Disrespecting senior musicians hurts me a lot: Sudhakar

Swarajhari, a non-profit organisation engaged in promoting classical music, turned 27 a few days ago. The three-day anniversary fete held at Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao Government Music and Dance College is fresh in the memory of music lovers.Explaining the objectives and activities of Swarajhari, eminent vocalist and its founder Modumudi Sudhakar said, “The influence of music is powerful. Experiments are going on to cure chronic diseases through music therapy.

I started Swarajhari with an aim to promote classical music and encourage budding talent. It is organising a music programme in the city every month for the delight of music lovers.”Sudhakar was born into the family of Vaggeyakara Parupalli Ramakrishnayya Pantulu, who was the guru of legendary musicians Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna and Annavarapu Ramaswamy. Recollecting his earlier days of music, Sudhakar said he started learning music at GV Ramakumari. Later, he became a disciple of Annavarapu Ramaswamy.

He presented his first vocal concert at a programme organised by Sumadhura Kalaniketan of Vijayawada. He has more than 1,000 vocal concerts to his credit and gave performances at all major cities in the country. Sudhakar who represented Andhra Pradesh at Sri Thyagaraja Swamy festival held in the United States of America, said it was his happiest moment in the life so far. He is now a top grade vocalist in All India Radio and Vijayawada Doordarshan Kendra. His wife Anjana and daughter Sruthi Ranjani are also good classical singers, who presented a number of vocal concerts in the State. Anjana is an A grade artiste in AIR in light music category, while Shruti Ranjani is a B Tech student of Koneru Lakshmaiah University.

Sudhakar said his job provided him an opportunity to work with eminent musicians. By closely observing them during their performances for AIR and Doordarshan, he has further improved his music skills. Sudhakar, who is also a music composer, is the court musician of Kanchi Peetham. He also holds honorary posts in NCV Sangeeta Parishad and Sangeeta Sanmandali. He established Gayaka Sarvabhouma Sangeeta Parishad to organise an annual music festival in memory of his grandfather Parupalli. Apart from giving regular vocal concerts, he also came up with `Endaro Mahanubhavulu’, `Vaggeyakara Vibhavam’ and `Ramayana Gana Lahari’ devotional music albums. Commenting on new trends in the field of classical music, Sudhakar said it was unfortunate that seniors were not being given due respect and recognition now.

“With the telecast of vocal concerts on TV channels, upcoming and budding musicians are becoming popular instantly. Cultural organisations are vying with one another to organise music programmes involving the upcoming and budding musicians ignoring the seniors and their vast experience in the field of music. This kind of raw treatment is really painful sometimes. Earlier, we used to give a lot of respect to our gurus and senior musicians. Now, the situation is totally reverse with senior musicians being a neglected and disrespectful lot,’’ Sudhakar feels.

By HVRS Prasad