'Voice of the Veena: S Balachander, a biography'

[Vikramsampath]

Dear Friends,

It gives me immense pleasure to announce the completion of my third book: "Voice of the Veena: S Balachander, a biography". It traces the life of the indomitable genius, late Padmabhushan Dr S. Balachander.

The link below has details about the book:
http://vikramsampath.com/books.html

The book would be launched in the following cities:
a) Chennai : 19th Jan 2012 at the Darbar Hall Raj Bhavan, by His Excellency Dr K Rosaiah, Governor of Tamil Nadu. Smt Shantha Balachander, Dr Vyjayanthimala Bali and Dr R Vedavalli are the guests of honour.
b) Bangalore: 24th Jan 2012 at the Banquet Hall, Raj Bhavan by His Excellency Dr H R Bharadwaj, Governor of Karnataka. Smt Neela Ramgopal and Mr K Jairaj are the guests of honour.
c) Delhi: 8th Feb 2012 at India International Centre by Dr Shashi Tharoor and Smt Prathibha Prahlad.
d) Mumbai: 19th Feb 2012 at Fine Arts Society, Chembur by Smt Bombay Jayashri, followed by her concert.

Since the Chennai and Bangalore events are on 'invitation basis' only given the security protocol, friends on this forum who wish to attend could kindly drop me an email at [email protected]. The Delhi and Mumbai events are open for all.

Look forward to an enthusiastic support from the rasika community and the admirers of this great artiste!

Warm regards
Vikram.

[arasi]

Vikram,
Congratulations!
So looking forward to reading the book!

[Nick H]

Congratulations on the launch.

Will look out for the book.

[PUNARVASU]

Will attend the function in Mumbai. Congratulations on the launch of the book.

[rshankar]

Vikram, congratulations!

[Vikramsampath]

Thanks for the wishes-Arasi madam, Nick, Punarvasu and rshankar!
Coming from someone like you, it's an honour Arasi madam!
Punarvasu: look fwd to meeting you in Mumbai.

[uday_shankar]

Congratulations. Look forward to reading the book.

[shankarabharanam]

Congrats Vikram. Having read your earlier works must say definitely looking forward to read your book written on the veena genius.

[sivachinta1965]

dear Sampathji

Great contribution!! Congrats!

But Shashi Tharoor????? at Delhi!!!

Sivaprasad

[mahavishnu]

But Shashi Tharoor????? at Delhi!!!

Sivaprasad

Good question.I was wondering too. Perhaps the unifier is their orotundity
I say this as a fond admirer of SB's music.

Vikram, congratulations on the book. Look forward to getting my hands on a copy someday.

[uday_shankar]

orotundity

An excellent choice of word to describe either personality.

I say this as a fond admirer of SB's music.

Good sentiment. It is possible to admire our heroes and yet be cognizant of their failings, even possible to describe them in pejorative terms while being respectful.

[Vikramsampath]

Many thanks to dear: uday_shankar, shankarabharanam, sivanchita1965 and mahavishnu: for the encouraging replies. Do hope the book eventually meets your expectations.

Well, the choice of the guests for these book launches is not always in the hands of the authors. I am not sure if it is plain coincidence or the fact that the late maestro embroiled himself in several controversies, but it was sad and disconcerting that many people from the music fraternity and other eminences (without taking any names of course ) unfortunately did not respond too enthusiastically to preside over these events citing some lame reason or the other. For all his "orotundity" Dr Tharoor did readily agree to do the honours after confessing to have listened to Sri Balachander with great interest in the past. Irrespective of his personality traits that i am not too concerned about, I do respect Dr Tharoor for his erudition and his generosity to come forward for a topic like this which could otherwise raise heckles.

But i agree with uday_shankar on the need to liberate biography writing in our country, especially on artists, from the risks of hagiography. The subjects tend to be eulogized as demi-gods almost, with some magical and mystical powers and that is a sad trend. However in my portrayal of Sri Balachander i have tried hard to bring out the human aspects of his personality--shades of grey and not the usual straightjacket white and black. An indomitable genius no doubt, but also a man with warts and all. Not only him, but also the dubious roles of some of his contemporaries and music institutions in Madras, whom he locked horns with!

[varsha]

Best wishes .
Do you have a signature of SB embossed on each of the pages ?
Is the book itself in the shape of a Veena ?
Do the pages make the sound of his immortal veena as they are turned over ? :$
Is there any page with a picture showing an arrow knocking down that fourth pretender (?) who is in the company of the Trinity , adorning the walls of the Academy?
Does it convey a self consuming passion that urges the reader to get bold enough to drop all that he is doing in life and ...
start things that he adored , as a child ? At any cost ? 8)


http://www.mediafire.com/?d3ek9215e8t1hpc
Hoping this track enthuses most readers to stand in a Q to buy your book . One can listen to him here , coaxing his instrument , castigating himself ( vandruma daa , adhika prasangi ) encouraging his disciple in a very hypnotic phase of the swara passagea ( meeettu meettu ) ..... and
and.....
laughing aloud when he gets some outstanding reverberations from the strings .

