Customer Reviews

South India: Pandam Tanjore Style of Singing

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Following up on the previous review, more than a "rival," the Tanjore school ("baani" called it South India) is a genre of the many schools (others being Karaikudi, etc.) and Aruna Sairam is a protege of this school through her association with the heiress of the great Veena Dhannammal, the late Sangeetha Kalanidhi Smt. T. Brinda (1912-1996). T Brinda along with her sister T Muktha are reputed to be repositories of many padams and javalis, some rarely heard today in concerts.

Listeners can treat this album as an exposure to the Tanjore style, with particular emphasis on rendering of padams, which are difficult pieces of the Karnatic repertoire to learn and perform. In this album, Aruna has rendered 3 of Kshetrayya's padams as well as one of Govindaswamy's. And not precluding the trinity of Karnatic Music, she includes a kriti of Tyagaraja in the Vivadi raga (raga with dissonant notes) Vagadhishvari. And what a thoughtful way to conclude her tribute to her masters with a Sanskrit sloka from the Krishna Karnamrutham of Bilwamangala Lilasuka in a garland of ragas!
A great collection item for beginners and connoisseurs alike.

As a total fan of M.S. Subbulakhsmi for over 30 years, it is a joy to find a near 'rival', this artist from Tanjore and this form, Padam. It's a style of singing she represents wonderfully, a form that we're told is fast disappearing. Her presentation is languid, leisurely, dignified and charged with the deepest feeling. A special surprise and gem is her rendering of a Sloka in raga Hamsanadi which is counterpart to raag Marwa in the Hindustani system.