Nedunuri Krishnamurthy (10 October 1927 – 8 December 2014) was an Indian Carnatic vocalist.Profile
thehindu.com, 30 October 2006; accessed 9 December 2014. He was awarded the

Madras Music Academy Madras Music Academy is one of the earliest established music academies in South India. Before the concept of infrastructure was introduced to India in the early 1920s, it was a gathering for elite musicians simply called (and is still more ...

's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1991.

Early life

Krishnamurthy was born in 1927 at Kothapalli, Pithapuram Taluka, Godavari dt,

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

in what was then

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

to Rama Murthy Panthulu and Vijayalakshmi. His father held a minor job at the estate of the Raja of Pithapuram.Profile
thehindu.com; accessed 9 December 2014. He was under influence of his mother who sang Ashtapadis, Tarangas and the

Adhyatma Ramayana ''Adhyatma Ramayana'' (Devanāgarī: अध्यात्म रामायण, IAST: ''Adhyātma Rāmāyaṇa'', ) is a 13th- to 15th-century Sanskrit text that allegorically interprets the story of Hindu epic ''Ramayana'' in the Advaita Vedan ...

kritis. She had a great influence on him while growing up. Krishnamurthy joined the Maharaja's Music College at

Vizianagaram Vizianagaram is a city and the headquarters of Vizianagaram district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is central Eastern Ghats, about west of the Bay of Bengal and north-northeast of Visakhapatnam. The city has a population of 228,02 ...

in the year 1940 and received initial training in Violin and Vocal from the Dwaram Narasinga Rao Naidu. In 1949, he was influenced by carnatic vocalist, Sripada Pinakapani, and under his guidance developed his style of music.

Performing career

Krishnamurthy worked as Principal of S.V.College of Music and Dance,

Tirupati Tirupati () is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirupati district. The city is home to the important Hindu shrine of Tirumala Venkateswara Temple and other historic temples and is re ...

; M.R.Government College of Music and Dance,

; Government College of Music and Dance, Secunderabad; and retired as Principal of G.V.R Government College of Music and Dance,

Vijayawada Vijayawada, formerly known as Bezawada, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is a part of the state's Capital Region. It is the administrative headquarters of the NTR district. Its metropolitan region comprises N ...

in 1985. Nedunuri's performances are characterised by adherence to tradition and his alapanas are renowned for capturing the essence of important Carnatic ragas. He formed a popular partnership with the renowned violinist,

Lalgudi Jayaraman Lalgudi Gopala Iyer Jayaraman (17 September 1930 – 22 April 2013) was an Indian Carnatic violinist, vocalist and composer. He is commonly grouped with M.S. Gopalakrishnan and T.N.Krishnan as part of the violin-trinity of Carnatic Mus ...

, and the performances of the duo are much admired by listeners. He was Dean of Faculty of the Fine Arts and Chairman of Board of Studies in Music of Sri Venkateswara University and Nagarjuna University. He contributed to Annamacharya Project of the TTD (

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) is an independent trust which manages the temples including the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple in Andhra Pradesh. The trust oversees the operations and finances of the richest and the most visited religious cen ...

) in tuning most of the "

Annamacharya Tallapaka Annamacharya ( Telugu : తాళ్ళపాక అన్నమాచార్య) ( IAST: taḷḷapāka annamācārya; 22 May 1408 – 4 April 1503), also popularly known as Annamayya, was a 15th-century Hindu saint and the e ...

" kritis as we know them today.Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams
27 May 2005; accessed 9 December 2014. Krishna Gana Sabha, Madras, conferred on "Nedunuri" the title Sangeetha Choodamani in 1976. The

Music Academy The Music Academy is a classical music training program in Montecito in Santa Barbara County, California. Overview The academy hosts an annual eight-week summer music festival, highlighted by concerts and workshops directed by famous composer ...

, Madras conferred on him the most prestigious title of Sangeeta Kalanidhi in 1991.Sangeeta Kalanidhi
hindu.com; accessed 9 December 2014. He was named Asthana Vidwan of the

and also of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham.

Prominent disciples

Domada Chittabbayi Domada Chitti Abbayi or Chittabbayi ( Telugu: దోమాడ చిట్టబ్బాయి) (1930–2002) was a renowned Nadaswaram Vidwan and recipient of the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. He was born in East Godavari district, ...

# Garimella Balakrishna Prasad #

Shobha Raju Mahalakshmi Menon, best known by her stagename Shobha (23 September 1962 – 1 May 1980), was an Indian actress best known for her work in Malayalam and Tamil films. At the age of 17, she won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her ro ...

# Saraswati Vidyardhi # Malladi Brothers # Sarada Subramanyam # Seshulatha Viswanath # T. Sreenidhi # Padmavathi Thyagaraju # Subba Narasiah Kramadathi # Chaitanya Brothers (Varanasi Venkateswara Sharma & Bukkapatnam Krishnamacharyulu)

Death

Nedunuri Krishnamurthy died on 8 December 2014 at Visakhapatnam, aged 87, while undergoing treatment for

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

.Carnatic vocalist Nedunuri Krishnamurthy dies
thehindu.com; accessed 9 December 2014.

Albums & Songs

Discography

* Annamayya Antaranga Tharangam * Annamayya Pada Kadambam * Annamayya Pada Kamalam * Annamayya Pada Neerajanam * Annamayya Pada Ravali * Annamayya Pada Sammohanam * Annamayya Pada Vasantham * Pahi Nareyana by PM Audios & Entertainments * Guru Upadesham by PM Audios & Entertainments * Srihari Rasakrithi (TTD Release) * Bhadrachala Ramadasu Keerthanalu (with Dasarathi Sataka Poems) (Alivelumanga Sarvayya Charitable Trust) * Raga Sudha Rasam * Rare Krithi’s of Tyagaraja * ''Classical Treat by Nedunuri Krishnamurthy'' * Raga Madhur (Audio) by Swathi Soft Solutions Company release * Raga Ranjani (DVD) by Swathi Soft Solutions Company release

Awards and honours

References

External links

*
Website about Nedunuri
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krishnamurthy, Nedunuri 1927 births 2014 deaths Male Carnatic singers Carnatic singers 20th-century Indian male classical singers Singers from Andhra Pradesh Deaths from lung cancer in India Telugu people People from East Godavari district Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award