Madhvaraj Umarji

On November 7, 1914, in Bilagi, Madhvaraj Umarji was born to Shree Govindacharya and Smt. Bheemabai. They had a natural right to worship and sing devotional songs since they were a traditional, God-fearing family. Since Madhvaraj was the youngest, he was very close to his mother and was always humming religious tunes that his mother had taught him. 

Tammanna Bhat, a teacher and the father of the renowned author Krishnmoorty Puranik, gave a shape to the devotional songs of Madhvaraj.

When he was in school, Madhvaraj became more interested in music and singing than completing exams. In Salotagi, the play "shamantakhopakyana," in which Madhvaraj played the lead role, was performed. Because of this mindset, he had a very tough time passing his SSLC in Bilagi in 1933. He maintained farming instead of becoming a teacher and associated with Radhabai and Mansur Mahalinamani, two other artists in Bilagi. He relocated to Hubballi and followed Shri Gundachar Mannur's instructions.

The director of the Indian Art Music School, Shree Mahaveer Kasturi, recognised Madhvaraj and extended an invitation to join his institution. On July 19, 1935, Madvaraj joined as well. Because of his focus, he was skilled in playing the flute, harmonium, tabala, jalataranga, and other instruments, in addition to singing. He had practice from 7 to 10 am and singing from 5 to 10 evening. The remaining time was spent by teaching students.

On December 27, 1935, a musical conference was planned for Mumbai's Sir Kasaji Jahangeer Hall, where he was employed as a secretary. His musical programme including the flute was expanded to include Pune, Sollapur, Vijayapura, Gadag, Bengaluru, Mysore, Chennai, etc. In 1936, he went back to Bilagi and joined Amirbai and Goharjan, two more enormous personalities.

He performed a hero role for the Bagyodaya Company in 1937, and the owner gave him the honour of becoming "Natasamrat." His proficiency earned him the title of "Shreshta Nata of Karnataka" when he joined the Dattatreya Sangeeta Naataka Mandali. "Jaya Karnataka Natya Sangha" is what he joined. In addition to this, he also performed in Kandagal Hanamatraya's "Chitrangada, Raktaratri, Akshayanjura, Kuarukshetra, etc." He has performed in the plays Basaveshwar and Kanakadas. He used to play the part and bring the character to life. He worked with the Udupi-based Shastra Drama Company and the Garuda Sadashivaraya Drama Company from Gadag. He appeared in the Kannada films Basaveshwar and Kanakadas, however the movies have not been released because of financial issues.

Madhvaraj was the First Kannadiga to perform/sang for Columbia Recording Company. They recorded six songs for his plays Renuka, Akkamahadevi, and Basaveshwar. He wanted to appear in English and Hindi movies. But he passed away at a young age on April 28, 1952, in Hanagal.