Search - Aruna Sairam :: Padam: Tanjore Style of Singing

Inner Sanctum

Orpheus | on the road | 04/19/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an example of the tradition of singing practised in the temples of Tanjore or Tanjavur (Tamil Nadu), called Padam. It is perhaps one of the oldest traditions of Carnatic vocal art (And art it is, I kidd you not), if not the oldest and unfortunatly it has almost faded away in time. Aruna Sairam (sometimes spelled Aruna Sayeeram) is, together with Bombay Jayashri and Mahadevan Nithyasree one of the greatest contemporary Carnatic singers.



This is music of great beauty and it's compelling form has the immanent power to transform. From the depths of devotion: such longing, pleading joy, recalling foregone Ages of Gold, Aruna Sairam conveys the essence of Tanjore singing. The technical ability of her voice must be heared to be believed. The lower octaves of her voice are very warm and broad, yet very clear. The middle octaves are simply gorgeous: sweet, intimate yet very dynamic. The ability to produce such flowing ornamental glissandi is simply astounding.



The compositions on this recording are haunting and profound and I cannot help my imagination drifting back again to Tamil Nadu. This music encompasses so much: it's very essence is longing for the divine, austere and dignified, yet extremely lyrical and intimate."

Probably the best carnatic album ever.

Ganeshkumar Ganapathy | Durham, NC | 05/24/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I liked Orpheus's review. I am a native tamil speaker, and have been listening to carnatic music for several years. This album was first produced and issued by the French Radio under the Ocara label. And when I accidentally discovered this in my university library, it was a transformational experience. I was in thrall of this album for several days (and eventually wrote a pretty lengthy article on what this meant for me; unpublished, but you can find it here: [...]).



For me this album was like the reason-for-existence of carnatic music. The padams are simply outstanding in their attention to the "gamakams" (or the microtonal ornamentations around a single note), that for me are what make carnatic music unique. The songs have a quality that I can only describe as a vast and immense serenity. At that time, I wrote "each padam seems like some monumetal modern painting, composed of large swaths of harmoniously co-existing monochromes". The songs show a great philosophical clarity about what they are about, and what carnatic music should be about. This is art that truly knows itself.



And, as Orpheus points out, Aruna's singing itself is outstanding. Look, if you can buy only one carnatic music album, this should be it. And if you can own only five CDs of any kind, this should be among the five.

It's really sad, as Orpheus said, that this style of Padam singing went sort out of vogue during the 19th and 20th century. Even now, in carnatic music concerts you rarely hear padams.



Though I am from the land where this music comes from, I think I can say this without the least bit of parochialism: this album presents one of the great classical music traditions in the world at its absolute, unsurpassable best. So please please own this music!"