A sage of `sangeet'
ARUNA CHANDARAJU
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Voleti Venkateswarulu was an uncompromising singer and a teacher.
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TALENT UNLIMITED Vocalist Voleti Venkateswarulu
If there's one epithet that describes the music of this man, it is `sublime'. With body and soul immersed in music, Voleti Venkateswarulu would enthral listeners with an exquisitely melodious voice, which negotiated all three octaves with effortless ease, revealing perfect purity of shruti, and masterly grip on laya and bhava. Described by some as a `rishi' of music, he would, while singing, seem oblivious to the audience, and in direct communion with God, soaked in `Naadaanandam'.
Voleti was born in Rajahmundry on August 27, 1928 and died December 29, 1989. After training under Chaturvedula Achutramaiah Shastry, Munuganti Venkata Rao Pantulu and graduating in music from Andhra University, he came under the legendary Sripada Pinakapani's tutelage.
Voleti was a gem. Both as a musician and a person. So much learning, so much talent, yet so simple and unassuming... ," recalls Sripada. And as Nedunuri Krishnamurthi says, Voleti was a musician who set for himself and maintained the highest standards.
"He had unlimited swaragyanam and was a creative genius in raagam."
As a teacher, Voleti did yeoman public service through his radio Sangeeta Sikshana programmes.
This and his Bhaktiranjani are etched in people's memories for their style and substance. Malladi Suribabu who played the tanpura for Voleti during the warming-up session for Shikshana programmes recalls how Voleti would, then, spontaneously break into Hindustani ragas for the sheer enjoyment of it.
"He loved Hindustani swaras and their jaaru gamakas." One of those rare Carnatik musicians also adept in Hindustani, Voleti's admirers included Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Mehdi Hassan and Ghulam Ali Khan.
M.S. Gopalakrishnan and Lalgudi Jayaraman were Voleti's admirers-cum-friends. Whenever Voleti came for his Chennai performances, the tanpura would come from Jayaraman's house. Jayaraman recalls how he and Voleti would discuss music endlessly, even sing to each other.
"Voleti had the wonderful ability to lose himself in his music and enjoy it as a third person. I composed a thillana in Pahadi at his request. He was a childlike person and always gracious with his accompanists."
Voleti also rendered, memorably, compositions rarely heard at kutcheris today like Adhyatma Ramayana keerthanas; Sadhashiva Brahmendra krithis; Narayanatheertha tharangams. There's great need to retrieve these and release re-recordings. Though Voleti's music moved critics and connoisseurs to praise, no desire for fame and money seemed to move the man himself. Like so many artistes who focused on their art alone, he died leaving his family in difficult financial conditions.
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