the veena dhannammal family

by MaxEntropy_Man Tue Feb 12, 2013 8:01 pm

in some ways the recent "discussions", (non-discussions really) of BN can be summarized in my mind as the conflict between the tambrahm-centric school championed by rukmini devi arundale who went on to start kalakshetra and the thanjavur style epitomized by balasaraswati. balasaraswati came from a devadasi family whose origins can be traced back to the tanjore court. one of the major figures in the family lineage is veena dhanammal, bala's grandmother and the matriarch of the family. the trail her grandchildren blazed is amazing. there is of course the iconic BN dancer bala (already mentioned). then there were mukta and brinda the vocalists. IMO brinda ought to be talked about in the same breath as MSS and pattammal. somehow she isn't and it's a shame. in this thread, i plan to post youtube videos, articles and possibly anecdotes about this great family of artistes. there are many more than the ones i already mentioned including prof. t.vishwanathan who taught flute and vocal music for many years at weleyan university in CT. in fact the entire dhanammal family has close associations with wesleyan. i think they are the last of the devadasi families to still remain in the dance/music business.

here is a family tree:
http://sahapedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Balasaraswati-Family-Tree.pdf

some interesting postage stamps:

the veena dhannammal family 20101212-2

by MaxEntropy_Man Tue Feb 12, 2013 8:02 pm

a rare clip of t.brinda and daughter vegavahini. i think the mridangist is brindamma's cousin t.ranganathan (balasaraswati's brother). she makes it sound so easy.

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by MaxEntropy_Man Tue Feb 12, 2013 8:20 pm

she also played the vINai like her grandmother. ambA nilAmbari - a krithi in raga nilAmbari by ponniah piLLai (PP) the most prolific composer of the tanjore quartet. you can discern the dikshitar like majesty of the composition. not surprising given that he learned music from MD himself. PP also composed many jathiswarams for BN. surely this krithi came into the family directly to one of brinda's ancestors who was schooled by the quartet.

by MaxEntropy_Man Tue Feb 12, 2013 8:42 pm

bala, a documentary by satyajit ray:

it's funny to have my daughters watch this and criticize the varNam. part of it clearly has to do with stylistic differences between what they are learning (an offshoot of the original thanjavur style seen here), and part of it probably has to do with bala's age when this documentary was made.

by Rishi Tue Feb 12, 2013 9:21 pm

Believe me. For a long time, I thought M.S. Subbulakshmi, D.K. Pattammal and Balasaraswathi were all Brahmins.

by MaxEntropy_Man Tue Feb 12, 2013 9:24 pm

MSS was utterly brahminized by her husband sadasivam and the establishment mylaporeans, although she too like bala was born into a devadasi family, DKP was tambrahm by birth, and bala was definitely from a traditional devadasi family.

by MaxEntropy_Man Tue Feb 12, 2013 9:32 pm

if there were any traces of her pre-marriage life, there was none left in her diction of tamil. quite amazing!

by Rishi Tue Feb 12, 2013 10:43 pm

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:MSS was utterly brahminized by her husband sadasivam and the establishment mylaporeans, although she too like bala was born into a devadasi family, DKP was tambrahm by birth, and bala was definitely from a traditional devadasi family.

So it clearly shows that caste is nothing but a matter of subculture.

by MaxEntropy_Man Wed Feb 13, 2013 11:26 am

Rishi wrote:
MaxEntropy_Man wrote:MSS was utterly brahminized by her husband sadasivam and the establishment mylaporeans, although she too like bala was born into a devadasi family, DKP was tambrahm by birth, and bala was definitely from a traditional devadasi family.

So it clearly shows that caste is nothing but a matter of subculture.

i think the tambrahms have a mixed record on CM and BN. while they have certainly benefited by promoting these arts and being active participants, and by arrogating to themselves the power base within the establishment, IMO they have shunned anybody not from within the tambrahm establishment, in particular traditional artistes like the devadasis and the othuvars and "outsiders" like yesudas.

by MaxEntropy_Man Wed Feb 13, 2013 11:28 am

oops sorry said pretty much the same thing in the other thread. forgot where i posted and thought the post disappeared.

by MaxEntropy_Man Wed Feb 13, 2013 10:56 pm

balasaraswati's grandson (the vocalist is brinda's grandson):

i think he is a good dancer but i don't think male dancers should be performing songs like these.

by Impedimenta Wed Feb 13, 2013 11:53 pm

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:balasaraswati's grandson (the vocalist is brinda's grandson):

i think he is a good dancer but i don't think male dancers should be performing songs like these.

LOL, allaripu, thisram is what he is performing. a bit awkward. let me tell u something. if one wants to improve on hand postures and flexibility and speed, one should dance the allarippu everyday. Since i had a big gap before last year, i danced allaripu twice everyday:-) that did it for me.

by MaxEntropy_Man Wed Feb 13, 2013 11:58 pm

Impedimenta wrote:
MaxEntropy_Man wrote:balasaraswati's grandson (the vocalist is brinda's grandson):

i think he is a good dancer but i don't think male dancers should be performing songs like these.

LOL, allaripu, thisram is what he is performing. a bit awkward. let me tell u something. if one wants to improve on hand postures and flexibility and speed, one should dance the allarippu everyday. Since i had a big gap before last year, i danced allaripu twice everyday:-) that did it for me.

right after i posted that, younger daughter started watching it with me as usual full of criticisms, and showed me how it was really done. she hated his head movements and showed me how it was done. way more graceful and sharper than him. in general they are always critical of all araimandis of all and sundry on youtube. not going low enough is the general criticism. also she said his arms don't extend out fully and are too bent and showed me her school's method. definitely more precise than this guy's.

by Guest Thu Feb 14, 2013 12:01 am

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:balasaraswati's grandson (the vocalist is brinda's grandson):

i think he is a good dancer but i don't think male dancers should be performing songs like these.

the ONE video i saw in the whole series, simply coz of ur comments.... i shouldn't have.

by MaxEntropy_Man Thu Feb 14, 2013 12:03 am

i should stick to music appreciation. i trust my instincts about that a lot more.

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