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Divine songs, devout singing
 The
child born to Narayana Raju and Rajya Lakshmi
at Vayalpadu of Chittoor district
on November 30 1957, turned out to be a special child.
At the tender age of three, the child, Shobha, was
seeped in devotion towards the Almighty. She had already
had the vision of Lord Krishna, not the traditionally
blue complexioned but the radiating ochre hued. She
immersed herself in singing devotional songs written
by her in His praise.
Noticing Shobha's natural talent, mother Rajya Lakshmi
began to groom her in music. At the tender age of
14, Shobha cut her first disc containing Annamacharya's
compositions. Shobha Raju graduated from Sri
Papdmavathi Women's College, Tirupati, taking music
as one of her optional subjects.
Several well known teachers, including Nedunuri
Krishna Murthy, honed her skills in music. When
Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam instituted a
scholarship for studying Annamacharya Sankeertanas,
the first pupil to be invited was Shobha Raju. Subsequently,
she was given the exclusive and honourable task of propagating
Annamacharya's divine compositions. In 1983, Shobha
Raju founded the Annamacharya Bhavana Vahini in
Hyderabad solely to propagate Saint Annamacharya's thoughts,
philosophy and compositions.
Towards this purpose she gave numerous concerts in
India and abroad and brought out audio cassettes and
CDs that were well received by the masses as well as
by the connoisseurs. She also produced, directed and
wrote the story, screenplay, dialogue and music, of
the commercially successful television serial Sri Annamacharya.
Shobha Raju made a significant contribution to India's
cultural history when she released Hey Venkatapati
Raya, an audiocassette with the compositions of
saint poets rendered by her in Hindi. Her melodious
voice and emotion charged singing, she is aptly being
called the Koyal of Annamacharya Sankeertans.
Her missionary zeal, has led to her introduction to
several cultural committees, including those set up
by the South Zone and the South Central Zone
Cultural Centres. She is presently involved in the
construction of a temple-like auditorium, classrooms
and a hostel in Hyderabad for the single purpose of
researching and propagating Saint Annamacharya's life,
philosophy and his divine Sankeertans.
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