Pantula Rama

• Name — Pantula Rama • Instrument — Violin, Viola • Years Active — 1980–present • Genre — Carnatic Music • Occupation — Singer • Label — Charsur Digital Station • Website — www.pantularama.me

Pantula Rama was born to parents who are musicians. Her father is a violinist, and her mother is a Veena player. Her father was her first music teacher. After finishing school, Rama obtained a seat in MBBS. Eventually, she earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in music from Andhra University. Her Ph.D. thesis at the same university was titled "A study of the shaping of an ideal musician through saadhana", and was published by Gyan Publishers.

Rama has performed at various concerts and festivals. • She performed at a concert in January 2009. V. Subrahamaniam wrote: "Exquisite music taste was on display in Rama’s raga alapana. Her imagination and manodharana gushed out as though the gates of a reservoir had been opened up, each sanchara revealing chaste Kalyani." • In 2011, she performed at Thyagaraya Ganasabha. Gudipoodi Srihari wrote: "She displayed an assertive voice and command of musical grammar." • She performed at a concert in Chennai with her husband, MSN Murthy, and others. The Hindu wrote: "It requires immense skill, technical capacity, creative faculty of a high order, and detailed knowledge of the lakshanas of ragas to effortlessly elucidate them." • She performed at the tenth edition of the Indira Sivasailam concert in October 2019. The Hindu wrote: "In this special concert, her complex and scholarly ragam-tanam-pallavi in Kalyani was the piece de résistance. It was composed to an intricate rhythm, which was, indeed, Pantula Rama’s forte." In 2017, Rama started an initiative called PaRa to raise awareness of Carnatic music. PaRa means the supreme consciousness. Through this initiative, she collaborated with other artists to organize events.