P. Kalinga Rao
| P. Kalinga Rao P.ಕಾಳಿಂಗ ರಾವ್ |
|
|---|---|
| Birth name | Pandeshwara Kalinga Rao |
| Born | 1914 Aroor ,Udupi |
| Origin | Udupi district, Karnataka, India |
| Died | September 21, 1981 (aged 66–67) |
| Genres | Bhavageete, Sugama Sangeetha{film songs} |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, music composer |
Pandeshwara Kalinga Rao (Kannada: ಪಾಂಡೇಶ್ವರ ಕಾಳಿಂಗ ರಾವ್) (1914 – September 21, 1981) was an Indian Bhavageete and Sugama Sangeetha singer and composer in the Kannada language.
Kalinga Rao was married to Meenakshamma. He had four children Prema, Vasanth, Sharath, and Santosh. Kalinga Rao was a primary school drop-out. But his knowledge of six languages was near scholarly.
He popularised the Kannada Bhavageete, a form of music that derives lyrics from popular poetry and devotional works.
Kalinga Rao is widely regarded as the pioneer of the Kannada sugama sangeeta genre. He was active for three decades from 1950 and thankfully almost all of his tunes were recorded either by the gramophone companies or All India Radio. Kalinga Rao began his musical life in the era of the 78 rpm gramophone record, and the three-minute discs took his music to audiences all over Karnataka. He was also a rage on radio, and started a musical counter culture that could take on expensively produced film songs.
Poets Kuvempu, Bendre, and K S Narasimha Swamy were writing inspired lyrics that would soon turn into classics, and Kalinga Rao was instrumental in composing tunes for them. He also sang Purandaradasa and folk songs, emerging as a complete practitioner of Kannada music. Kalinga Rao used the medium of music more as a promoter of poems of great Kannada poets such as Kuvempu, D. R. Bendre and Gopalakrishna Adiga than as a performer unlike professional musicians. It was not the music, but the words of these poets which sought importance in his compositions.
Kalinga Rao had learnt Carntatic and Hindustani classical music, but chose to experiment and arrive at a style that struck a balance between classical music and film music. Aesthetically, the genre he created drew from both worlds: raga nuances from the former, and the freedom to break from raga grammar from the latter. He also brought in Western orchestra colour, just like the movie composers, but was sparing in their use. Kalinga Rao mastered a mellow, understated, and chorus-easy style. He was the Chief Composer at the Gubbi Veeranna Drama Company. He acted and composed the music for Kannada cinema "Vasantha Sena".
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