The clarinet magician
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`Clarinet Vadya Ratna' Sundarapalli Suryanarayana Murthy will be remembered for his passion for the instrument.
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MAESTRO'S TOUCH The late Sundarapalli Suryanarayana.
Sundarapalli Suryanarayana Murthy, a highly revered exponent of carnatic music on clarinet, an esteemed composer of light and devotional music and soul tickling swarachitras, is no more. He died of massive heart attack at his native place Chodavaram (Visakhapatnam district) on October 19 .
A scion of a family of musicians, he was born to Naganna and Appayamma in 1931. Even as a child, he mastered the instrument under the tutelage of his father who was known for his proficiency not only playing on mridangam but also imparting training in the art and providing accompaniment to noted vocal and veena artistes. His inherent fascination for clarinet made him master the technique of playing on it as well under the able guidance of his father and got himself enriched with an enviably vast repertoire.
His passionate love for the clarinet made him successfully coming out innovative exploiting all its inherent niceties to the hilt and making them an integral part of exposition of the carnatic tradition on the alien instrument. He was also known for exhibiting Panchamukhi (layavinyasam by way of rendering jathis in trisra, chaturasra, khanda, misra and sankeerna gathis, one each with the mouth, left and right hands and similarly the legs). As a staff artiste, Akashvani studios, Vijayawada from 1957, he contributed grandeur not only to all facets of the music sector but also to the Sangeeta Sammelanams, performing music programmes including the ragam tanam pallavi at the zonal and national level. A top ranking artiste of All India Radio , he served as a member on its audition board till he retired in 1991. An awardee of many a title along with felicitations from almost all noted sangeeta sabhas all over the South, he was awarded `Kalaapraveena' by A.P. Sangeetha Academy and served it as a nominated as a member of its executive committee for long time.
The `Clarinet Vadya Ratna' and `Naadasudha Nidhi' Sundarapalli Suryanarayana Murthy is survived by wife, three sons and two daughters, all well settled but none of them in the field of classical music. The void that formed by his sad demise would ever remain so, but the sublime melodies that emerged from his clarinet would remain haunting forever.
A.R.S.
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