Accolades richly deserved
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A three-day function was organised to felicitate musician Nedunuri Krishnamurthy on the occasion of his 80th birthday.
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FULL HOUSE Nedunuri Krishnamurthy being honoured on his birthday.
The disciples and rasikas of Sangeeta Kalanidhi, Nedunuri Krishnamurthy organised an impressive function to felicitate the octogenarian musician on his turning 80 on October 29. After two evenings of several musical performances and release of CDs, the morning of the third day saw a full house at the spacious Narada Gana Sabha, Chennai, in spite of the relentless rains.
N. Murali, Managing Director, The Hindu and president, Music Academy, Chennai, presided over the function. Paying glowing tributes to the musical genius of Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, he recalled his significant contribution in setting 108 kritis of Annamacharya to music, the soulful rendering of them by the legend M.S. Subbalakshmi and how each cited the other as the reason for the kritis' huge popularity. Saying that he was overwhelmed by the humility of Krishnamurthy, he extended an invitation to the musician, amidst thunderous applause from the audience, to preside over the oncoming sadas of the Music Academy, and render a concert. Formally inaugurating the birthday celebrations, he also congratulated Nedunuri Krishnamurthy on his completing 60 glorious years of concerts.
Great achievement
Satguru Sivananda Murty of Bheemunipatnam, with whom Krishnamurthy enjoys special association, was the chief guest. He said how he had been enjoying the singer's soulful renderings for the past six decades. This was immediately followed by the reading of the message from Nedunuri Krishnamurthy's guru, Sangeeta Kalanidhi Sripada Pinakapani, who breathes music even at 94.
Sangeeta Kalanidhi M. Balamuralikrishna, also a chief guest, regaled the audience by narrating an incident when decades ago, he had accompanied Krishnamurthy on the violin! Balamuralikrishna's speech was as melodious as his music, combining as it did, English, Tamil and Telugu appropriately. Pappu Venugopala Rao, Member, Experts Committee, Music Academy, and a musicologist of repute, presented the brilliant word picture of Nedunuri Krishnamurthy's remarkable work. He explained how Krishnamurthy not only picked up 108 kritis of Annamacharya and set them to music but also published the lyrics with his notation, and made M.S. sing them. He inspired his disciples to set many more kritis to music. Without exception, everyone in the hall was thrilled when Venugopala Rao mentioned that out of 1,200 Annamaya kritis, as many as 900 were set to music by Nedunuri Krishnamurthy's parampara! Before the felicitation, Krishnamurthy honoured the musicians who had accompanied him in several concerts.
A citation written in Tamil was read out, and its English version was presented to him by Satguru Sivananda Murty. The Satguru has been the inspiration in founding Sivaganga Sangeeta Parishad and its cultural wing, Andhra Music Academy, in which both Balamuralikrishna and Krishnamurthy are advisors. Balamuralikrishna adorned Nedunuri Krishnamurthy with a Swarnakireetam. On behalf of Sivaganga Sangeeta Parishad, Dr. Raghavendran presented a purse of Rs.30,000 to Krishnamurthy for his future research work.
In his address, Nedunuri Krishnamurthy in turn, attributed everything to God's grace, the love of his guru, the blessings of Satguru Sivananda Murty and the cooperation of his accompanying artists. He thanked all the sponsors, and the trustees of Bharateeya Vaibhavam Trust. The programme concluded with a scintillating concert by his disciples Malladi Brothers Sriramprasad and Ravikumar, accompanied by Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi on the violin and K.V. Prasad on mridangam.
The Malladi Brothers were instrumental in bringing together all the disciples of Nedunuri Krishnamurthy and hosting the three-day felicitation.
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