Sakha Rama Rao (Sakharam Rao) is an Indian musician credited with having re-introduced the south Indian

chitravina The chitravina ( sa, चित्रवीणा) (also known as chitra veena, chitraveena, chitra vina, hanumad vina, or mahanataka vina) is a 20 or 21-string fretless lute-style veena in Carnatic music. Around the late 19th and early 20th ce ...

(or "gotuvadyam") to the concert scene. However, it was his father, Srinivasa Rao, who made the pioneering effort towards the reincarnation of the chitravina in modern times. He was an ardent music lover and an amateur artiste himself. He started experimenting with a slide on the

tanpura The tanpura (), also referred to as tambura and tanpuri, is a long-necked plucked string instrument, originating in India, found in various forms in Indian music. It does not play melody, but rather supports and sustains the melody of an ...

(a four-stringed instrument, usually used as a reference

drone Drone most commonly refers to: * Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg * Unmanned aerial vehicle * Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft * Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to: ...

Indian music Owing to India's vastness and diversity, Indian music encompasses numerous genres in multiple varieties and forms which include classical music, folk (Bollywood), rock, and pop. It has a history spanning several millennia and developed ove ...

). Sakha Rama Rao was drawn to this instrument since childhood. He was able to perceive its tremendous potential to produce high-class music. He re-designed this instrument as a fretless

veena The ''veena'', also spelled ''vina'' ( sa, वीणा IAST: vīṇā), comprises various chordophone instruments from the Indian subcontinent. Ancient musical instruments evolved into many variations, such as lutes, zithers and arched harps.< ...

with its usual set of seven strings - four strings on the top and three in the side for drone and rhythm. He put in arduous practice on this instrument and gave occasional performances. Since he was not aware of the history of the instrument, he gave it a new name - gotuvadyam. This is because, he used to casually refer to the slide as 'gotu'. 'Vadyam', in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

and many other Indian languages, means instrument. Thus, 'gotuvadyam' was a literal name for an instrument played with a slide. Several decades later, Ravikiran, along with a few other scholars, studied about the origins of the instrument and eventually restored the more traditional name, chitravina. Sakha Rama Rao was a "musicians' musician" and trained many great artists like Gotuvadyam Narayana Iyengar and

Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer Semmangudi Radhakrishna Srinivasa Iyer (25 July 1908 – 31 October 2003) was an Indian Carnatic vocalist. He was the youngest recipient of the Sangeetha Kalanidhi awarded by the Music Academy in 1947, a distinction he holds to this day ...

. Soon there were several others who started performing on the chitravina (gotuvadyam).

References

Chitravina players Madhva Brahmins {{India-musician-stub