- Matrka: Voices Within
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Voices Within 
Author(s) Bombay Jayashri & T.M. Krishna, with Mythili Chandrasekar Country India Language English Genre(s) Non-Fiction, Novel Publisher Mātṛkā Publication date 2007 Media type Print (Hardcover with dust jacket) Pages 188 pp ISBN 81-7525-555-2 OCLC Number 122304641 Contents
Overview
This book is a result of the authors' intense desire to find ways of giving back something to an art that, as performing Carnatic musicians, has been their passion, livelihood, & life breath.
While there are many endlessly fascinating aspects of the art that can be written about, they have chosen to first pay their tributes to some of the maestros who had a seminal influence in shaping the system of Carnatic music, and bringing it to where it is now - brilliant, talented, colourful people who have not been written about enough.
It has been presented with both great pride and much humility that is very apparent.
Contents
Seven is a magical number in Carnatic music. So Voices Within is about seven stalwarts who laid the foundation and chartered the course of Carnatic music as we know it today. They were musicians who were entrepreneurs. They dared to dream, to try, to take the road less traveled. And in so doing, they revolutionised the system, shaped its growth, raised the performing standards, and left their indelible marks on the musical firmament.
This book deals with seven musicians of the last century including:
- Sri Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar
- Sri T.N.Rajarathnam Pillai
- Sri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer
- Sri G.N. Balasubramaniam
- Sri Palghat Mani Iyer
- Smt M.S. Subbulakshmi
- Sri T. R. Mahalingam (Mali)
Many biographies have been written about the above maestros. Voices Within presents its content about these people in a very different manner, new to the field of Carnatic music. It presents perspectives as opposed to direct information. It is more of an offering and a sharing and passing on of an inheritance.
Special Features
It is a coffee table book – the first of its kind in Carnatic music. It contains essays written in a unique style, a rich collection of rare photographs, letters, notes, Conversations and reflections between T.M. Krishna and Bombay Jayashri.
Snippets on the backdrop and the ethos of the times including:
- Music and the Freedom Movement
- Patronage of the arts moving from the kings to institutions
- All India Radio
- The talkies and Carnatic music
- Madras becoming the capital for Carnatic music
The compilation and layout is very contemporary, classy and aesthetic.
Audience
In India, the book reaches out to a much larger audience than just the core Carnatic music rasika, as other books have in the past. Even they have only seen either theoretical books or biographies. But, more importantly, it will be designed to have great appeal for international audiences. Carnatic music is really traveling all over the world, and Indian art is beginning to make waves. It's as though the timing for this book is just perfect. This book will put this art form on a higher platform and celebrates it, as it needs to be celebrated according to many western classical musicians.
References
- George, Nina C, "Two Authors and a Book", The Hindu
- Ganesh, Deepa, "They are part of our being", The Hindu
- Rajan, Anjana, "In Celebration of Musicians", The Hindu
Related Pages
- Matrka
- T.M. Krishna
External links
Categories:- 2007 books
- Carnatic music
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