SOUTH END ROAD: Kurudi Venkannachar, the well-known Carnatic vocalist, is being honoured on Saturday.
“I have sung for more than 65 years, and done nothing else,” the 87-year-old singer, who still teaches regularly, told City Express.
A student of Chintalapalli Venkatarao, Venkannachar has also set tunes for the compositions of famous Kannada poets such as Kuvempu, Pu Ti Na and Masti Venkatesha Iyengar.
“I learnt music the gurukula way. I lived in my teacher’s house for about four years, and did all the chores every day. That was how it was done in those days,” he says.
Apart from performing live, Venkannachar has taught hundreds of students. Actress B Saroja Devi and singer Shyamala Bhave are among those who have made it big.
“All my students are capable of giving concerts,” he says, proudly.
Venkannachar has sung regularly for radio and TV. “I worked for Akashvani for 18 years. But there is nothing that beats the feeling of performing live. Radio and TV shows come with time constraints,” he says.
He admits being a musician, and nothing else, is not easy. “Depending on music for a livelihood is very risky financially. I had to struggle for 40 years, and it is only now that I have a peaceful life. I used to walk miles together and teach music in different towns,” he recalls.
When he began his career, he says, the Tamils dominated the classical music scene. “I am from Mysuru and there were times when people would ask where I came from. I just let my music do the talking,” he says.
At a concert in Mumbai, everyone except him was Tamil. “The mridangam player looked at me and said, ‘He is from Mysore. What can he sing?’ At first I fought with him. But at the concert, I sang my heart out and he could not keep up with me. He gave up playing after that concert,” he says.
He remembers sitting on a lake bed at Harapanahalli, in northern Karnataka, and screaming in Tamil, ‘Rama, enakku paattu theriyale (Rama, I don’t know how to sing).’ “I laugh at those days now,” he says.
Love of music binds everyone in Venkannachar’s family. His wife Sulachana was once his student and his son Nandakumar Kurudi is a Hindustani vocalist.
“Nandakumar learnt Carnatic music, and was also interested in Hindustani music, and so I made sure he learnt that as well. We gave 16 concerts together in the US,” he says.
He describes his wife as a good critic. “She does not shy away from telling me if my music sounds bad. She used to be scared of me as a student, but now I am scared of her criticism,” he says, laughing.
She has stood by him all through. Even when the family was not financially comfortable, many students used to live with them. “She has never complained,” he says.
When Venkannachar completed 75 years, his students and admirers decided to get together and form a trust, and so the Nadabrahma Kurudi Venkannachar Trust was formed.
It has been helping visually impaired and indigent singers. Every year the trust gives a title, ‘Sunadashee,’ to such singers. “We have been trying hard to keep the trust going. We want younger people to be involved. We also plan to conduct free music classes and workshops,” Venkannachar says.
Kurudi Venkannachar Trust is also felicitating Carnatic vocalist Vageesh K and some visually impaired musicians at Hotel Woodlands Complex, Mini Hall, Rjaram Mohan Roy Road. The event begins at 4.30 pm on Saturday.
The Nadabrahma Kurudi Venkannachar Trust is going to give away awards to singers to mark his 87th birthday on Saturday.