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S. Balachander, best known to many of us as a veena maestro, was very different from the musicians one usually comes across. He was much more than just a great vainika. A man with strong convictions, he stood up for what he believed was the truth, even if this meant he was standing alone against the rest of the world. He was often at odds with others and consequently, his was a life mired in controversies.

It is surprising to note that despite his monumental contributions to multiple fields, many of which he was self-taught in, and despite of his work having inspired so many people, not much has been written about him yet. It is as though many conveniently choose to forget/ ignore him and his contributions. Vikram Sampath’s latest book, the biography of this multi-faceted maverick genius, is thus a very welcome one.

It is not an easy task to write the biography of someone like Balachander and Vikram seems to have done a commendable job. He has tried his best to look at things impartially without seeming to get too much emotionally entangled with the subject. Sufficient details have been provided about the different things Balachander tried his hands at (carnatic percussion, sitar, cinema, veena etc) and about his key contributions to these, especially to the art of veena playing. Balachander’s mercurial rise in a field which was, at that time, dominated by very talented vocalists, his contributions towards making carnatic music internationally popular, his open mindedness at absorbing goodness irrespective of where it came from, his contribution to veena playing (including the changes he brought in to both the instrument as well as the  to the style of playing), his tussle with the establishment and his involvement in controversies (including the Swati Tirunal one) are very well documented. The book also provides a beautiful summary of the changes that both Carnatic music and the environment in which it existed underwent over the years.

I would recommend this book as a must read for anyone involved with art music just for the collection of Balachander’s thoughts gleaned from his dairy/ album entries and his speeches, if not for anything else.

Padma Bhushan:

• Shri M.S. Gopalakrishnan (Carnatic – Violin)
• Shri T.V. Gopalakrishnan (Carnatic – Vocal & Mrudangam)
• Pt. Buddhadev Das Gupta (Hindustani – Sarod)

Padma Shri:

• Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar (Hindustani – Vocal)
• Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan (Hindustani – Sitar)
• Gundecha Brothers (Hindustani – Vocal)
• Shri Anup Jalota (Vocal)

The complete list of awardees is as follows (Source: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=79881 )

Padma Vibhushan

Padma Bhushan

Padma Shri

Note: * indicates awardees in the category of Foreigners / NRIs/ PIOs/ Posthumous.

# indicates duo case.

Vocal:  Sangeetha Ayyar

Violin: V.L. Kumar

Mrudangam:  R. Ramkumar

Venue:  Ambalam, Yamuna Street, Besant Nagar, Chennai

Sabha:  Ambalam & Rasayana

List of songs:

1) mAtru dEvO bhava (varNam) – nAgasvarAvaLi – Adi – mOhan ayyar 

2) shrI mahAgaNapatE – AbhOgi – kanDa cApu – n.s. rAmacandran (OS)

3) aTukArAdani – manOranjani – Adi – tyAgarAjA

4) vishAlAkshIm – kAshirAmakriyA – misra chApu – muthusvAmi dIkSitar (ANS)

5) vipancyA gAyanti (viruttam) – sahAnA

shrI kamalAmbikAyAm – sahAnA – tisra tripuTa – muthusvAmi dIkSitar

6) nI pAdamE gati – naLinakAnti – rUpakam – g.n. bAlasubramaNiam

7) rAgam tAnam pallavi – kIravANi – kanDa tripuTa (2 kaLai) (T)

   pallavi wordings: “gOvindA gOpAlA jagannAthA, harE krishnA hari”

   eDuppu: 4 akSaram after samam, arudi: 14 akSaram 

8 )  yA kundEndu (viruttam) – bhImpLAs

    veLLai tAmarai – bhImpLAs – Adi – subramaNya bhArati

9) jAgO bansivAlE – lalit – Adi – mIrAbAi (O)

10) dhIm tadaratAni (tillAnA) – rAkEshrI – Adi – lAlguDi g. jayarAman 

11) nI nAma rUpa mulaku (mangaLam) – saurAshTram – Adi – tyAgarAja

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, t=tAnam, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram, T=taniavartanam)

Vocal:  R. Raghavendra

Violin: R. Rahul

Mrudangam:  R. Ramkumar

Venue:  Swamy’s Hall, Mandaveli, Chennai

Sabha:  Sriranjani

List of songs:

1) sarasUDa (varNam) – sAvEri – Adi – kothavAsal venkaTrAma iyer (O)

2) dinamaNi vamsha – harikAmbOji – Adi – tyAgarAja (OS)

