Neelamma Kadambi

prema · Post by **prema** » 15 Jun 2006, 17:17

Does anyone know about Neelamma Kadambi? She used to play veena and sing too. I learnt veena from her for about 4 years. and next what i heard was that she was no more.
i wish to hear her voice so much now.. if anyone of u have her recordings, please mail me. Alas, i have not recorded any song of hers..
-Prema

meena · Post by **meena** » 15 Jun 2006, 22:45

Smt. Neelamma Kadambi was born on 7/7/11. Studied With Venkatachar, Lakshminarayanappa, Venkatagiriappa

Did she act/sing for the film Sati Tulasi (kannada) Direction: M.A.N. Iyengar (1949) ?
DELETED

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 16 Jun 2006, 12:46

http://music.msn.com/search/all/?ss=Kadambi+

This lists two songs by her in the movie nagakannika. There is a 30 second sample available for listening and 99 cents each to buy. Is this her?

prema · Post by **prema** » 16 Jun 2006, 14:29

I looked at these links and heard one clip from some other french site. I think its not her voice, not so sure though. I never remeber her mentioning about movie songs she sang. All India radio (bangalore) will have lots of her recordings since shw often sang on radio, almost once a week. Is there a way to get it from there? Bhogindra Shayanam ... sounded so well when she sang..

She mentioned about an extended family of hers in Mysore and melkote. She had no kids of her own though.
-Prema

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 16 Jun 2006, 14:37

Looks like DRS has not logged in for a while.
Must be in melkote now
I remember he had promised to get some of the tracks of His Grandmother singing ...

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 16 Jun 2006, 23:01

Oh, really? Cool.

We will wait for DRS to elaborate..

kiransurya · Post by **kiransurya** » 17 Jun 2006, 02:23

Is DRS related to Neelamma Kadambi?

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 17 Jun 2006, 07:45

kiran.
no.i was only hinting that he may be from a place near melkote or hassnan

kiransurya · Post by **kiransurya** » 17 Jun 2006, 16:15

Gottchaa..

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 17 Jun 2006, 19:37

NIlamma kaDAmbi(7/7/11 to 14/12/1998)
NIlamma kaDAmbi was born in 1911 in mElukOTe of maNDya Dt. in Karnataka as daughter of vine expert venkaTAcArya. Her mother too hailed from a family of vINe vidwAns. Encouraged by her husband kaDAmbi, a lawyer in Mysore, she learnt music under the tutelage of Mysore vAsudEvAcAr and T.cauDayya. As for the vine, she initially learnt from her father , for a while from vine lakShminArAyaNappa and then from vine venkaTagiriyappa. She gave concerts all over India and acquired fame. In her music, one can observe the sweet blend of karNATaka and hindUstAni styles. She had the golden opportunity to sing on the occasion of the birth of Mysore state(Karnataka) in 1956. In 1972, she was awarded the state sangIta nATaka award.

She died a sad and tragic death in Mysore in 1998. She had none left to care for her and was found dead on the streets near K.R.Hospital in Mysore. What a sad end for a great artiste. Such stories are so typical of many an artiste who has been in the limelight but later forgotten to live and die in penury, illness and loneliness.

(The parts in Italics are a translation of the entry in "karNATaka sangIta pAribhAShika SabdakOSa", the encyclopaedia of Carnatic music published by Mysore University.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 17 Jun 2006, 20:05

DRS
you shocked me out of my wits with this story

For some reason My Dad's dying words come alive today , while he was asking me to take good care of my Mom.

Old age requires very little .But remember , it needs that little VERY VERY BADLY

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 17 Jun 2006, 21:50

I agree with DRS that such stories are not at all uncommon! We always assume that the Great and successful have an easy life later. The contrary is true. I have followed stories in The Hindu of the demise of yester year Film and Music artistes most of whom died in penury, unsung and unwept. On a rare occasion the State subsidized the funeral. In the movie Bharathy for example was the realistic dramatization of the final days and demise of the bard. Now the question is why?

When they are well off and famous they could very well have saved up for their evenings. Having children is not always a guarantee (worth a nice psychiatric investigation on the filial 'guilt'!). Of course there are those artistes who become victims of addictions and their end is predictable! Here in the west there is at least the guarantee that all elderly will be cared for by the state and though I am no geriatrician I have seen it working well in practice with the help of the tax payer's dollars. I don't know how feasible or operational those schemes are in the Indian mileau. Do the politicians ever care?

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 17 Jun 2006, 22:40

Very sad story to read....What Cji wrote about what his dad said is so powerful and how true!!

>Having children is not always a guarantee (worth a nice psychiatric investigation on the filial 'guilt'!).

Quite true. There is a negative connotation to old age homes in India but that seems to be a better option to many people... But then how many can afford that?

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 17 Jun 2006, 23:15

VK

It must be State subsidized!
That is the idea behind social safety net!

