| Raju Ananthaswamy | |
|---|---|
| Died | January 17, 2009 Bangalore, Karnataka |
Raju Ananthaswamy was a Kannada composer, singer and music director. He worked on Sugama Sangeetha for more than 15 years. He was the son of vocalist Mysore Ananthaswamy. He died in 2009, at the age of 39.
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Raju Ananthaswamy displayed great musical aptitude from a young age and began playing tabla in his father’s troupe. In addition to tabla, he could play a variety of other musical instruments including the guitar, mandolin and keyboard.
Raju’s compositions and singing style was unique as well as greatly influenced by his father, late Mysore Ananthaswamy. His songs, Krishna Yenabaarade, Madhava, Beldingal raathrili, Tunge Dadadalli, Heege ondu Raathri are mile stones among his compositions and authenticate his unique style of composing.[1] He was very well known for his song Yaava mohana murali kareyitu from America America and Hottare yedbittu from movie Rishi.
Raju was an artiste in All India Radio and regularly appeared on Radio City, Doordarshan, Udaya TV, Zee Kannada and ETV TV channels. He performed with his troupe all year round. He used to set aside his weekends to teach sugama sangeetha to several students. Though Raju had set to tune more than 200 poems, he enjoyed singing his father’s compositions, which he also aspires to preserve and promote, during his performances. He was able to pass these on to the younger generation as well as his many students, through his Sugama Sangeetha school in Mysore and Bangalore.
Raju Ananthaswamy developed kidney complications on Thursday night (January 15, 2009) and was admitted to Sagar Apollo Hospital, his condition deteriorated rapidly and his death was attributed to kidney failure on January 17, 2009. He is survived by his mother Shanta Ananthaswamy and three sisters.
Ananthaswamy’s death came as a massive shock to Kannada film and music fraternity. “Raju Ananthaswamy has left behind a pool of great music compositions. His genius was not fully exploited,” said C Ashwath, Late veteran music director.
Acclaimed film director Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar expressed deep sadness at his demise and said, “Raju was a very good friend and a great person. He will be remembered for his creativity and sense of humour”. Raju’s biggest film music success, the memorable 'Yaava Mohana Murali Kareyithu' came in Chandrashekar's film America America. Incidentally, he was originally cast in a comic role in Chandrashekhar’s forthcoming film Olave Jeevana Lekkachara but Raju’s poor health didn’t allow him to fulfill his commitments.
Playback singer Manjula Gururaj expressing shock said “Raju was highly talented and losing him at such an early age is a great loss.” She remembered an incident during a recording session with his father and said “Mysore Ananthaswamy, himself was astounded by Raju’s talent and the way in which he conducted the orchestra. At that time he felt that his son will go on to achieve more than he did, but sadly it was not meant to be.”