RR Keshavamurthy was an India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

ist of great repute and precision. RRK, as he was popularly known specialised in the seven stringed violin. RRK was a student of Bidaram Krishnappa

Bidaram Krishnappa

Bidaram Krishnappa was a musician and composer of Carnatic Indian music in the court of King Chamaraja Wodeyar IX and King Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV of the Kingdom of Mysore....

, the Guru of the violinist Mysore T. Chowdiah. He was a legend of seven stringed violin, and the only performing seven stringed violinist to have lived well into the 21st century. He produced senior musicians like T. Rukmini, Bhuvaneshawaraih and Anoor Ramakrishna.

RRK trained a number of young musicians and is the author of a dozen books on music. He was known for his rigorous practice and discipline. Today's other performing students trained by RRK include Dr. Jyotsna Srikanth, Nalina Mohan, Jyotsna Manjunath and Nikhil Joshi. RRK presented many papers on the subject of violin playing and violin fingering

Fingering

In music, fingering is the choice of which fingers and hand positions to use when playing certain musical instruments. Fingering typically changes throughout a piece; the challenge of choosing good fingering for a piece is to make the hand movements as comfortable as possible without changing hand...

 techniques. He had commanded a unique position in the field of carnatic music.

R. R. Keshavamurthy was addressed with the title Sangeeta Vidya Sagara more frequently than others. He received many other titles such as Sangeetha Kala Rathna and Nada Bheeshma Vidwan. He was not celebrated much during his lifetime for his unique temperament and was not known to be very sociable. He was known for his terse and tough expressions. Very rugged in his approach, he had accompanied many stalwarts during his time.

He authored many music books which have stood the test of time.

Awards

• Veena Seshanna Memorial Award
• Kanaka Purandara Prashasthi in 1993
• Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
  Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
  Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists. The award consists since 2003 of Rs. 50,000, a citation, an angavastram , and a tamrapatra...