TRIPUNITHURA: T K Govinda Rao, the Chennai-based Carnatic vocalist, who died on Sunday in Chennai, was the greatest exponent of the august Mussiri Baani in Carnatic music. Rao had contributed much for the preservation of a languishing singing tradition in Carnatic music.The most remarkable among his valuable contributions is the documentation of thousands of immortal compositions scored and popularised by great musicians such as Purandaradasa, Kanakadasa and other yesteryear celebrities.As the chief producer of Delhi All India Radio, Govinda Rao could come across almost all Baanis (schools) in Carnatic Music, including his own Guru’s Bani and that of other popular singers of those days such as G N Balasubramanyam and M D Ramanathan.After absorbing the myriad styles followed by artists from different Baanis, Rao came to know that all these artists are very careful about musicality alone and not much keen about the Sahithya Bhava (literary richness) of the compositions. Many of them cited the reason for giving little importance to literary richness as the linguistic barrier which prevented them to know more about the Sahithya Bhavam of those compositions.Moved by this pitiable condition, Rao first joined with Lalithangi, mother of celebrity singer M L Vasanthakumari, to document the notated version of some compositions of Purandaradasa.After his retirement from AIR service in the early 1990s, Govinda Rao decided to document all the available compositions of the great maestros and also to form a voice bank with inimitable singing style followed by the maestros of yesteryear. For this purpose he planned to open a publishing house along with the full-fledged studio at Chennai where Rao had completed his academic life as well as official life. However, the fund needed for this great task was a puzzle for the singer. But he believed in the miracles of Lord Sree Poornathrayeesha, whom he had served in his childhood days here.In a recent interview, Rao mentioned it as a magic played by his beloved Almighty that resulted in the fulfilment of his cherished dream. When he planned a full-fledged studio and a publishing house, an offer came from Los Angeles requesting him to take music classes for a group. Using the amount obtained as his fees for these clasees, Rao could fulfil his lifetime ambition of publishing many informative texts on Carnatic music.With the amount he got from Los Angeles Govinda Rao had designed a full-fledged studio and publishing house and named them as Ganamandir Studio and Ganamandir Publications.
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