About Aruna Sairam Tweet

Aruna learning from her Guru Sangeeta Kalanithi T. Brinda

While her Guru Sangeeta Kalanithi T.Brinda bequeathed a rare repertoire of compositions by the South’s Trinity of saint-composers, Thyagaraja, Muthu Swamy Dikshitar and Shyama Shatri, Aruna also learnt from other Gurus while steadily making waves as an acclaimed vocalist

Shri S Ramachandran, from the bani (style) of Chittor Subramanya Pillai, expanded her already wide repertoire and taught her the fine nuances of nereval singing (improvising within poetic texts). AS Mani, a disciple of Tiger Vardacharyar, guided her through the creative process of swara singing (improvising with the sol-fa). Prof T R Subramanyam, an acclaimed music professor at Delhi University, shared with Aruna his expertise of singing and spontaneously composing within ragam-tanam-pallavi. KS Narayanaswamy, the respected veena maestro, taught her the subtlety of gamakas – the microtonal oscillations which hallmark and transport Carnatic music.

Despite imbibing and absorbing these riches, Aruna felt the need for guidance in voice training to acquire the physical capability to fully express her creativity and knowledge through her voice. During this search, she met German voice maestro Prof Eugene Rabine, who helped her discover and apply a completely new sound and emotion to her voice. Afterwards Aruna never looked back. She later had the benefit of advice and guidance from one of Carnatic music’s magisterial vocalists, Dr. Balamurali Krishna (popularly BMK). To this day, she remains in touch with voice masters such as the New York-based “Voice Teacher” David Jones.

In concert she continually strives to deliver a unique experience through new repertoire. Every year for the Chennai’s fabled December Season (which crams in around 2000 concerts), she prepares and composes new material for recitals. Her preparation might involve engaging in academic discussion with such intellects as the nadaswaram vidwan (shawm maestro) Shembannar Koil Vaidyanathan or the (Late) Pallavi Venkatarama Iyer in order to research special music forms, for example, the mallari – a form played during the inaugural processions in South Indian temples.

Heritage

Aruna’s guru Smt T Brinda hails from a family of royal court musicians from the court of Tanjore. That lineage traces itself back to her mother, Kamakshi, grandmother Veena Dhannammal, and then back to the earliest, the seventh generation, Papammal. All of them were eminent and highly respected women musicians. The family is proud of its musical treasures, especially the padam and javali forms – so rare in today’s concert repertoire. Very few musicians can claim to perform these genres. These songs are expressed through slow, subtle music, exploring the shringararasa (emotion (rasa) of love) and requiring complete immersion in the raga by the artist and listener. The padam form affords space for abhinaya – facial expression in dance. T Brinda’s cousin, T Balasaraswati was a legendary Bharatanatyam dancer and a padam master who performed in the United States and Europe in the 1950s and 1960s to rave audience reactions.

Aruna’s mother was drawn towards yet another genre – the compositions of Uttukadu Venkata Kavi [1700 – 1765]. This composer hailed from the village of Uttukadu (also rendered Oottukkadu) in the 18th Century. His compositions come from a tradition of music, dance and theatre and express an interplay of joy in technical brilliance. Aruna’s parental home was host to one of the scions of the Uttukadu family, Needamanagalam Krishnamurthy Bhagavathar, who spent months in their Mumbai home, performing and teaching these compositions. Aruna has played a key role in propagating these brilliant, yet relatively neglected compositions and revealing them on the contemporary concert stage.

The abhang is soulful music, traditionally sung by pilgrims as they travelled by foot to the temple of Lord Vitthala in Pandharpur, Maharashtra in western India. As they walk, they dance and sing abhangs expressing their devotion with spiritual abandon and engagement. Aruna’s interest in this form started with listening to the profound and passionate singing of leading satsang exponents who frequented her parental house. Roughly speaking in Indian philosophical terms, satsang is a ball of yarn that envelops seekers of, and seeking the truth. She was greatly influenced by Pandit Bhimsen Joshi's Abhangavani – a series of Abhang concerts.

Classical Performance

When on stage Aruna enters into another realm. The audience, while listening to her and watching her perform, experiences a timeless and spaceless sensation. Audiences pack her concerts. Her unique qualities render her music both virtuosic and one-off memorable. Her performances exude the living ginger of her academic and musical pedigree. For example, her ability to handle the highly aesthetic and eclectic padam form, the energised thillana form and ragam-tanam-pallavi– considered the highest challenge in Carnatic music – combines solid grooming and grounding and the spontaneity of the moment. Her compositions are further proof positive of her impeccable scholarship and musical passions.

Being welcomed by President R. Venkataraman and the First Lady for her performance at The Rashtrapati Bhavan - 1992

Aruna has had the rare distinction of performing in such venues as the Indian President's official residence– Rashtrapati Bhavan, at Shakthi Sthal – and the memorials to Indian Prime Ministers, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi at Vir Bhoomi. She has also performed across the length and breadth of the country, bringing the richness of South Indian classical music to people from all walks of life from major international cities to the humblest hamlets and rural villages.

A sample of the venues might include: The Music Academy, Chennai, the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai, Siri Fort Auditorium, Delhi, seminars and festivals of national importance such as those held at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in Delhi,the Music Forum in Mumbai, and Kolkata’s Sangeet Research Academy.

Aruna posing at the Theatre de la Ville, Paris prior to her performance in April 2012

Aruna was one of her generation’s pioneering vocalists in the sense of sensitising international audiences to the sound and feel of South Indian vocal music. Her first international experience as a visiting professor was at a German music conservatory where she taught South Indian music; it exposed her to a new world of impressions and seeded new insights. She was intrigued at the lack of awareness of her art form outside the subcontinent.

This experience gave her a new life mission: to make South Indian classical music global. One of the many instances when her dream saw fruition was when the BBC Proms invited her to perform at London’s Royal Albert Hall as the first South Indian classical vocalist in the Proms’ history – at that point in its 116-year history– in 2011. Aruna has also performed, among other important international venues, at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, and Morocco’s Fes Festival of World Sacred Music.