Smt Ambujam Vedantam

[RaviSri]

During my visit to Trichy last month I met Mrs.Ambujam Vedantam, musician and guru. She has a number of students, some of them very young, in their teens. Smt Vedantam’s speciality lies in the fact that she teaches very rare songs, mainly of the Trinity, Subbaraya Sastri, Annasami Sastri etc. She has given a recording of rare songs of the Trinity which include songs like ‘sharAvati taTa vAsini (sharAvati), sadAshivam upAsmahE (shankarAbharaNam), simhAsanastitE (Ragamlika) of Dikshitar, aTla balukudu (aTANA),nIvEgAni (bilahari), aparAdamula mAnbi(darbAr), sari jEsi vEDuka(tIvravAhini) of Thyagaraja, varNam in saurAShTrA, dayajUDa samayamidE (jaganmOhini), dEvi nI pada sArasa (kAmbhOji) of Shyama Sastri. These have been competently rendered by her disciples.
I was witness to one of her classes where a 13 year old girl and a 16 year old girl, both sisters, sang a few rare songs for my sake, srI kAmAkShi (sAranga), srI kAnchi nAyikE(asAvEri) and maharAjni (Ananda bhairavi) all of Annasami Sastri and a rare kalyANi song in jampa tALa of Shyama Sastri. I recorded the songs. Smt.Vedantam teaches only rare songs such as the above and teaches in such a manner that the students, even though very young, are able to grasp the subtle nuances. She is a respected music guru in Trichy. Of course, she is not in the limelight as much as she deserves, though now she is being invited by a couple of sabhas in Madras to demonstrate these rare songs. She has sung in All India Radio and has also given concerts in her young age.
Smt.Vedantam has also made it a point to present these rare songs at the Bangaru Kamakshi temple in Tanjavur every year. Now for a few years she is doing it at the Narada Gana Sabha.
I thought rasikas should know about such a teacher who is also a fine human being. For this site there is another fact about her. Smt.Ambujam Vedantam is the sister-in-law of arasi.

[annamalai]

Trichy has/had many great vidwans. Of course, J. Venkatraman is teaching music at Trichy. Valadi Krishna Iyer (father-in-law) of Alathur Srinivasa Iyer was a great musician who knew many rare krithis. Prof. S. Ramanathan has mentions Valadi krishna Iyer as one of his teachers. Sathur Subramanian used to live at Tennnur, Trichy.

Today Thyagaraja Aradhana organized by Thyagarajan, son of Alathur Sivasubramania Iyer is celebrated at Srirangam and all the present day stars sing at this Aradhana.

As an aside, Rudrapatnam Brothers sang Sari Jesi (Tivravahini) krithi @ Music Academy. They mentioned that they learnt this krithi from Alathur Brothers when they visited Mysore for a concert in the 60s.

[arasi]

RaviSri,
Just saw this!
Yes, I did hear about your visit.
She has given many programs over the years in Chennai on compositions of the Trinity at NGS, Saraswathi VAggeyakara Trust and elsewhere--also on Venkata Kavi. She has trained many students who are winning prizes in Chennai as well.

There is a thread here on the forum elsewhere about the CD and book of varNams, her compositions. My mother-in-law was a singer with a lovely voice and she inspired her daughter to pursue music.

[grsastrigal]

Smt Ambujam vedantam is truly a genius. If you watch "swarna sangeetham" in rAj TV, sponsored by Tanishq which carries Rs. 5 Lakhs worth of prize, you shall watch Venkatapadhmanabhan, who won the special prize for pApanAsam sivan kritis last week, is a student of Smt AV. He goes to Trichy every week end to learn (!). Last year, Rasika Ranjani Sabha, Trichy conferred an award on Smt AV, where clarionet vidwan AKC natarajan was present. There was one prayer song "aAdi varuvAi Anai mukavA" - in nAttai, composed by Smt AV. Brilliant to say. Complicated putIs. Well rendered by that little girl who won the "overall performer" prize. I was so happy that my daughter won the first prize for rendering dikshitar kritis from Smt AV. Being in Chennai, we miss the help of this stalwarts. I did not know that she is Arasi's SIL. World is small !!.

[arasi]

Yes, indeed! Didn't know your daughter is a student of Ambujam.
Her star pupil by the way, is Venkata Nagarajan who commutes from Chnnai for his lessons.

[arasi]

grsastrigal,
Just came to know that I was mistaken about your daughter being a student of AV. She got the prize for singing the song by learning it from AV's CD, it seems.