Padma Awards For Vijayawada Musicians

The central government announced Padma awards the other day ahead of 72nd Republic Day today. Three people from Andhra Pradesh including two prominent musicians have been featured in the coveted list. The duo Annavarapu Ramaswamy and Nidumolu Sumathi hail from Vijayawada. Annavarapu Ramaswamy is considered a legend in the field of music. He has mesmerized thousands of people with Violin. The 97-year-old Ramaswamy is Carnatic Violin Vidwan who is teaching Violin to hundreds of students in Vijayawada today. The government announced Padma Sri for him in the Fine Arts category.

Born on March 23, 1926, Ramaswamy is one of the direct disciples in Guru Shishya Parampara of saint composer Tyagaraja. Although Ramaswamy was born in Somavarappadu village near Eluru in West Godavari district, he settled in Vijayawada. He started learning music from a very young age and is a disciple of Parupalli Ramakrishnayya Pantulu. Ramaswamy’s father was a Nadaswaram Vidwan, while brother Annavarapu Gopalam was a Ghatam artiste in All India Radio.

‘Vandana Raga’, and ‘Sri Durga Raga’ are the new ragas that Ramaswamy invented. He also invented new Talas like ‘Tinetradi Tala’ and ‘Vedadi Tala.’ Ramaswamy also delivered lectures on music in several countries. He is also a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, AP Sangeet Akademi Award, Hamsa Award of AP, and Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University Pratibha Award.

Balamuralikrishna was a close friend to Ramaswamy and both gave a lot of concerts together. Even today, Ramaswamy can play the violin for two hours on stage without any break.

On the other hand, Nidumolu Sumathi is another talented personality to receive Padma Sri this year under the Fine Arts category. Nidumolu Sumathi is one of the first female mrudangam players. Nidumolu Sumathi is the daughter of Nidumolu Raghavayya, who was an expert at playing the mridangam. Her father taught Mrudangam to Sumathi who later moved to Vijayawada to learn the instrument from Dandamudi Rammohan Rao. Eventually, both Sumathi and Rammohan Rao have become life partners.

Sumathi earned titles like Mrudanga Vidushi, Murdanga Siromani, Murdanga Maharani, Nadha Bhageeratha, Mrudangalaya Vidyasagar for her contribution to Fine Arts. She also received the Best Instrument Player award from Madras Music Academy in 1974, 1982, and 1985. She received Kendra Sangeetha Nataka Academy Puraskar in 2009.