I am not boasting but Canada has an ideal system in that respect regarding old age care as well as health care. We pay heavy tax compared to US but our 'quality of life' is miles ahead! It is a pity India is trying to go the 'American' way than 'Canadian'!

kiransurya · Post by **kiransurya** » 18 Jun 2006, 01:49

DRS/Coolkarni

It is a sad story. Iam shocked that nobody took care of her. May her soul rest in peace..

CML your are very true about Canadian set up. Good service for what we pay. British health system though free is more or less like India....

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 18 Jun 2006, 02:26

That is indeed a sad story. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't there an organization that takes care of destitute musicians these days?
Ravi

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 18 Jun 2006, 15:48

Ravi
At Bangalore's Ananya (a Cultural Organisation in Malleswaram) , they had started a scheme where the medical needs of muicians would be met free of Cost.They had roped in all the leading Doctors and Institutions .
This was in 1999-2000 when I was actively pursuing the acquiring of music along with Dr Raghavendra there.
I am not sure of further progress though ....

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 18 Jun 2006, 18:07

Thats it. I think there is a branch/offshoot in Madras too.
Ravi

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 18 Jun 2006, 20:17

Ravi
At Bangalore's Ananya (a Cultural Organisation in Malleswaram) , they had started a scheme where the medical needs of muicians would be met free of Cost.They had roped in all the leading Doctors and Institutions .
This was in 1999-2000 when I was actively pursuing the acquiring of music along with Dr Raghavendra there.
I am not sure of further progress though ....

It is their ArOgyadhArA scheme. It is still going strong to the best of my knowledge.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 18 Jun 2006, 21:46

DRS/coolkarni

can you get more information on ananya/arogyadhara..
My son neurologist/sleep specialist is married in Bangalore and visits there regularly. I could request him to do some voluntary work for a nice cause....

Raja Chandra · Post by **Raja Chandra** » 18 Jun 2006, 22:18

You could visit:

http://www.ananyaculture.org/

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 19 Jun 2006, 10:36

Thanks RC
Do they have any affiliated hospitals that host visiting doctors?

prema · Post by **prema** » 19 Jun 2006, 11:51

It is so sad to hear Neelamma kadambi's plight. I was meeting her till 1997 and in 1998, december, I left to US. I think she was suffering from Schizophrenia. She often complained of someone spying on her and I was asked to go to the police and complain about it.

She used to come to our house and I would often help her with a couple of hundred rupees. She had so many jewels, her veena with ivory was itself worth so much, so many sarees etc. She had adopted one of her nephews and helped her neice too. He did nothing for her inspite of being in mysore. They took away most of her things without her knowledge.
-prema

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 19 Jun 2006, 16:02

So she was not poor after all, but paavam maybe!

kssrinivasan · Post by **kssrinivasan** » 24 Oct 2006, 04:07

Neelamma Kadambi was one of the first desciples of Prof. Mysore V. Ramarathnam. She learnt from him for a number of years. One of the last few words that she was uttering minutes before she passed away in K R Hospital Mysore, was her memories and music she learnt from him. Hearing Prof. Ramarathnam's name, some of the nurses called on professors home and the professor's daugher, rushed to the hospital to help in any way she can. I guess by then it was too late. Kadambi was no more.

Sreeni Rajarao · Post by **Sreeni Rajarao** » 03 Nov 2006, 05:27

It was sad to read about Smt. Neelamma Kadambi. I remember my Father (late) Veena Rajarao mentioning Smt. Neelamma as a disciple of his Father Bhairavi Lakshminaranappa. I remember a special issue of Prajaamata (remember the weekly?) in mid70s carried a well written article about Veeneya beDgidu Mysooru and carried pictures of her and another of my GrandFather's disciple Smt. N. Chokkamma. How much I would love to get a copy of that issue of Prajaamata now!

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 03 Nov 2006, 06:04

IIRC, Neelamma and Chokkamma were the only two musicians on AIR Bangalore,who sang when they were playing the vINe. I have heard some recordings of Kalpagam Swaminathan where she sang a few lines to illustrate some points- But I don't know if she sang with vINe routinenly.

-Ramakriya

meena · Post by **meena** » 12 Mar 2007, 23:50

A dear friend passed me a kannada article on Smt. Neelamma and my appa has translated it.
For folks interested:

[quote]NEELAMMA KADAMBI (1911-1998)

(Author - Late A.N.Krishna Rao)

I had gone to Gadag (North Karnataka) to participate in a Literary Festival. After completing my program on the following day I had gone out with few of my friends. I think it was around 7 PM and one of the friend took me to a common friendâ€™s gramophone/radio shop in the town. After a cup of tea, I enquired my friend as to "What prompted him to fetch me to this shop so urgently? We could have roamed around the town leisurely". My friend said: â€œthere is a radio music concert scheduled around 7:45 PM to be aired from Madras Station of All India Radio which will feature Smt.Neelamma Kadambi. Hence, we have to come hereâ€