Belakavadi Srinivasa Iyengar, whose birth name was Kuppaswamy Iyengar, was a native of Srigiripura near Shivaganga (in modern Tumkur district). He came to Mysore in 1912 and was trained in music by Bakshi Subbanna, a musician in the court of King Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV. Srinivasa Iyengar was later appointed a court musician. He was an expert in the gotuvadya and the violin. He was given the title "Mysurina Madhurayi Pushpavanam" by the famous vocalist Subramanya Iyer. Srinivasa Iyengar was a noted dramatist and acted in such well-known dramas as "Babruvahana", "Rama pattabhisheka", "Veera simha charitre", "Abhignana shakuntala", "Virata charitre", and "Sudhanva charitre". Unfortunately, very few of his compositions, which written under the pen name "Srinivasa", are available today. It was Srinivasa Iyengar who popularised Purandara Dasa's Kannada song "Jagadoddharana" by composing its notation. Chikka Rama Rao, a native of Kurudi (in modern Kolar district) was trained under Mysore Karigiri Rao. He was proficient in both the Kannada and Sanskrit languages, and among musical instruments, in the veena, glass tarang and jalatarang. He gained expertise in Western music as well. He is known to have had the gift of playing the veena while singing in a melodious voice. His talent was noticed by the "Raj mata" (queen mother) who brought this to the attention of the king. After listening to him perform, the king appointed him court musician in 1914. Along with Srinivasa Iyengar, Chikka Rama Rao acted in many dramas of the day and was honoured by King Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV with the title "Sangeeta Ratna" (literally, "gem of music") and "pandit" by Hindustani music aces Abdul Karim Khan and Bhaskara Bhuva. To his credit are many compositions in Kannada, Sanskrit and Telugu.