History of College

Dr. Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana was a Carnatic musician, a classical vocalist, musicologist, author and teacher, a great administrator and motivator. He was a performer on All India Radio and Doordarshan who participated in Sangeeta Sammelans, outdoor broadcasts and national programmes innumerable times. His radio lessons and Bhakti Ranjanis were very popular. He was awarded Padma Bhushan award by the Government of India in 2010.

Born in 1938 at Mummidivaram, East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh, Akella Mallikarjuna Sharma had his initial training from his father late Ashwatthanarayana Murthy and later under P.P. Somayajulu. An ardent admirer and follower of violin virtuoso M.S. Gopalakrishnan, Sharma is one of the few violinists who adapted his inimitable style of playing the violin. His close association with Nedunuri Krishnamurthy opened up new vistas of traditional Carnatic music.

After a short stint as a staff artiste, All India Radio, Hyderabad, he worked for more than three decades as lecturer in violin in various government colleges of music and dance of Andhra Pradesh since 1961. He rendered remarkable service as principal for 12 years and retired in 1996. A strict disciplinarian and a committed teacher, Sharma has produced several good students. His duties as a paper setter, valuator and examiner for examinations held in various universities are commendable.

A top grade violinist of All India Radio, several of his programmes have been broadcast on AIR and Doordarshan. He has had the privilege of participating in the Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan concerts and the National Programme of Music, AIR, which won him wide acclaim. He has also been a graded vocal artiste of AIR, Hyderabad. He has performed extensively across the country in various prestigious sabhas including the Music Academy, Chennai. He has accompanied several eminent artistes of the country. He has several solo programmes to his credit. He has toured the U.K, USA and Canada accompanying Sri Nedunuri Krishnamurthy. He has also toured Singapore as an examiner.

A musicologist of great repute, his contribution to Carnatic music is laudable. An unparalleled exponent and sole authority on talaprastara, Sharma has unravelled the mysteries of prastara, one of the tala dasha pranas. His extensive research spanning over four decades brought to light several latent secrets which he discovered all by himself. He has penned a few books. His first book ‘Talaprastara Sagara’, published in 1985 by the AP Sangeet Academy received the best book (in the fine arts category) from the Telugu University, Hyderabad.

His second book ‘Permutative Genius in Tala (Prastara) in Indian Music’ was the revised version of the first book. After extensive research, he modified and re-published these two books in the names of ‘Talaprastara Ratnakara’ and ‘Indian Genius in Talaprastara’ respectively. He also published “Talaprastara of Nisshanka Sharngadeva’s Sangeeta Rathnakara - A Critical Interpretation”, under the senior fellowship awarded by the Government of India and ‘Systematization of Prastara Details of Deshi Talas’. His books ‘Sangeetha Svararaga Sudha’ in Telugu and English have uniquely dealt with the intricacies of raga alapana and svarakalpana. A perfectionist to the core, he has prescribed several laya exercises which will help students in rendering svarakalpana.

K. Uma Rama Rao was an Indian Kuchipudi dancer, choreographer, research scholar, author and dance teacher. In 2003, she was awarded the SangeetNatakAkademi Award for proficiency in Kuchipudi by India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama.She is a recipient of the National Senior Fellowship bestowed by the Department of Culture, Government Of India through the SangeetNatakAkademi.

She was born on 4 July 1938 as "Uma Maheswari" to Dr. V. V.Krishna Rao and Sowbhagyam in a 'Vaddadi' family from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Encouraged by her family, that has a background of distinguished scholars with a keen interest in literature, music and dance, she started training in dance from the age of 5 years from gurus like Acharya P.V. Narasimha Rao, Padmasri Dr. Nataraja Rama Krishna, BrahmasriVedantam Lakshmi Narayana Sastri, Guru Pakkiriswami Pillai and Guru C.R .Acharya in Kuchipudi, BharataNatyam and Ritual Dance traditions. She became proficient in theoretical and practical aspects of these ancient traditional art forms.

In her early years, along with her sister Sumathy Kaushal, she performed on various occasions in several places under the personal guidance of her gurus. During this period 1953 and 55, she passed examinations in Classical Music and Dance, conducted by the then Madras Government. Later with the blessings of her guru mainly, Dr. Nataraja Rama Krishna. she had taken up teaching to pass on this tradition to younger generation.

She was a post graduate in Economics from Osmania University, Hyderabad.

Uma choreographed a number of solo items, dance features, dance dramas and traditional Yakshaganas, based on the lyrics of great composers of yester years and contemporary writers of today, with innovative spirit, which brought her laurels. Her motto is to bring out old traditional literary gems to lime light and give them a new outlook, without deviating from the original traditional structure with their aesthetic, philosophical and spiritual values. To mention a few traditional plays Sri Thyagaraja'sNaukaCharitra, Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam,KingShahaji'sSankara and Vishnu PallakiSevaprabandhams, Vighneswara Kalyanam, Narayana Theertha'sSadhvi Rukmini, Matrubhutayya'sParijatapaharanam, KakuturiPadmavati's Mandakini and Siva Katyayani dance features like Viswadeepam,PanchaNadeeyam, Swara raga Nartanam of Padma Bhushan Dr. C. Narayana reddy, Telugu Velugulu, Medha, MedhaVikas on computers, which showed her multifaceted choreographic talent and her scholarly knowledge in the subject.With this background she served Sri Tyagaraja Government college of music and Dance in Hyderabad as a senior Lecturer in Dance from 1969 to 1988 and trained students in certificate, Diploma and Degree courses in BharataNatyam.

Govindrao Dantale was a disciple of Annasaheb Ratanjankar at the Marris College of Music in Lucknow and a noted musicologist. He was Principal of the Government College of Music & Dance in Ramkote, Hyderabad, for many years and has groomed several disciples.