3) nE pogaDakunTE – varALi – kanDa cApu – tyAgarAja (ANS)

4) gAnarasamuDan nin – bEgaDa – rUpakam – pApanAsam sivan (A)

5) pAlincu kAmAkSi – madhyamAvati – Adi – shyAma sAstri (ANST)

6) ezhiluDai hamsanAdam – hamsanAdam – Adi – tanjAvUr shankara iyer (O)

7) tOm tanana dirana (tillAnA) – hamsAnandi – Adi – srImushnam rAjA rAo

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, t=tAnam, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram, T=taniavartanam)

Vocal:  Karthik Narayanan

Violin: Ravi Srinivasan

Mrudangam:  R. Ramkumar

Venue:  Ramarao Kala Mantap, Habibullah Road, T. Nagar, Chennai

Sabha:  Nungambakkam Cultural Academy

List of songs:

1) jaya jaya – nATTai – kanDa cApu – purandaradAsa (OS)

2) durmArga carAdamulanu – ranjani – rUpakam – tyAgarAja (A)

3) mahAlakSmI jaganmAtA – shankarAbharaNam – misra cApu – pApanAsam sivan (ANST)

4) karAravindEna padAravindam (shLokam) – rAgamAlikA

gOvardhana giridhAra – darbAri kAnaDA – Adi – nArAyaNa tIrtha

5) mAlAsai kObam (tiruppugazh) – mAND – Adi – aruNagirinAthar

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, t=tAnam, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram, T=taniavartanam)

Vocal:  Mumbai G. Shilpa

Violin: C.N. Srinivasamurthy

Mrudangam:  R. Ramkumar

Venue:  NKT Muthu Hall, Triplicane, Chennai

Festival:  Art Festival, Triplicane

List of songs:

1) entO prEmatOnu (varNam) – bahudAri – Adi – lAlguDi g. jayarAman

2) gajavadanA karuNA – shrIranjani – Adi – pApanAsam sivan (S)

3) mrudu bhAshiNi – amrutavarshiNi – rUpakam – mangaLam gaNapati (AS)

4) parAmukham ElarA – suruTTi – Adi – tyAgarAja

5) shrI krishnam – tODi – Adi – muthusvAmi dIkSitar (ANST)

6) mAzE manOrath (abhang) – shubhapantuvarALi – catusra Eka – nAmdEv

7) shrInivAsa tiru – hamsAnandi – Adi – pApanAsam sivan

8 ) eruvAi karuvAi (tiruppugazh) – behAg – Adi – aruNagirinAthar

9) taka dhIm ta dhIm (tillAnA) – dEsh – Adi – lAlguDi jayarAman

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, t=tAnam, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram, T=taniavartanam)

Vocal:  Rahul Narayan

Violin: Vittal Rangan

Mrudangam:  R. Ramkumar

Venue:  Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium, MCTM School, Luz Church Road, Alwarpet, Chennai

Sabha:  Brahma Gana Sabha

List of songs:

1) ninnE bhajana – nATTai – Adi – tyAgarAja (OS)

2) mA ramaNan – hindOLam – rUpakam – pApanAsam sivan

3) taNigai vaLar – tODi – kanDa cApu – pApanAsam sivan (ANS)

4) dEvi brOva samayamidE – cintAmaNi – Adi – shyAma sAstri

5) svara rAga sudhA – shankarAbharaNam – Adi – tyAgarAja (ANST)

6) kanDEnA gOvindanA – candrakauns – Adi – purandaradAsa

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, t=tAnam, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram, T=taniavartanam)

Vocal:  Deekshita Venkataraman

Violin: Shradha Ravindran

Mrudangam:  R. Ramkumar

Venue:  Sastri Hall, Luz Church Road, Mylapore, Chennai

Sabha:  Sri Kapali Fine Arts

List of songs:

1) viribONi (varNam) – bhairavi – kanDa aTa – pachimiriyam adiyappA

2) gaNanAdanE – sArangA – Adi – periasAmi thUran (OS)

3) nI pAdamE gati – naLinakAnti – rUpakam – g.n. bAlasubramaNiam (AS)

4) saundara rAjam – brindAvana sArangA – rUpakam – muthusvAmi dIkSitar

5) pArvati ninnu nE – kalgaDa – Adi (tisra gati) – shyAma sAstri

6) ETi janma – varALi – misra cApu – tyAgarAja (ANST)

