Vinjamuri Anasuya Devi Biography 
Vinjamuri Anasuya Devi is a Telugu folk singer and musician. She is associated with the musical instrument, harmonium. She is the daughter of legendary stage actor, Telugu-Sanskrit pandit and author, Vinjamuri Venkata Lakshmi Narasimha Rao who was a Padma Shree recipient too. Her mother Venkata Rathnamma edited a literary magazine Anasuya in 1914. Her sister Vinjamuri Seetha Devi is also a singer. In 2016 the folk queen completed 80 years of singing career and her fans celebrated it. Anasuya played an important role in popularizing lalitha sangeetham and janapada geethalu among Telugu speaking people.
Vinjamuri Anasuya Devi was born into a family of artists, litterateurs and musicians on May 12, 1920. She too is a singer, music composer, musicologist, author and expert in playing harmonium. Anasuya Devi learnt Carnatic music from her guru Munuganti Venkata Rao. But destiny was something else, and she later popularized folk music. Yet her early moorings in classical music did help her to a great extent. She learnt the art of folk music and literature from her guru Valluri Jagannatha Rao. Her voice has a peculiar and profound rustic timbre that blends naturally with folk songs.
Till the age of 20, Anasuya was giving solo concerts. She trained her sister Seetha Devi and from 1940 onwards they started singing together. She introduced light music and folk music in her concerts from 1928 and over All India Radio, Madras from 1938. She has the rare distinction of singing on various occasions, in front of national leaders of country. She is the first woman film music director in South India. She has composed tunes for Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. In her ambition to preserve rich folk music for posterity she published seven books also.
Published: February 27, 2019
Updated: February 27, 2019