To remember him as a maverick or an eccentric would be missing the point totally .
I can never forget one fine afternoon when he drove himself to the limits ,decades ago . in search of the soul of the hindusthani Raga Lalith - no relation to this track here - .
Big Big hands . Wrestling with his instrument of love .
Thanks for deciding to write on him .
ps added the smileys to re-confirm the impression that I was not against the Fourth Estate adorning the walls of Academy .But I do belong to the group that believes that in calling him an iconoclast , one must make a distinction between idols surviving for centuries and idols surviving a century .

[arunk]

Congratulations. BTW, I cant find this info readily (but havent looked hard enough either), but does flipkart ship to outside India?

Arun

[Nick H]

No, Flipkart does not ship outside India. As of approx last Sept or Oct, the last time I was reading their terms!

[arunk]

thanks nick

[rajeshnat]

One can also see Vikram's photograph in the left side panel in the below link(red stripe T shirt)
http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/article2814150.ece

[Nick H]

Another youngster!

It is amazing and encouraging to see that he and Lalitha Ram are so young, taking authoritative knowledge into the future.

[ram]

http://ramsabode.wordpress.com/2012/01/ ... lachander/

“Voice of the Veena – S. Balachander, A biography”, by Vikram Sampath, Rain Tree (Rupa Publications), 2012

——————————————————————–

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.

[arasi]

Ram,
Thanks for an objective review of the book. As I guessed, Vikram has done justice to this maverick of an artiste who excelled in all his artistic pursuits.

Vikram,
I hope I get my autographed copy of the book soon from the one who attended the release
Though I knew Balachander when I was a child, memories of this extraordinary individual haven't faded, even after so many years...

[vasanthakokilam]

Thanks Ram. What you say in the last paragraph about buying the book just for his thoughts is quite apt. I am looking forward to reading the book.

Who are Balachandar's disciples or those who follow the Balachandar bANi?

[kunthalavarali]

Jayanthi K is perhaps his foremost disciple. I have heard Smt Gayathri Narayanan accompany SB. There has been no info about her after SB passed away.

[Vikramsampath]

Thanks for such a balanced review of the book Ram. Glad that you liked it ! Arasi ji, yes, my dear friend Sumitra Nitin did get the book signed for you. Hoping it reaches you soon!. VK, v few follow the SB bani. Dr Jayanthi Kumaresh, my teacher, learnt under him for a short while and was already a concert artiste by then, having trained under her aunt Smt Padmavathy Ananthagopalan. Smt Gayatri Narayanan sadly gave up performance after her relocation from India and she was SB's oldest student and even performed with him. Though she is back in Chennai now, i dont think she performs in public. His other student, Mr Veni Madhavan too has shifted to some other country. So, sadly v few torchbearers of the SB Bani.

Glad to inform you that the Chennai and Bangalore launches of the book went off v well. (few images of the events in the link below:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/? ... 433&type=3 )

Friends in Delhi, pls do make it convenient to attend the launch on 8th February 2012 at the India International Centre Main building at 6.30 PM.

Regards
Vikram

[rshankar]

I remember Smt. Gayatri Narayanan. She used to perform with her guru. In those days, it used to be confusing - to differentiate her from the other Veena Gayatri, Smt. E. Gayatri.

[varsha]

Interesting Trivia .
Was discussing the probable ragas with the Sitar Artist - Anupama Bhawath - who is slated to perform for Rasayana on 25th Evening .

Subject veered around to Carnatic ragas and I asked her if she played Lathangi .
Oh ! Yes . My Guruji has taught me to play it expansively . She said .
I said that I heard only Nikhil Bannerji play it . So was wondering if only some gharanas dabbled in this raga .
And came the reply :
My Guruji learnt it from Dr Balchander. SB was a frequent visitor to Bhilai and was a close friend of my Guru Pt Bimalendu Mukherji . In fact he passed away at my Guruji's home . SB , in one of the visits , talked about Lathangi as a fine raga for exploration in HM and played it for our Guruji who learnt it from him . At another point of time , Nikhil Bannerji , who was another frequent visitor , heard this raga being played at home and was enamoured . That is how he ended up playing it for an LP......

So here is a truncated version of that LP that survives and stays as an example of this transfusion .

http://www.mediafire.com/?vlc4de71nw5nl6y

Anupama Bhagwath , in all likelihood , will play this raga on Saturday the 25th Feb for us .
Will put that track up after the concert recording is available .

[Vikramsampath]

Many thanks to everyone for all their warm wishes! Makes all the effort seem so worthwhile !
It was wonderful to meet PUNARVASU yesterday at the Mumbai launch of the book at Fine Arts Society of Chembur.
Perhaps there were other forumites too- but happened to meet her as she very kindly came forward and introduced herself right at the beginning of the event!
Warm regards,
Vikram

[PUNARVASU]

Vikram, pleasure was mine. You spoke very well.
Best wishes for your future books.

[Rsachi]

Hello Vikram
I just bought your book on Gauhar Jaan. You write brilliantly. A big thank you and God bless.