7) dinam hanumanai – bhImpLAs – Adi – madurai g.s. maNi

8 ) Ayiram Ayiram – cArukEsi – Adi – nIlA rAmamUrti

9) rAmanai bhajithAl – mAND – Adi – pApanAsam sivan

10) taka dhIm ta dhIm (tillAnA) – dEsh – Adi – lAlguDi jayarAman

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, t=tAnam, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram, T=taniavartanam)

Vocal:  Karthik Narayanan

Violin: Chidambaram Badrinath

Mrudangam:  R. Ramkumar

Venue:  Sastri Hall, Luz Church Road, Mylapore, Chennai

Sabha:  Sri Kapali Fine Arts

List of songs:

1) vallabha nAyakasya – bEgaDA – rUpakam – muthusvAmi dIkSitar (OS)

2) rArA mAyiNTi – asAvEri – Adi – tyAgarAja (O)

3) ninnu vinAga mari – pUrvikalyANi – misra cApu – shyAmA sAstri (A)

4) mAl marugA murugA – vanaspati – Adi – d. paTTammAL

5) O rangashAyi – kAmbOji – Adi – tyAgarAja (ANST)

6) tunbam nErgayil – dEsh  – Adi  – bhAratidAsan (O)

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, t=tAnam, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram T=taniavartanam)

Vocal:  Aravind Sundararajan

Violin: Ravi Srinivasan

Mrudangam:  R. Ramkumar

Venue:  Ragasudha Hall, Luz Avenue, Mylapore, Chennai

Sabha:  Naada Inbam

List of songs:

1) viribONi (varNam) – bhairavi – kanDa aTa – pachimiriyam adiyappA (O)

2) sakala lOka nAyikE – Arabhi – Adi – UthukkADu venkaTa subbaiyer (O)

3) ninnE nammitinayyA – simhEndra madhyamam – misra cApu – mysore vAsudEvAcAr (ANS)

4) Ela teliyalErO – darbAr – misra cApu – tyAgarAjA (A)

5) EdayyA gati – calanATTai – Adi – kOTIshvara iyer

6) dakSiNAmUrttE – shankarAbharaNam – misra jampa – muthusvAmi dIkSitar (ANST)

7) oyyAra naDayuDan – dEsh – Adi – padmA vIrarAghavan (O)

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, t=tAnam, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram T=taniavartanam)

Vocal:  Brinda Manickavasakan

Violin: Akkarai Sornalatha

Mrudangam:  R. Ramkumar

Venue:  MFAC Hall, Musiri Subramaniam Road, Mylapore, Chennai

Sabha:  The Mylapore Fine Arts Club (MFAC)

List of songs:

1) sendil vAzh murugayyA (varnam) – hamIrkalyANi – Adi – t.r. subramaNiam (O)

2) shyAma sundarAnga – dhanyAsi – rUpakam – tyAgarAja (AS)

3) cittam irangAdEnayyA – sahAnA – misra cApu – pApanAsam sivan (A)

4) ninnu nEra – dEvamanOhari – Adi – harikEsanallUr muthiAh bhAgavatar (O)

5) mInAkSI mEmudam dEhi – gamakakriyA – Adi – muthusvAmi dIkSitar (ANST)

6) pADum tiran ellAm – dEsh – Adi – ?? (O)

7) adala sEdanArADa (tiruppugazh) – rAgamAlikA – tisra Ekam + kanDa cApu – aruNagirinAthar

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, t=tAnam, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram T=taniavartanam)

Vocal:  S.R. Mytreyi

Violin: Jayanthi Keshav

Mrudangam:  R. Ramkumar

Venue:  Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, East Mada St., Mylapore, Chennai

Sabha:  Kartik Fine Arts

List of songs:

1) mAl marugan (varnam) – hindOLam – Adi – tanjAvUr shankara iyer (O)

2) shrI vighnarAjam bhajE – gambhIranATTai – kanDa cApu – UthukkADu venkaTa subbaiyer (OS)

3) evaru manaku – dEvagAndhAri – Adi – tyAgarAjA

4) kAshI visAlAkSIm – gamakakriyA – rUpakam – muthusvAmi dIkSitar (ANS)

5) vara rAga laya – cencukAmbOji – Adi – tyAgarAja

6) jananI mAmava – bhairavi – misra cApu – svAti tiruNAL (ANST)

7) ARiru taDantOL vAzhga (viruttam) – rAgamAlikA

     pUnguyil kUvum – kApi – Adi – kalki krishnamUrti

8 ) iTu sAhasamulu – saindhavi – Adi – svAti tiruNAL

9) kaNNaniDam eDuttu – rAgamAlikA – Adi – ambujam krishnA

10) ta dirana tana dirana (tillana) – Anandabhairavi – kanDa cApu – tanjavUr shankara iyer

