Rain Tree, an imprint of Rupa Publications cordially invites you to the launch of Voice of the Veena S Balachander A Biography by Vikram Sampath e book will be released by Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar Guests of Honour: Smt Prathibha Prahlad Mr Jawhar Sircar on Wednesday, 8th February 2012, at 18:30 hrs at India International Centre, Seminar Hall 2 and 3, 40 Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi - 110003 RSVP: Kanika Kalra: 08800998773 Voice of the Veena S Balachander A Biography VIKRAM SAMPATH
Transcript
Rain Tree, an imprint of Rupa Publications cordially invites you to the launch of
Voice of the Veena
S Balachander A Biography
byVikram Sampath
The book will be released by Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar
Guests of Honour:Smt Prathibha Prahlad
Mr Jawhar Sircar
on Wednesday, 8th February 2012, at 18:30 hrs
at India International Centre, Seminar Hall 2 and 3,
40 Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi - 110003
RSVP: Kanika Kalra: 08800998773
Voice of the Veena S Balachander
A Biography
Vikram Sampath
Praise for ‘My Name is Gauhar Jaan! The Life and Times of a Musician’
‘Reading the book has opened a whole new world for me...I admire Vikram’s skills as a researcher and his passion for the subject.’
- Shri M Hamid Ansari, Honourable Vice-President of India
‘Compelling and admirably well-researched narrative.’ - Namita Devidayal, The Times of India
‘It’s biggest strength is that it narrates the dramatic life of a woman artiste with all her
idiosyncracies, even as it tells us the tale of the world that shaped her life...meticulously researched documentation.’
- The Hindu
Praise for ‘Splendours of Royal Mysore. The Untold Story of the Wodeyars’
‘Indian history has come of age...work of epic proportions…the author’s relentless curiosity and passion throbs through every page of the book.’
- Pioneer
‘Meticulous chronicling of a historical period...no other work on the Wodeyars of Mysore,perhaps, can match in its sheer size and historical canvas that this book covers.’
- The Hindu
Of all the stars in the Carnatic music firmament from the 1930s through the 1980s, there was one star that
glimmered a bit more, that outshone the brilliance of the rest. the irrepressible genius, S Balachander, stormed into the prim madras music scene with a panache, eccentricity, charisma and verve that no contemporary of his could match.
the vainika began his music career at a time when stalwart vocalists ruled the roost and instrumentalists played second fiddle to them. But being an independent-minded and self-taught artiste, Balachander carved a unique niche for himself as a veena soloist, breaking free from the conventional stranglehold of past masters. he boldly changed the grammar of instrumental music, contemporized the veena and created a legacy known as the Balachander bani, or style.
the multi-talented veena vidwan was also an acclaimed chess prodigy, and versatile in the kanjira, tabla, harmonium and sitar.
perhaps little known to most is the colossal contribution he made to tamil cinema. he produced, directed, acted, sang and composed music for films, ushering in a technologically savvy era for the fledgling industry.
however, it was the dizzying heights to which Goddess Saraswati’s instrument took him that earned him the epithet, ‘Veena Balachander’. he took the veena Westwards and tried to break the hindustani-Carnatic divide within india. he also holds the distinction for the maximum number of Lp records by a Carnatic artiste.
But for all his accomplishments, Balachander’s iconoclastic and brash ways earned him the ire of the Carnatic music fraternity. he was quick to pick quarrels with fellow musicians, however prominent the name, in his lifelong quest for perfection and truth. Sadly, his overzealous didactic ways overshadowed his path-breaking achievements in what was otherwise a glorious music career.
So was Balachander a beloved genius or a much-maligned maverick? the book attempts to recreate the towering personality that he was – a lot of this researched from his elaborate personal diaries, extensive interviews with his surviving contemporaries and family members.
While his death in 1990 created a void in the Carnatic realm, Balachander’s memory lives on in the minds of music connoisseurs.
as the maestro would have smugly said: ‘Veena is Balachander, Balachander is Veena.’
The enclosed CD contains two of the maestro’s live recordings.
A Biography
Vik
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m Sa
mpath
Bangalore-based author, Vikram Sampath, has written two successful and well-researched books, Splendours of Royal Mysore: the Untold Story of the Wodeyars and My name is Gauhar Jaan!: the Life and Times of a Musician. Both the books have been widely acclaimed. Vikram was awarded the prestigious Visiting Fellowship at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin, where he researched the early gramophone recordings of indian music.
academically he is an Engineer/mathematician from BitS pilani and an mBa in Finance from Sp Jain, mumbai. he has worked in several multinational firms like GE money and Citibank. he currently works as team Leader in a leading software company in Bangalore. Vikram is also a serious student of Carnatic vocal music and has been training under several eminent gurus. he writes regularly for newspapers and magazines like The Hindu, Deccan Herald, Bangalore Mirror and Jet Wings. Subjects related to history, music and culture are close to his heart.
For more details about the author and his work, please log on to his website www.vikramsampath.com
