Singer Sunitha Emotional Over Guru Pemmaraju Surya Rao's Demise

Singer Sunita, who recently got married to entrepreneur Ram Veerapaneni recently at the Sri Sitaramachandra Swamy Temple near Shamshabad, took to social media to express her condolences over the death of her music guru Sri Pemmaraju Surya Rao, who passed away on Wednesday in the city of Vijayawada.

Also Read: Singer Sunitha On Husband Ram, Honeymoon, New Family And Marriage

In her message on her  Instagram, she penned a heartfelt note about her guru from whom she learned Carnatic classical vocal music. Posting in Telugu, she stated that she learnt the basics of Carnatic music from Pemmaraju Surya Rao and losing such a renowned artist was very heart wrenching for her, she wrote.

Check out Sunita's post here:

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A post shared by Sunitha Upadrasta (@upadrastasunitha)

Sunita Upadrashta  who originally hails from Guntur is a child prodigy and had learnt classical music from Pemmaraju. At a very young age of six she trained in music from Pemaraju Surya Rao in Carnatic Vocal and Light music from Kalaga Krishna Mohan. She  participated in several concerts, and programs featured by All India Radio at Vijayawada under his tutelage. At the age of 13, she also participated in Tyagaraja Aradhana utsavalu along with her guru Pemmaraju Surya Rao

Sr Pemmaraju Surya Rao Biography

Pemmaraju Surya Rao (87), was born in 1934 and hailed from Machilipatnam of Krishna district. He was a highly regarded artist in the field of Carnatic music. Strong in both theory and practice, he had a  distinguished career as a performing artist. He was honoured with ‘Suvarna Ghanta Kankanam’ in 2006,  ‘Ugadi Puraskaram-2012’ in combined Andhra Pradesh, received the prestigious ‘Hamsa Award’ in 2018 from the State government. He was also bestowed with titles like ‘Sangeeta Ratna’, ‘Sunada Sudhanidhi’ and ‘Lakshya Lakshana Geya Swarakartagresara'.

Pemmaraju Surya rao also authored  the biography of  Kuchipudi  exponent Dr. Vempati Chinna Satyam titled ‘Vempati - the Maestro with a Mission’ along with Andavilli Satyanarayana, an eminent educationist  from the SRR & CVR College and Indian Express columnist from Vijayawada. Pemmaraju was also the cultural reporter for the The Hindu in Vijayawada from 1975.

He was an ‘A’ grade artiste of the All India Radio at Vijayawada and Doordarshan. He  joined the G.V.R. Government College of Music and Dance  in the year 1961 and retired as its principal in 1992.