11) tuLLu mada vETkai (tiruppugazh) – hamsAnandi – Adi – aruNagirinAthar

12) karpagamE – madhyamAvati – Adi – pApanAsam sivan

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, t=tAnam, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram T=taniavartanam)

Vocal:  Smt. Niranjana Srinivasan

Violin: Shri K.J. Dileep

Mrudangam:  R. Ramkumar

Venue:  Kesava Perumal Temple, Mylapore, Chennai

Sabha:  Musicians Academy of Fine Arts

List of songs:

1) innum en manam (varNam) – cArukEsi – Adi – lAlguDi g. jayarAman (O)

2) nI dayarAdA – vasantabhairavi – rUpakam – tyAgarAja

3) tuNai purindaruL – suddha hindOLam (varamu) – Adi – pApanAsam sivan (AS)

4) mangAmbudhi hanumantA – dharmavati – Adi – annamAcAryA (A)

5) thUmaNi mADathu – hamIrkalyANi – Adi – ANDAL (O)

6) Om namO nArAyaNA – karnaranjani – kanDa cApu – ambujam krishnA (O)

7) rAmA rAmA – vasantA – Adi (tisra gati) – purandaradAsa

8 ) nArAyaNa divya nAmam – mOhanam – Adi – pApanAsam sivan (ANST)

9) AlamAmarathin ilai mEl (viruttam) – dEsh

    varuvAi varuvAi – dEsh – Adi – subramaNya bhArati

10) sumandu mAmalar (viruttam) – rAgamAlikA – nammAzhvAr

      Ezhumalai mEvum – sumanEsa ranjani – Adi – sAttUr karpagam

11) tAm tAm tAm (tillAnA) – khamAs – Adi – paTTaNam subramaNya iyer

12) nI nAma rUpa mulaku (mangaLam) – saurAshTram – Adi – tyAgarAja

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, t=tAnam, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram T=taniavartanam)

Vocal:  Smt. Vidya Subramanian

Violin: Shri S.P. Ananthapadmanabha

Mrudangam:  R. Ramkumar

Venue:  Narada Gana Sabha, TTK Road, Chennai

Sabha:  Narada Gana Sabha

List of songs:

1) taruNi ninnu (varNam) – kAmbOji – Adi – fiDDle ponnusvAmi piLLai (O)

2) shrI nArada nAda – kAnaDA – rUpakam – tyAgarAja (OS)

3) piravA varam tArum – latAngi – Adi – pApanAsam sivan (A)

4) rAmA kathA sudhA – madhyamAvati – Adi – tyAgarAja (ANST)

5) EdayyA gati – calanATTai – Adi – kOTIsvara iyer  

6) rAgam tAnam pallavi – kAmbOji – kaNDa tripuTa (2 kaLai) 

pallavi wordings: “ta ta dhi mi   ta dhi mi    dhi mi  enrADum, kanaka sabEshanE”

eDuppu: 2 akSarams before samam, arudi: 10 akSarams

7) Adau rAma tapOvanAdi gamanam (viruttam) – rAgamAlikA

  jAnakI ramaNa – kApi – Adi – vAnamAmalai jeeyar

8 ) tillAnA – cencuruTTi – Adi (tisra gati) – lAlguDi g. jayarAman (O)

9) mangaLam jaya mangaLam (mangaLam) – vasantA – Adi – ambi dIkSitar

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, t=tAnam, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram T=taniavartanam)

Vocal:  Smt. Pallavi Prasanna Madyastha

Violin: Shri Kovai Chandran

Mrudangam:  R. Ramkumar

Venue:  Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore, Chennai

Sabha: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

List of songs:

1) inta mODi (varNam) – sArangA – Adi – tiruvaTriyUr tyAgayyar (O)

2) rAga sudhA rasa – AndOlikA – Adi – tyAgarAja (S)

3) nI pAdamE gati – naLinakAnti – rUpakam – g.n. bAlasubramaNiam (A)

4) svAgatam krishnA – mOhanam – Adi (tisra gati) – UthukADu venkaTa subbaiyer (O)

5) pArvati nAyakanE – shanmukhapriyA – Adi – pApanAsam sivan (ANST)

6) kurai onrum illai – rAgamAlikA – Adi – c.rAjagOpAlachAri

7) tillAnA – dhanashrI – Adi – svAti tiruNAL (O)

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, t=tAnam, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram T=taniavartanam)