Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu

Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu ()(b. 8 November 1893 to d. 25 November 1964) was one of the most important carnatic violinists of the 20th century.

Early life and background

Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu was born in November (Deepavali day), in Bangalore, India and was raised in Visakhapatnam. He was appointed Professor of violin in the Maharaja's Music College in Vijayanagaram, at the young age of 26, and became its principal in 1936.

Performing career

He was the first one to start the violin solo concerts. His first solo concert was given in Vellore in 1938.

He was partially blind. He played at the National Physical Laboratory auditorium, New Delhi in 1952, to raise funds for the Blind Relief Association.

Yehudi Menuhin, a world renowned violinist, was greatly impressed when he heard Dwaram play at Justice P.V. Rajamannar's house. The famous playback singer Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao learned Carnatic music under Naidu.

He was known for his extremely well developed soft bowing technique combined with a firm fingering technique.

He wrote several interesting articles on music, like an essay on the "Peculiar characteristics of the tambura".

He cautioned his disciples against missing practice even for a day. “If you don’t practice for one day, you will notice your mistakes, if you don’t practice for two days the audience would notice your mistakes!!”. He often used to say, "Music is an audible tapas."

Sri Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu Memorial Trust was...
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