Prince of Music - Lalitharam (Translated by V Ramnarayan)

This is a biography of the famous classical singer G N Balasubramaniam written by the multi-talented Mechanical Engineer Lalitharam (real name Ramachandran Mahadevan who also dabbled in documentary films, writing, music etc) in Tamil and then translated by another equally talented personality, V Ramnarayan, into English.  

Gudalur Narayanaswami Balasubramaniam was the eldest of eight children and the son of a school teacher and a housewife (who was a good singer as well and who taught him early on). The family moved to Chennai early on and as GNB's father was the Secretary of  Sri Parthasarathi Swami Sabha, Triplicane, he was exposed to musicians and music. Though many musicians praised young GNB's prowess his father was not convinced and told him to study his BA Honors at Madras Christian College and hopefully pursue Law later. GNB registered to study at the Annamalai University where he could learn music and also study. It was then that a concert of Musiri Subramania Iyer got cancelled at Tanjore and he got an opportunity to perform and made his mark.

With his film star looks GNB acted in films as well - Bhama Vijayam, Shakumtalai, Sati Anasuya etc. He sang for records where he was paid Rs. 10000 as an advance. Overall he recorded 20 records. While describing the way he approached a concert the author also educated me on how classical concerts go - start with a varnam, sing major, minor and mid level ragas, krithis, alapana, niraval, kalpana swaram, tanam, pallavi, kriti brigas etc.

Apart from being an accomplished singer GNB was also a composer and it is said that he composed 250 kritis while performing as a concert musican in Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit languages. GNB was a rebel in many ways. His great appreciation of Bade Ghulam Ali after listening to his concert and prostrating to him drew criticism and some censure, maybe cost him a job even. Disillusioned with the crticism and consequences, GNB went to Trivandrum and joined the Swati Tirunal College of Music as its Principal vowing never to step in Madras again. 

As a person he enjoyed the fine things in life - houses, cars, clothes, always travelled first class, had his own signature perfume, was a connoisseur of good food, collected watches and pens. He had a large family and after taking the responsibility of settling his six sisters he also took care of his own family. GNB passed away at 55, singing even when he was not well.

I am so glad that I read this book. I would not have known about a great artiste like GNB otherwise. Thanks for sending me the book Ram.