practise hard for long hours every day from early morning. Once in a few days, he would walk through the streets early in the morning to find out whether his students were following his advice. It proved his commitment as a teacher and it is hard to find such Sadgurus.
He always urged his students to listen to as many concerts as possible without prejudice, saying that all the artists had something good in their music that one should appreciate.
My parents performed his marriage in our house in Vizianagaram as he was like their eldest son and an elder brother to me and my siblings. That is the affection we shared with him. Till he passed away, we were in regular contact with him via the phone. We would visit him whenever possible and talk to him on important occasions and festivals to seek his blessings. He may be gone, but his legacy remains. I owe everything to him. For, he made me what I am today.
Manda Sudharani
IVR became a violinist under the guidance of his guru Dwaram Narasinga Rao Naidu. He developed a passion for learning. After his guru’s untimely demise, IVR expanded his knowledge by listening to All India Radio, discussing with experts and through a collection of books, which were read out to him by his disciples. He became versatile with insights into bhava, raga and tala aspects of compositions as well as different styles of music, vocal or instrumental, Carnatic or Hindustani.
An accomplished violinist, an eminent vocalist and a bhavuka , IVR took up teaching not as a profession but a mission. As an accompanist, he won the appreciation of stalwarts and inspired many musicians.
He taught us various vocal exercises, modulations and pronunciation techniques. For example, he used to demonstrate how the Sanskrit words in a Dikshitar and Tyagaraja kritis are to be pronounced differently.
Using his imagination, he expanded the regular three kalam concept of Carnatic music to shatkalam and framed a pallavi based on it and taught it to me. When I repeated it successfully in a single attempt, he presented his tambura to me, a token of affection. He went beyond teaching exercises, compositions, sangatis and inspired students with his talk. He imparted values and that makes him a true Acharya who practised what he preached.
He and his wife, Suryakantam, led an exemplary life. Their doors were always open to all members of music family. His success lay in forming a gurukulam, a music family of five generations, in which almost all his disciples continue the tradition through their own children and the sishya santanam.
Dr. Pantula Rama
‘Silence enhances the beauty of music surrounded by it,’ my guru would always observe. Today, his demise has left a void with a different kind of silence — silence that is absolute.
He was a dynamic inspirer and a complete musician. I am compelled to propel myself towards the beauty of ‘silence and pauses’ that he preached and practised in his music. I am infused with a new zeal to practise music for its sake, as he did all his life. I am motivated to make my music seem as effortless as his. I am focused on aspiring to make my music as powerful as his, so that it conveys ‘all’ without the aid of other tools such as talking or writing. I am inspired to emulate his purity in perception, sophistication in style, functionality in form, impeccability in innovation and freedom in flair. I am guided by his ethereal presence in my musical journey to sense the ultimate in each note and achieve consummation and realisation of the absolute.
