The 99-year-old doyen of Carnatic music, Prof Sripada Pinakapani, revered as master of masters in classical music, is no more.
The nonagenarian musician, who was the guru of some of the legendary classical vocalists such as Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, Nookala China Satyanarayana, Malladi Suri Babu and Malladi Brothers, passed away in Kurnool on Monday evening.
Bed-ridden for nearly a decade, he had been suffering from a lung infection for the past 10 days and breathed his last around 6 pm on Monday. Born on Aug 3, 1913 at Praya Agraharam in Srikakulam district, he was a medical doctor by profession and taught medicine all his life. He served at the Madras Medical College, Andhra Medical College and the Kurnool Medical College.
He wrote several books on Carnatic music and the multi-volume Gaanakalasarvasvamu had every minute detail of kritis. Pinakapani had performed at major music festivals and concerts. He himself was a disciple of Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu.
A Tribute
‘’In the demise of Sripada Pinakapani, the world of classical music has lost a master for whom music was life and I have lost my guru and guide. He was my inspiration and I did my PhD in music under his guidance and I follow his sampradaya of music.
‘’He was my china tatagaru (grandfather) by relation and I have never seen such a person for whom music is everything. He was a Meru Sikharam in the world of classical music. Several legendary classical vocalists like Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, Nookala China Satyanarayana and Srirangam Gopalaratnam were his disciples.
For the past decade he had been bed-ridden but his every waking thought was for music and nothing else. He was a yogi of music. In the last three decades, he composed a thousand muktas which will be brought out in book form shortly. ‘’When I visited him couple of days ago, his whole body was connected with different tubes as he was put on ventilation. But for the few minutes he was conscious he was only talking of music. There is no one like him today and there will not be one like him tomorrow.
‘’I remember people astonish at his dedication to the music, for he used to listen to people singing for hours and discuss but not utter a word about materialistic world.
‘’He was a doctor by profession and had retired as superintendent of the Kurnool Government Hospital more than four decades ago. He had married Balamaba, a talented singer. He is survived by three sons and a daughter and several grandchildren. Continuing his legacy and passing his sampradaya to the future generations is all the tribute we can pay to the legend.’’
— Dr S Umadevi, Asst Prof of Music, Telugu University
(As told to S Guru Srikanth)