Emani Sankara Sastry

Emani Sankara Sastry was a celebrated vainika of India. He was born on 22 September 1922 in Draksharama, Andhra Pradesh. He hails from a family with a lineage of classical musicians. His father, Vainika Bhooshana Veena Acharya Emani Achyuta Rama Sastri, was a famous vainika. At the age of 3, he used to play Veena with his father. Sastry completed his education at Pithapuram Maharaja College, Kakinada, Andra Pradesh. It was in 1940 when he first gave a concert in Trichy All India Radio Station. In 1942, he joined the Gemini Studios at Madras and worked in the music division.

He worked on composing the tunes of popular films such as Mangla, Sansar, Bahut Din Huwe, Vindhyarani, Nishan, Mr. Sampat, and the English version of Chandralekha. In 1959, he was appointed All India Radio producer at Madras. He later became the director and composer of the National Orchestra. He played Veena with famous classical musicians Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan, Pandit Ravi Shankar Born on April 7, 1920, in Banaras, Uttar Pradesh, >> Read More... , and Pandit Gopal Krishan Sharma. Sastry’s orchestrations (vaadhyabrnda) include Adarsa Sikhararohanam (1953), Swara Tarangini, Indu, and Brmara Vinyas.

On 8 January 1974, he performed at the festival of the International Music Council in Paris on a special invitation from Yehudi Menuhin. In 1973, he was honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. In the same year, he won the Asian Rostrum Award for the raga Sankarabharanam, played by him on the Veena. In 1974, the Government of India honoured his contributions to classical music with Padma Shri. He became the first South Indian musician to be honoured with the title of Maha Mahopadhyaya by Banaras Hindu University (BHU). Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru named him a Harbinger of Indian art abroad. He died in the year 1987.