தமிழ் பாரம்பரியம்
(Tamil Heritage Trust)
presents
S.Rajam - Musician, Painter, Actor and the Man
by
Lalitha Ram
at 5.30pm on July, 7th, 2012
at Vinobha Hall, Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya, T Nagar.
Synopsis:
Shri. S. Rajam was
a well known personality in the fields of Indian Music and Arts. He is hailed
as the musician's musician and had won several distinguished awards in the
field of music. His awards include the Sangeet Natak Academy award
presented by the President of India and the Sangita Kala Acharya award
presented by the Madras Music Academy. His concerts were a roaring success even
when he was in his teens. Shri. Rajam and his famous brother Veenai
Balachander (a noted film director too) toured all around Asia
even in their teens.
Shri S Rajam
served for about 35 years as music supervisor and a Grade A artiste at the All
India Radio (AIR). He had dedicated his life to popularize rare kritis
and unpopular ragas. During his tenure at the AIR, he recorded
several rare compositions of many composers, produced many operas based on
literary works like Silapadhikaram and musical plays. His
simplicity and willingness to help anyone who approaches him on subjects
related to art and music had endeared him to all and to the young in
particular.
Shri S. Rajam
has the distinction of being the first (and probably the only) musician to have
sung all the 72 Melakartha compositions of Koteeswara Iyer. The compositions
that were available only as notation were brought out to public through his
serialized broadcast at the All India Radio as well as through some
Pre-Recorded CDs.
Shri S Rajam
is the golden link between music and art. His portraitures of the composers in
the classical traditions of Indian music are benchmarks; and now, after his
advent, one can hardly visualize the composers but through the eyes of Shri S
Rajam.
Graduating as
a gold medal winner from the Madras School of art, Rajam chose to dedicate his
painting career to the tradition Indian painting style. The frescoes at the
Ajanta, Kanchi and Sigiriya left an ever lasting impact on his style. Hallmarks
of his portraits are their authenticity. His deep rooted research on the
subject of his paintings is legendary. Multiple layers that he used literally
and figuratively to accomplish the desired depth, makes him a unique artiste in
the context of India art. His portraits therefore bring out not only the
physical resemblance of the subjects but more importantly the essence of their
very inner being.
Apart from
the paintings related to music, he had painted several themes based on Indian
mythology, history and literature. Several of his paintings have adorned covers
of many magazines and books. He has represented the entire Periya Puranam
- the Lives of 63 Saivite saints through his paintings. His other
monumental work is the painting of the entire 'Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam' (a
series of more than 100 paintings). These two works have been published as
books.
Apart from being a painter and musician, Shri. Rajam
had acted as the hero in 3 Tamil films. He has also tuned several songs for
movies and has lent his voice in some of the movies taken by his brother -
S.Balachander. Rajam was also an excellent photographer. His snapshots of
Mahabalipuram and Kanchi have won critical acclaim of several critiques and
have been published in various magazines.
Speaker:
Lalitha Ram, a material scientist by profession,
is a young write and a regular contributor to various magazines on topics
related to music and history. He is the author of the popular biography on GNB
titled Isai Ulaga Ilavarasar - GNB published by Vikatan Publications. He along
with V. Ramanarayan compiled the centenary volume of GNB, documenting various
facets of the maestro's music as well as compiling all the writings of the
singer and his father. His research for these two works formed the base
for the documentary movie on GNB - 'Isai Vasigaran". His
recent book 'Dhruva Nakshatram' documents the history of Pudukottai percussion
lineage - with Palani Subramania Pillai portrayed as the central figure. He is
also among the founder-editors of the e-zine, http://varalaaru.com. His
documentary movie on musician/artiste S. Rajam is scheduled to be released
later this year.
RSVP:
A. Annamalai: Gandhi Study Centre - gandhicentre@gmail.com; 94441-83198
Badri Seshadri: Kizhakku-p-padippakam - badri@nhm.in; 98840-66566
S. Kannan: Bank of Baroda - 2498 5836
S. Swaminathan - sswami99@gmail.com; 2467 1501
R. Gopu, writergopu@yahoo.com, 98417-24641
T. Sivasubramanian, siva.durasoft@gmail.com, 98842-94494