After honouring Carnatic Vocalist and Music Composer, Vidushi Prema Ramamurthy, with the Telangana Ugadi Puraskar, the Telangana Government is now honouring the Carnatic Vocalist with the Lifetime Achievement Award at Ravindra Bharati. Telangana Government Hon’ble Minister of Culture, Jupally Krishna Rao garu will confer the award, on Vidushi Prema Ramamurthy.
Honourable guests who will be a witness to this great honour include Padma Shri and SNA Awardee Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayant, Annamayya Vyakhyata Venkat Garikapati, Chairman Aswini Subba Rao, Prof. K.V. Achalapathi, and Department of Language & Culture, Government of Telangana, Director, Dr. Mamidi Harikrishna.
On this occasion, to celebrate Vidushi Prema Ramamurthy’s honour, her daughter, Dr. Jayaprada Ramamurthy, a Carnatic Flute artist will be performing.
Born on 28 August 1949 at Bellary, to Nagraj Subbaiah Sastry, and Jayalakshmi, Vidushi Prema Ramamurthy was initiated into Carnatic music at the age of three. She trained under her illustrious grandfather Srinivasa Sastry, who was a recognised Carnatic Flute artist, during his time. Hyderabad-based Prema Ramamurthy, one of the senior-most classical musicians, has been performing since the last six decades.
Vidushi Prema has been associated with Great Masters by learning under them and performing along with them. The Carnatic Vocalist, a senior-most disciple of Carnatic Legend, Dr. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna, has had a five-decade long association with the Legend. She also learnt Pallavi Singing from Guru T.V. Gopalakrishnan and specialised ‘Padams & Javalis’ from Smt. T Muktha. Under the guidance of such Great Masters, she blossomed into one of the leading Carnatic vocalists and composers of the world.
Recently, the President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu, honoured Vidushi Prema with the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in Delhi. A Top-Grade artiste of AIR & Doordarshan, Vidushi Prema is a selection panel member of the Prasar Bharati. One of the first recipients of New York Rockefeller Foundation Award, the Carnatic Vocalist was also honoured at Texas, USA in August 2023 by various organisations, for her lifetime achievements, as one of the leading musicians of the world.
The Hyderabad-based artist is one of the earliest and leading most composers for classical productions, and has collaborated for several renowned artists and foundations across the country. The vocalist has composed music for documentary films, art tele-films, devotional albums, thematic productions etc. Vidushi Prema has also tuned for National Award-winning documentary films produced by the Films Division of India.
The Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardee has been bestowed with many titles such as ‘Sangeeta Saraswati’, ‘Amrita Varshini’, ‘Sangeeta Ratna’, ‘ Gana Kokila’, to mention a few. A New Delhi- based Art Critic has said that Vidushi Prema Ramamurthy is ‘Dakshin Bharat Parveen Sultana.
During her Lifetime, Vidushi Prema has toured over 50 countries and participated in several ICCR Festivals across the world. She has also performed for several prestigious concerts such as Sangeet Sammelan, Sangeet Natak Akademi Festival, National Programme of Music, Dept. of Culture & Tourism festivals etc., Madras Music Academy, Tiruvaiyaru Tyagaraja Festival, Kartik Fine Arts, Gayana Samaj, Swar Sangeet Samaroh, DD Bharati, Nada Neeranjanam, ETV 2, C-TV, and international media.
After apartheid was lifted in South Africa, Prema was one of the first set of artists to visit the country. To her credit, the artist has also released many solo and collaborational audio and video albums. Many of her students across the globe are doing her proud.