Dandamudi Ramamohan Rao also known as Dandamudi Ramamohana Rao is an Indian

mridangam The ''mridangam'' is an ancient percussion instrument originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic music ensemble. In Dhrupad, a modified version, the pakhawaj, is the primary percussion in ...

player. He received the ''Kala Praveena'' title from the Andhra Pradesh Sangeet Natak Academy in 1981 and the

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (IAST: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recogni ...

for mridangam from

Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English language, English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. It is an autonomous body of the Ministry of Culture (India) ...

, Government of India in 1994.

Biography

Dandamudi Ramamohan Rao was born on 18 March 1933, in

Vuyyuru Vuyyuru is a town in Krishna district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a Nagar panchayat and the headquarters of Vuyyuru Mandal. It is emerging as neighbourhood of Vijayawada, India situated 30 km away. History It was part ...

in present-day

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

. He began learning the mridangam at the age of six. An exponent of the Pudukottai style of mridangam, he received training from eminent musicians such as K. Ranganayakulu, Potluri Veeraraghava Chowdhury, Tirupati Ramanuja Suri, Edara Nagaraju and Palani Subramaniam Pillai. He gave his first concert in 1939. Along with the mridangam, he has also mastered the

Kanjira The kanjira, khanjira, khanjiri or ganjira, a South Indian frame drum, is an instrument of the tambourine family. As a folk and bhajan instrument, it has been used in the Indian subcontinent for many centuries. The Kanjira's emergence in Sout ...

and

Morsing The morsing (also mukharshanku, mourching, morching or morchang; Sanskrit: दंत वाद्यन्तरात्मसत्रस्य, Telugu: మోర్సింగ్, Kannada: ಮೋರ್ಸಿಂಗ್, Rajasthani: मोर ...

. His wife, Nidumolu Sumathi, a renowned mridangam player, was first his student and later his co-performer. He died on 31 January 2011 at

Vijayawada Vijayawada ( ), formerly known by its colonial name Bezawada, is the second largest city and a major commercial hub in the Andhra Pradesh state of India. The city forms an integral part of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region and is situated on th ...

Career

In his mridangam career spanning over five decades, other than solo mridangam concerts, Dandamudi has played the mridangam alongside many accomplished Carnatic musicians. Dandamudi served as a staff artist at All India Radio, Vijayawada for five decades, retiring from there in 1993. Dandamudi, who was also a mridangam teacher, had disciples including his wife Nidumolu Sumathi, M. Lakshminarayana Raju, Pulledikurthi Rama Rao, A. Krishnamohan Sathya Narayanan, M. Mokkapathi Nageswara Rao, and

M. Balamuralikrishna Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna (né Muralikrishna; 6 July 1930 – 22 November 2016) was an Indian Carnatic vocalist, musician, multi-instrumentalist, playback singer, composer, and character actor. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sa ...

Awards and honors

In 1981, Dandamudi received the title ''Kala Praveena'' from the Andhra Pradesh Sangeetha Nataka Academy. He received the

for mridangam in 1994.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rammohan Rao, Dandamudi Mridangam players Carnatic instrumentalists Indian male classical musicians Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award 1933 births 2011 deaths